The Successful Matriculation of Community College Students into a Four-Year College or University

1
The Successful Matriculation of Community
College Students into a Four-Year College or
University

• By
• Patrick Dymarkowski, M.A.
• Lindsey Krout
• Enrollment Services Representatives
• Owens Community College Findlay-area Campus
• February 2nd, 2006

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Why Should We Care About Community College
Students???

• Nearly 50 of students enrolled in higher
  education are attending community colleges
• Education Commission of the States (2001)
• 1,655 community colleges serve over 5,540,000
  students
• U.S. Dept. of Education
• 75-80 of these students express a desire to
  attain a 4-year degree
• Borglum Kubala (2000)

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The Negative Side

• Although nearly 80 of community college students
  express a desire to transfer, only about 15 to
  25 of them actually do transfer.
• Borglum Kubala (2000)
• 1/5 of those who transfer leave the new
  institution before the end of their first year
• Dougherty (1994)

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How Are Community College Students Defined???

• Come from less advantaged backgrounds
• Many are first generation college students
• Often considered adult students with an average
  age of 32
• Many often work at least part-time while
  attending college
• They may be the primary breadwinner of their
  family
• Typically commuter students

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How Do We Define Successful Transfer???
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Four Key Components

• Non-Academic Variables
• Non-Academic Barriers
• Institutional Barriers
• Institutional Resources

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The Dymarkowski/Krout Model of Successful Transfer
S U C C E S S
Non-Academic Barriers
Non-Academic Variables
Institutional Resources
Institutional Barriers
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Non-Academic Variables

• Motivation
• Adjustment
• Perception

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Motivation

• Job change
• Self-directed vs. pressure from others
• Life long learning

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Adjustment

• New city or location
• New campus
• Lack of social and support networks

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Perception

• Of self
• From others
• Additional role as student

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Non-Academic Barriers

• First generation students
• Not familiar with college culture
• May struggle navigating through a larger
  college/university system
• May not have role models to guide through process

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Non-Academic Barriers

• Financial Barriers
• May struggle with resources to pay for college
• 4 yr. colleges and universities tend to be more
  expensive
• Paying for education vs. saving for childrens
  education

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Non-Academic Barriers

• Transfer Shock
• Myriad factors that contribute to a transfer
  students lack of persistence and ultimate
  failure to achieve a bachelor degree.
• Rhine, Milligan and Nelson, (2000)

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Transfer Shock

• May result in dip in grades
• Can affect confidence level of students
• Critical to address for retention of students

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Institutional Barriers

• Perception of community college students as less
  academically prepared
• Lack of commitment to transfer process
• Lack of articulation agreements/course
  equivalencies/CAS
• Lack of facilities for adult and commuter students

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Perception of Being Unprepared

• Many four-year institutions view community
  college students as having been coddled.
• Perception of grades being watered down at
  community colleges
• Perception of transfer students as suspect or at
  risk in comparison to native students
• Kerr, King, and Grites (2004).

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Institutional Resources

• The attitude, programs, policies,
• resources, and communication a four-
• year institution can use to help ensure
• the academic success of a transfer
• student.

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Institutional Resources

• Collaborative efforts and articulation
• agreements have little effect unless
• prospective transfer students have
• access to high-quality information,
• academic advising, counseling, and other
• support services.
• - Education Commission of the States
• (1998)

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Orientation

• Research makes it clear that the greater a
  students academic and social integration, the
  more intense his or her commitment to the
  college.
• Boyer (1987)
• Orientation for transfer students is often
  overlooked at four-year institutions

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Advising

• Advisors are often the first contact a transfer
  student has with the four-year institution.
• Advisors need to appreciate the special needs of
  transfer students and be aware of elements such
  as transfer shock.
• Some institutions have representatives in
  residence at community colleges to meet with
  prospective transfer students.

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Student involvement

• Research suggests that the more time and effort
  students invest in their learning and the more
  intensely they engage in their own education, the
  greater will be their achievementand likelihood
  of persistence toward attainment of their
  educational goals.
• Jacoby (2000)

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Student Involvement

• To achieve this, colleges and universities must
  create curricular and co-curricular activities
  that intentionally involve commuter students into
  the learning process.
• This could include having events both in the day
  and evening hours and including family into the
  fold.

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Peer Mentoring

• The students peer group is the single most
  potent source of influence on growth and
  development during the undergraduate years.
• Astin (1992)
• Peer mentoring demonstrates to students that
  others are traveling the same road with them.

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Counseling Related Academic Services

• Employment support
• Childcare
• Financial and budgeting assistance
• Study skills
• Stress Management
• Parenting support
• Addiction and recovery services

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Credit Transferability

• Articulation agreements
• Course equivalency guides
• CAS (Course Applicability System)
• TAGS (Transfer Assurance Guides)
• Transfer guides within the context of a specific
  degree program

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Campus Visit Programs

• Meet with a transfer specialist for
  pre-enrollment information
• Tour the campus
• Speak with a current transfer student
• Meet with someone from the specific area a
  student is interested in
• Speak with Disability Services, Financial Aid
  Representative, etc.

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Campus Communications

• Newsletter for transfer students
• Campus events
• Transfer scholarships
• E-mail
• Advisors involved with transfer students need to
  be aware of the campus support system and
  communicate this information to their advisees.

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Transfer Student Website

• Provide a link with information specific to the
  needs of transfer students
• FAQs
• Special admission requirements
• Transfer student scholarships
• Transfer articulation information
• http//www.undergradadmission.utoledo.edu/pages/tr
  ansfer.asp

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Your Thoughts???
31
Thank You!
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Resources

• Astin, A. W. (1992). What Matters in College?
  Four Critical Years Revisited. San Francisco
  Jossey-Bass.
• Borglum, T., Kubala, T. (2000). Academic and
  social integration of community college students
  A case study. Community college Journal of
  Research and Practice, 24(7), 567-76.
• Boyer, E. L. (1987). College the undergraduate
  experience in America. New York Harper Row
• Education Commission of the States. (2005).
  StateNotes Transfer and articulation policy.
  Retrieved October 25, 2005 from www.ecs.org

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Resources Contd.

• Jacoby, B. (2000). Involving Commuter Students in
  Learning. San Francisco Jossey-Bass.
• Kerr, T.J., King, M.C. Grites, T.J., editors,
  (2004). Advising transfer students Issues and
  strategies. NACADA Monograph Number 12. NACADA
  Press.
• Rhimes, T.J., Milligan, D.M., Nelson, L.R.
  (2000). Alleviating transfer shock Creating an
  environment for more successful transfer
  students. Community College Journal of Research
  Practice, (24)6, 443-453.
• U.S. Department of Education, Office of
  Vocational and Adult Education. Community college
  facts at a glance. Retrieved October 25, 2005,
  from www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/
• pi.cclo/ccfacts.html