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WASHINGTON 鈥� Community colleges and four-year universities can work together to improve the transfer student experience, a data report from the U.S. Department of Education suggests.

The U.S. Department of Education released聽 about the institutions where transfer students have the highest graduation rates in each state, with New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Maryland, and Virginia doing the best. At the other end were South Dakota, Delaware, Indiana, New Mexico, and Louisiana.

The announcement of this report came in conjunction with a November summit featuring聽聽of higher education leaders, at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia.

The Department of Education data highlighted an ongoing problem of poor graduation outcomes among college transfer students.

While attending community college has become increasingly common for students in recent decades, schools have not accommodated their practices to match this demand, said Josh Wyner, who is a founder and executive director of the College Excellence Program at the Aspen Institute.

鈥淲hen community colleges only educated a small percentage of Americans back in the 1950s and before, there just weren鈥檛 a lot of students that were starting at community college and moving onto a four-year school,鈥� Wyner said.

Today, about聽聽attend community colleges, Wyner said, and most of them plan to earn a bachelor鈥檚 degree.

In a聽聽announcing the Northern Virginia summit and data report, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said there needs to be increased support for transfer students.

鈥淥ur current higher education system stacks the deck against community college students who aspire to earn four-year degrees 鈥� denying acceptance of their credits, forcing them to retake courses, and ultimately making their educational journeys longer and costlier than they need to be,鈥� Cardona said in the press release.

Pairing two-year and four-year institutions

The Department of Education data also focus on the 鈥渄yads,鈥� or community college and four-year institution pairings, that have the highest graduation rates for transfer students.

The report particularly highlights the 鈥渢op-performing鈥� partnership between Northern Virginia Community College, known as NOVA, and George Mason University鈥檚聽聽program. George Mason is a public four-year institution in Fairfax, Virginia.

ADVANCE, launched in 2018, aims to improve the transfer experience and graduation rates for students, said Jennifer Nelson, director of university transfer and initiatives at NOVA.

Of the students who transferred from NOVA to George Mason University, 13% graduated with a bachelor鈥檚 degree within eight years, according to the Department of Education.

Jason Dodge, the executive director of ADVANCE at George Mason University and NOVA, said there are about 4,500 students in the ADVANCE program.

Nelson said that when ADVANCE was first developed in 2017, four key goals were defined to help transfer students. These goals 鈥渢end to be the hallmarks鈥� of why students participate in the program, Nelson said.

First, the program seeks to increase associate鈥檚 and bachelor鈥檚 degree attainment for transfer students, since 鈥渃ompletion leads to completion,鈥� Nelson said. The program aims to decrease the amount of time spent earning a degree, as well as lower the cost to do so, Nelson said.

The fourth goal of the program is to increase support for transfer students, including academic advising, Nelson said.

Nelson and Dodge said the ADVANCE program鈥檚 collaboration between schools is what makes it special.

鈥淭his is a 50/50 program,鈥� Nelson said. 鈥淓very decision that鈥檚 made regarding this program is a joint decision.鈥�

Support for transfer students

Nelson said the ADVANCE program offers a 鈥渟treamlined admission process鈥� for community college students seeking to transfer from NOVA to George Mason.

Students join the program early in their time at NOVA, before they have completed over 30 credit hours, Nelson said. Transfer students can spend 鈥渘o more than five minutes鈥� to complete the ADVANCE program鈥檚 free declaration form, Nelson said.

The final part of a student鈥檚 onboarding process is to select a curricular pathway, or their major, Nelson said. This pathway serves as a 鈥済uide鈥� for transfer students as they work to earn their associate鈥檚 degree and move on to George Mason University, Nelson said.

There is no transfer application or application fee for students in the ADVANCE program, which makes the transition process 鈥渟eamless鈥� for students, Dodge said.

ADVANCE offers financial aid specifically for these transfer students, and has so far awarded over $2 million in scholarships and grants to participating students at NOVA and GMU, Dodge said.

