Category: Transfer News

Pass/fail grades may help students during the COVID-19 crisis, but could cost them later

JON MARCUS, The Hechinger Report, Aired on PBS New Hour, Apr 7, 2020 6:02 PM EDT

As with everything else in Americans’ day-to-day lives, the COVID-19 pandemic may significantly affect the transferability of academic credits when students transfer to new institution. A story produced by the Hechinger Report and aired on the PBS News Hour describes how colleges and universities moved to a pass/fair grading system as schools closed doors and began holding classes remotely. But the transfer of academic credits is already at a low rate, and courses graded simply “pass” may not transfer at all. This presents a serious problem for graduate-school bound students who hope to enroll in competitive law, medical and business programs. In addition, thousands of students that have relocated to their home states will likely transfer to their local institutions to complete their degree programs – making credit transfer all the more essential.

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Helping Students Avoid Problems with the ‘The Asterisk Semester’

Podcast from Inside Higher Ed [25 minutes]

This podcast is hosted by Paul Fain and features Lila Burke, reporter at IAG; Anne M. Kress, president, Northern Virginia Community College; and Marie Lynn Miranda, incoming provost of the University of Notre Dame, who is spearheading an effort to persuade medical schools to accept pass/fail grades for incoming students (see, https://provost.nd.edu/news/call-to-action/). Colleges and universities have switched to pass/fail grades in the wake of the pandemic and shut-down. Participants discuss the uncertainties faced by students, the challenges of the pass/fail grading system, and how college leaders can and should avoid disruption for students that transfer.

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College groups release joint guidelines for accepting credit during coronavirus

By MADELINE ST. AMOUR, April 16, 2020, INSIDE HIGHER ED

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, six major higher education groups have issued a set of principles for accepting academic credit. Drafted by the American Council on Education and signed by leaders of groups representing public, private nonprofit and community colleges, the statement highlights eight practices institutions should follow to best help students navigate the transfer of credit process. Among the recommendations: institutional practices and policies around transfer should be holistic and transparent, institutional decision-making should be swift and definitive, and institutions should recognize the burden students are under during this time of dislocation and uncertainty. Link to full article here.

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Creating Seamless Credit Transfer: A Parallel Higher Education System to Support American through and beyond by Recession

By MICHAEL B. HORN AND RICHARD PRICE, Christensen Institute, April 2020

The authors of this new report from the Christensen Institute propose the creation of a parallel higher education system in which third-party credentialing entities would “validate industry-valued skills” acquired and demonstrated by students. Using stimulus funds, this solution to the nation’s higher education credit transfer challenge would move away from institutions and learning equivalency and focus on the accumulation of knowledge and skills and foster seamless transfer without credit loss. The authors present an argument for their proposal based on the decades-long problems in credit transfer as well as the attempt at records transfer and integration in the medical industry ten years ago.

Download the PDF report at: https://www.christenseninstitute.org/publications/credit-transfer/

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Episode Seven: Demystifying the College Transfer Process: What Students and Families Need to Know

National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), Podcast [26 minutes]

This episode is part of the College Admissions Decoded podcast series, which features NACAC member-experts in conversations that speak directly to parents, families, and the general public to help demystify the college admission process.

This podcast offers tips to potential transfer students and explores ways to make the transfer process between community colleges and four-year schools more seamless.

Participants include Janet Marling, executive director of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students, and Dayna Bradstreet, senior associate director of admission at Simmons University in Boston.

As today’s college students are increasingly mobile, the transfer process can be difficult because of problems obtaining credit for previous coursework, a lack of adequate academic counseling, troubles obtaining financial aid, and more. And transfer students themselves are increasingly diverse, including military students, older students returning to college after a break, and students hoping to transfer credits from more than one institution. The podcast participants urge admissions counselors to be well informed about credit transfer and pathways in order to communicate accurate information to transfer students. The most important recommendation is for transfer students to be their own best advocate. This podcast provides ways to do that.

