Transfer Students
Contributed by: Gabe
LaHue
In keeping
with our theme of “Equitable Access to Education: Supporting Students from
Diverse Backgrounds”, this week we chose to focus on transfer students, and
students that transferred from community colleges in particular. UC Davis
admitted 39,306 students in 2016, of which 9,587 were transfer students from
California community colleges1. Transfer students from California
community colleges therefore represented 92.8 percent of all transfer students
and 24.4 percent of all new students. Given this sizeable presence (and the
importance of teaching to benefit all types of students), it is essential that
we understand the unique challenges that transfer students face and the strengths
that set them apart.
In our discussion, we first focused on brainstorming why
students might choose to attend community college in the first place. Our list
included financial reasons, staying close to family, uncertainty about their
career path, improving academic performance, the flexibility of class times
(especially for students with careers), and the flexibility of enrollment. We
also came up with some potential strengths of transfer students (previous
college experience, greater time for maturation, a possibly greater sense of
purpose and personal responsibility, and coursework at an institution that
focuses on teaching) and some potential challenges (more working hours, a lack
of familiarity with the campus and community, less support for
academically-challenged students than they might be used to, credit-transfer
problems, etc.).
After our initial brainstorms focusing on who transfer
students are, we shifted to looking at how we can best serve transfer students
by analyzing two research articles about community college transfer student
persistence and degree attainment at 4-year institutions2,3. Although
the studies differed in their rigor and some notable results (like the
importance of gender, ethnicity, working hours, and participation in social
clubs), there were several factors found to be important in both studies. The
socioeconomic status of the students, their parents’ highest degree level, and
the student’s degree goal were all deemed to be important. One of the studies found
that whether a student’s high school curriculum was vocational or academic in
nature affected degree attainment. The other study found that interaction with academic
advisors was an important positive factor. Interestingly (and in line with
current thinking at universities), remediation in math was found to be
negatively correlated with persistence or degree attainment. At the end of the
day, many of these factors are beyond our control as teaching assistants or
instructors. However, I was struck by the importance of high ambition (as
evidenced by the degree goal and to a lesser degree by the negative correlation
with remediation). In addition to sound teaching techniques that benefit all
students, we can encourage our students to set ambitious goals and help connect
students to resources and organizations around the campus.
References
1.
Easley, J.A., 2016. “UC Davis admits more than
39,300.” UC Davis. Internet Resource. Available from: https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/uc-davis-offers-admission-more-39300/
2.
Wang, X. 2009. Baccalaureate attainment and
college persistence of community college transfer students at four-year
institutions. Research in Higher Education. 50:570-588.
3.
Lee, H., and Schneider, T. 2016. Does
post-transfer involvement matter for persistence of community college transfer
students? Community College Journal of Research and Practice. DOI: 10.1080/10668926.2016.1251351
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