In addition to having an academic adviser and access to resources at both institutions, students in the ADVANCE program have a coach. This coach 鈥渟erves as a student鈥檚 primary point of contact for the program,鈥� Nelson said.

Nelson said the coach helps make sure the students are sticking to their pathways and taking the right classes, as well as helps connect students to resources at both institutions.

These certified coaches recognize 鈥渢hat what happens outside of the classroom has a direct impact on a student鈥檚 ability to excel inside of the classroom,鈥� Nelson said.

Patterns in transfer student data

Wyner said he sees 鈥渟imilar patterns鈥� between his research with the Community College Research Center on National Student Clearinghouse data and the Department of Education鈥檚 data.

The data collected from the National Student Clearinghouse represent 90% of college students, which is more inclusive than the Department of Education鈥檚 data report, Wyner said. The Department of Education鈥檚 data only represent students who receive financial aid, he said.

Wyner was a presenter at the Department of Education鈥檚 November summit at NOVA.

The first pattern, Wyner said, is that both data sets showcase low graduation rates for community college students transferring to four-year universities.

The second pattern is 鈥渋ncredibly variable bachelor鈥檚 attainment rates among dyads of institutions,鈥� Wyner said, and these variations exist even within state lines.

鈥淭hat huge variation, even within states, says that what matters is institutional practice,鈥� Wyner said.

Wyner said that while state policies can make a difference, it鈥檚 concerning that 鈥渟ome institutions are doing radically better than others鈥� within the same state. This is 鈥渢roubling,鈥� he said, because a student鈥檚 chance of graduation appears to be tied to the dyad they attend.

If a transfer student attends a community college-university pair with lower graduation rates, that student has 鈥渁 very small chance of getting a bachelor鈥檚 degree,鈥� he said.

鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 be a matter of luck as to where you enter community college, in terms of whether you鈥檙e ultimately going to get a bachelor鈥檚 degree,鈥� Wyner said.

Ensuring success

Wyner said that after the Pell Grant program was established in the 1970s, community college enrollment 鈥渄ramatically increased鈥� after primarily serving as 鈥渁ccess institutions.鈥�

Despite this surge of community college enrollments, 鈥渃olleges fundamentally didn鈥檛 change their practices,鈥� Wyner said.

Community colleges have since been focused on helping students complete their associate degree, but 鈥渉aven鈥檛 worked as hard as they needed to make sure that students succeed after they graduate, that they actually go on to earn the bachelor鈥檚 degree that they came for in the first place,鈥� Wyner said.

Four-year universities have primarily focused on first-year student enrollments, Wyner said, even though 鈥渢he community college population of freshmen and sophomores in our country is as big as the one that starts at four-year schools.鈥�

鈥淥ur systems have not caught up to the realities of where students enter college,鈥� Wyner said.

Four-year universities also prioritize first-year students over transfer students when it comes to financial aid, Wyner said.

Steps toward transfer student success

With the Community College Research Center, Wyner has studied the colleges with high and improving success rates of transfer students.

These schools demonstrated three characteristics that made this success possible, he said. The colleges prioritize transfer students, create defined programs of study 鈥渢hat extend from the community college into the four-year school with clear course sequences and strong learning outcomes,鈥� as well as offer advising tailored to transfer students, Wyner said.

The first step to improving transfer student success is for leaders at both community colleges and universities to come together and analyze transfer student population data, Wyner said.

Wyner said that schools can further prioritize transfer students by bringing together faculty from individual areas of study from both the two-year- and four-year colleges for shared discussions. This can help ensure that those programs of study are 鈥減erfectly well-aligned鈥� for a smooth transition from the community college to the four-year college, he said.

鈥淭hey need to sit down and say, 鈥楢lright, we鈥檙e gonna map out exactly the courses students should take, and we鈥檙e going to work hard together to make sure that we鈥檙e aligned on our expectations for students and that we鈥檙e delivering what students need,鈥� 鈥� Wyner said.

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