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Improving the Transfer Handoff: The critical effort to help college students get a four-year degree

By KATHERINE MANGAN, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2020

Focusing on the most common form of transfer — from two-year to four-year colleges—this report analyzes which approaches are working for successful student transfer and provides practical advice on how to eliminate the barriers standing in students’ way. The author discusses why transfer success is so critical, and presents five case studies that illustrate how two- and four-year institutions can collaborate to help transfer students. The report also and also offers a commentary on why community colleges are good for students: they are providing an open door, reaching diverse groups, and fulfilling the nation’s goals.

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Transfer Students

The Chronicle of Higher Education Idea Lab, Colleges Solving Problems, 2019

This collection of articles showcases successful efforts to deal with the myriad problems of student transfer and includes essays about the urgency faced by colleges and universities to improve the transfer experience. The solutions are well known: transparency, academic guidance, better orientation for older and/or returning students, and a simplified process.

4-year college costs push minorities into community colleges

By MADHU KRISHNAMURTHY – Associated Press – Sunday, January 19, 2020, WASHINGTON TIMES

As many low-income minority students increasingly are leaving four-year institutions due to rising tuition costs and lack of supports, one college in Palatine, Illinois is offering students a second chance. Harper College, like many community colleges, is positioned uniquely to help these students through career path programs tailored to what local employers need. Minority students are offered tuition assistance, mentoring and networking.

“Nearly a third of students at suburban community colleges come from low-income families and receive assistance through federal Pell grants and state Monetary Award Program grants. Many colleges have adopted programs and policies that help black, Latino and low-income students complete degree programs and transfer to four-year universities.”

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A goal met: More UNC System students are graduating within 5 years than ever before

By KATE MURPHY – January 16, 2020, RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER

The University of North Carolina System is reporting that more students are graduating from its universities within five years than ever before, and the upward progress is expected to continue. The five-year graduation rate across the UNC System hit 71 percent in 2018 after a steady increase over the past five years. Enrolling more transfer students is one of the key reasons for the improved graduation rates, along with improved advising on campus and setting new admissions requirements. “Academic advising helps students figure out what they should major in, the classes they need to take and the shortest path to their degree. The system prioritized enrolling transfer students and making sure they get credit for the classes they took, particularly at community colleges across the state.”

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Poaching Enrolled Students: Once Taboo, Now Okay

By ERIC HOOVER – February 5, 2020, CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Findings from a new report indicate that about one third of enrollment leaders “said they were considering trying to poach other colleges’ students.” The report by consulting firm EAB, Enrollment Strategy After the NACAC Vote, describes how colleges are responding to recent changes in the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s ethics code. Institutions are offering transfer incentives to students who were previously admitted but who ended up attending other four-year colleges. A small percentage of respondents said they were considering going after students enrolled elsewhere, whether or not they had applied or been admitted in the first place. “The transfer market is huge and ever churning.” According to the report, 28 percent of students would consider another college that offered to transfer all credits from their current institution.

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How the skills gap is changing the degree path

By MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN – February 17, 2020, EDUCATION DIVE

This articles showcases several institutions that are reshaping the degree pathway, offering new ways to meet the needs of students and the economy or risk losing out on the huge future market for lifelong learning. Some are strengthening transfer pathways between two- and four-year schools, while others are bringing industry-recognized credentials into the curriculum sooner than they have in the past. In some cases, more weight is put on training experiences.

• The University System of Georgia is creating a new type of two-year degree that requires students to take internships and upper-division courses — demands typically not found in associate degrees. Georgia is calling these “nexus” degrees.
• Colorado Mesa University is home to Western Colorado Community College, a rare pairing that gives students at both schools access to short-term credentials and transfer pathways to bachelor’s degrees. Courses taken at the community college level will be accepted at the four-year level if they are in the same discipline. 
• BYU-Pathway Worldwide, part of a network of institutions that includes Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, requires students to earn short-term certificates en route to an associate or bachelor’s degree. The model increases the likelihood that students who don’t make it all the way to a bachelor’s can at least show employers a certificate.

