The American Council on Education (2021) estimates that 38% of fall 2019 undergraduate students will change schools within six years. Of that group, only 13% are projected to earn a bachelor's degree (NCES, 2019). Clearly, there is a disjoint between the goals of transfer students and the programs that are in place to help them meet their goals.…

Transfer policies and articulation agreements aim to provide seamless transitions between and across technical or community colleges and four-year institutions. While many articulation agreements exist at the institution- or system-level, states are increasingly setting statewide credit transfer requirements, ensuring all students enter their…

Students who transfer between colleges risk losing credits and decreasing their chances of degree completion. Despite emerging evidence regarding the effectiveness of articulation agreements to address this challenge, it is unclear if these policies support nonlinear transfer pathways--including lateral transfer between 4-year colleges or reverse…

As state leaders across the country seek strategies that will drive progress toward their postsecondary attainment goals, many have used data to analyze the current attainment levels of different segments of the state's residents. Reverse Transfer, sometimes referred to as degree reclamation, is a policy strategy that can be used to aggregate the…

In 2014, approximately 7.3 million undergraduate students (42 percent) were enrolled in community colleges in the US, the latest statistic offered by the Community College Research Center. At some schools, like Cleveland State University (OH), more transfer students graduated in 2014 with a bachelor's degree than students who entered four-year…

In this column the author summarises what is known about student transfer between the vocational education and training (VET) and higher education sectors. Transfer occurs when a student who has enrolled in one sector subsequently commences a qualification in the other. Some students have completed their first qualification, but some have not. The…

Considers a new facet in the articulation problem between two- and four-year colleges. (Author/RK)

Transfer (i.e., the movement of students and of their academic credits from one school to another) and articulation (i.e., services for transfer students) can no longer be thought of solely in terms of the linear progression of community college students to four-year institutions. While definitions and counting procedures vary considerably among…

Discusses a national study on postsecondary transfer and articulation. Finds that the majority of state higher education agencies collect transfer-related data and are prepared to use information to pursue improvements in the transfer environment, but that there appears to be a disconnection between the collection of transfer student information…

This article discusses community colleges as educational institutions that not only prepare students to transfer to other colleges, but also receive transfer students from other institutions as well. The article emphasizes the limited awareness of this transfer reciprocity, both on part of the general public and of policymakers. Cited are the…

Postsecondary education needs to encourage open recognition of reverse (four-year college to two-year college) and lateral (two-year to two-year college) transfers not recognized in traditional articulation efforts, and develop constructive programs for them. (MSE)

This document discusses the American sport baseball as a metaphor to help describe a way to measure, comprehend and visualize student progression through the American community college. This analysis is based on data from the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS) study. TRUCCS is a longitudinal study of 5,000…

This paper asserts that a sizeable number of students at the community college have attained a baccalaureate degree or higher and have returned to the community college to take credit courses. These post-baccalaureate reverse transfer students (PRTS) enroll in the community college for a variety of reasons, but one of the more common factors is…

This document reports the results of an annual study of Pennsylvania community college transfer students and compares the results to those of previous studies. Data for the present study were obtained from those four-year institutions which received transfer students during the summer and fall of 1975. Results indicated that transfers totalled…

The 1977 Patterns Workshop focused upon the special problems of those students who change, adjust and revise their career goals in the middle of their college experience. Texts of five speeches given at the conference are presented and include: (1) Articulation In an Anarchical World, keynote address by Dorothy M. Knoell, discussing major areas of…