Transfer students often face significant challenges when attempting to transfer their credits from one institution to another. The University of Texas (UT) System and MDRC developed and field-tested this toolkit to encourage a higher-education system that is more transfer-ready by facilitating the transfer process and including transfer students…

As adult learners increasingly seek bachelor's degrees for career advancement and personal fulfillment, understanding their unique challenges and experiences becomes crucial for higher education institutions. This study focuses on the academic journeys of nine adult learners aged 29 to 53 who attended community colleges in Florida before seeking a…

We examine whether participation in dual enrollment increases student engagement in college using a nationally representative sample of postsecondary institutions. We use student engagement frameworks to guide our analysis, but draw on more recent studies that include student transfer as an outcome option. Dual enrollment initially exposes…

The low transfer-out and degree completion rates amongst community college students transferring to four-year institutions demonstrates an issue that leaders within higher education should seek to address. In investigating the challenges transfer students encounter, I discovered that undergraduate students transferring from a community college to…

One of the issues at the heart of transfer is the mobility of credits across institutions--moving credits from one institution to another is a crucial process for the transfer pathway to be a viable option. Credit loss is a critical issue for transfer students enrolled in highly sequential degrees, such as engineering. A student could be set back…

A critical function of community colleges is student transfer into baccalaureate degree-granting institutions. While over 80% of community college entrants indicate a desire to transfer, few students successfully do so and achieve their goal of graduating with a bachelor's degree. In particular, transfer and completion rates for Black and Latinx…

A bachelor's degree is increasingly necessary for securing a job that pays a family-supporting wage, yet while most community college students aspire to transfer and complete a bachelor's degree, too few make it through to this goal. This report, along with the companion report on four-year institutional outcomes, is designed to be used by…

A bachelor's degree is increasingly necessary for securing a job that pays a family-supporting wage, yet while most community college students aspire to transfer and complete a bachelor's degree, too few make it through to this goal. As is clear from the companion report on community college transfer outcomes, some responsibility for this lies…

Success for 4-year universities is often measured by graduation and retention rates; however, gaps exist in understanding nonreturning students at private institutions. Recent research is helping to build the lexicon of drop-outs, stop-outs, opt-outs, and transfer-outs to inform strategic retention initiatives. Using an action research method, we…

Higher education in general and state-funded institutions especially will need to assess what an undergraduate education means in a changed geo-political socio-economic environment. For business schools, employability and future careers are stated outcomes to define a quality business education. Recent empirical scholarship has indicated…

Vertical transfers, those who transferred from a 2-year institution to a 4-year institution, often face multifaceted challenges and lower success rates upon arriving at the receiving 4-year institutions. This quantitative study focused on three forms of social capital related to post-transfer adjustment, retention, and success for vertical…

Studies of student mobility find that some transfer students experience "transfer shock" when changing institutions. While Canadian studies have identified instances of low academic performance and delayed time to completion, these are observed at single points in time and often capture student outcomes at the endpoint of post-secondary…

Research conducted on transfer student outcomes consistently shows that there is a bachelor's degree completion gap between transfer students and nontransfer students. Researchers have explored several factors thought to impact bachelor's degree completion for transfer students, including demographic characteristics, number of credit hours…

Background: Social support is assumed to play a key role in motivation at university, particularly for disadvantaged students, such as first-generation and community college transfer students. However, longitudinal research investigating reciprocal associations between social support and motivation is lacking. Aims: We examined such associations…

Navigating the waters of higher education often presents students with unforeseen challenges and opportunities, prompting a reevaluation of their academic and personal goals. One such pivotal decision faced by a significant portion of the student body across institutions is whether to transfer to another school. This qualitative research study…