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UC freshmen applications dip for a second straight year. But why?

By TERESA WATANABE – February 5, 2020, LOS ANGELES TIMES

The Los Angeles Times reports that freshman applications to the University of California system have dropped by 5.4 percent since 2018, however, transfer applications have increased by 4.8 percent. The growing competition to be accepted and high tuition costs have many students choosing more affordable community colleges. Many students do not even consider applying to UC institutions, but do make plans to transfer after one or two years at another institution. At UCLA, for example, the number of applications for fall 2020 from prospective California transfer students increased by 12.5 percent over 2018.

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Underserved Community College Students and the Complexity of STEM Transfer

By ELIZABETH APPLE MEZA – December 2019, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH INITIATIVES

This research report from the University of Washington Community College Research Initiatives examines underserved community college students of color, women, and first-generation students and how well they are prepared and supported to transfer and graduate in a STEM major. The study identified gaps in knowledge around transfer and STEM-specific major requirements, which indicates a need to build more knowledge about STEM-major transfer requirements and processes among community college students as well as advisors and STEM faculty so they can better inform students of transfer pathways.

The study found that despite high levels of confidence about transferring to a STEM program at a four-year institution, students were, in fact, pretty unaware of the transfer requirements such as rigorous admission requirements for STEM majors. Most students had not spoken with transfer representatives prior to applying. Students were also unaware of capacity-constrained majors at some four-year institutions, and thus the very competitive environment for applicants. The report notes “the need to strengthen transfer partnerships between two-year and four-year institutions in support of community college students who aspire to a STEM baccalaureate degree.”

Rethinking higher education through the consortia model

by John C. Cavanaugh, Inside Higher Ed, October 23, 2019

This article from Inside Higher Ed offers the consortium model as one solution for ensuring seamless transfer – essentially a mini Passport network among a small number of institutions within a state or geographic region. The author describes the problems faced by transfer students as a result of inefficient policies and/or practices – loss of credit, increased tuition costs, and often a sense of despair. As all Interstate Passport members can attest, trust between participating colleges and universities is paramount to the successful implementation of a new model that ensures smooth transfer with acceptance of credits for completed coursework.

How to make room for 100,000 more college students in California without major construction

by Larry Gordon, EdSource, October 24, 2019

This article from EdSource reviews a recent report from the College Futures Foundation on the dilemma facing California: how to serve students in the face of a significant capacity shortfall. The report projects that by 2030 as many as 140,000 students may be turned away from the state’s two public universities because of lack of space. The College Futures Foundation recommends maximizing current assets and resources now, and urges institutions to concentrate on short-term and inexpensive fixes to make more room for students such as better counseling to help students finish faster, more hybrid programs that combine online and on-campus classes, expanded year-round operations, and using available space in community colleges or even high schools to teach bachelor’s degree courses.

The full report is available from the College Futures Foundation here.

Study spotlights outcomes for community college transfer students

by Lois Elfman, Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, December 10, 2019

The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) reports on a study that shows how attendance at community colleges increases the chance for low-income and underrepresented students to attend selective four-year institutions. “When comparing minority, low-income and academically underprepared students who directly entered four-year institutions with students of similar backgrounds who went first to community colleges, the students who transferred from community colleges were 24 percent more likely to attend a selective college or university.” Such students bring diversity to four-year institutions, and in addition to lower costs, community colleges offer smaller class sizes and support systems to students. Moreover, the positive impact of community colleges on the successful transition to senior colleges can be used to change the mindset of society.”

Mixing in online courses boosts outcomes for CC students

By Dian Schaffhauser, Campus Technology, December 5, 2019

This article in Campus Technology offers a useful review of a study on the effects of online courses on degree completion, transfer and dropout among community college students. The study focuses on students at the State University of New York. Researchers sought to investigate the “tipping point” at which the proportion of online course enrollment leads to impaired degree completion. Results show that online course completion significantly improves the odds of earning a degree, although racial minorities had reduced outcomes. The report on the study itself, which is very technical, appears in the Online Learning Journal

A number of institutions across the country are undertaking efforts that target transfer students—recruiting them and making transfer easier:

• See the October 14 Education Dive article on making transfers easier between two- and four-year institutions. Data show that more than 50,000 students each year who could succeed at a four-year institution do not transfer, too often because of uncertainty about the process, cost, and transfer of credits. Two institutions in Ohio—University of Dayton and Sinclair Community College—have collaborated to create an “academy” that streamlines transfer for two-year students by offering cost transparency, fee waivers, and providing academic advisers for smooth credit transfer.

• The New York Times profiles efforts by four-year institutions—even some elite schools—to bring talent and diversity to their campuses by courting students from two-year colleges. This is a shift in thinking about community colleges and their students as well as a new strategy to increase enrollment.

• A September article in Inside HigherEd showcased “transfer minors,” a policy that recognizes credits earned—and learning achieved—in a very innovative way. Often when associate degree students transfer, many of their credits are deemed “elective” because they don’t fit into the new school’s major programs; this learning can go unrecognized on a student’s transcript. Rhode Island College has come up with a plan that addresses this issue and also seeks to attract transfer students and increase the satisfaction level of community college transfers.

An Education Dive article, Gen ed startup partners with university to offer transfer credit for online classes, describes how a start-up company is partnering with higher education to facilitate transfer in Pittsburgh. Outlier.org will launch September 9 to offer two 14-week general education courses at $400 each with credit to be awarded by the University of Pittsburgh. The article describes previous and current efforts to make general education courses easily accessible and affordable, and the pros and cons of such endeavors.

Inside Higher Ed has several articles discussing transfer student items this past month, including two below.

• George Mason and NOVA team up with InsideTrack to improve transfer process
• The Number 1 Student Success Challenge

The State of Texas has passed a law, Senate Bill 25, which aims to help students avoid losing credits as they move/transfer through the higher education system. Read the full article in the Texas Tribune: New law makes it easier for college students to avoid taking classes that won’t transfer.

Interstate Passport Network institutions map Passport Learning Outcomes to their curriculum to develop their Passport Block. As described above by Brown-Herbst of Laramie County Community College, mapping is used to develop Guided Pathways within the Passport Block. Now a recent article featured in Education Dive suggests that mapping could be a key to developing “universal language” describing the value of learning.

On July 18, 2019 The State Council of Higher Education of Virginia approved plans to provide community college students a smoother transition as they transfer to a four-year institution. Read the full article, Virginia’s community colleges will offer programs with guaranteed transfer credits next fall.

In a recent Chronicle of Higher Education article, ‘Everybody Is Panicking’: Thousands of Alaska Students Scramble With Scholarship Money in Jeopardy, students talk about their educational options, including transferring out of state, in the budget crisis.

What factors contribute to two- to four-year transfer student success in obtaining a bachelors degree within six years of initial enrollment at the community college? The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center has released an update of its Tracking Transfer (Signature Report 13) with information from the 2011 cohort. The report provides insight into some of the factors related to transfer student success in completing a bachelor’s degree. As seen in Table 6 from the report below, college type, selectivity, urbanicity and socio-economic status all have a role in student success.

In addition to the completion percentages, the updated report provides the number of transfer student bachelor degree completions. Significantly, transfers from the 2011 cohort resulted in 84,143 bachelor degree completions: 69,124 of these completions were from public institutions, 68,104 were from moderately or very selective institutions, 48,242 were from urban institutions, and 63,801 were from the top three socio-economic status quintiles. Clearly, transfer student degree completion success is related to many complex factors.