Making the Transition: Understanding the Adjustment Process of Community College Transfer Students

Assessing Students' Transition from Community College to a Four-Year Institution

“…As Tinto's (1975Tinto's ( , 1993) Student Integration Model predicts, both academic and social integration are critical for students. While there is extensive literature on "transfer shock" or the decrease in students' overall GPA when changing institutions, there is less research on the effective practices to reduce transfer shock, the needs of transfer students, or the underlying characteristics of successful inter-institutional partnerships (Flaga 2006;Laanan 1996;Mattis and Sislin 2005). The intent of this assessment, therefore, was to gather information that could be used to enhance the transfer student process and ultimately improve the retention and academic success of students.…”

“…Much of the existing literature on transfer students utilizes quantitative or survey data, and other research methodologies, including more qualitative data, are needed to fully understand the experiences of community college students (Davies and Casey 1999;Laanan 1996;Townsend 1995;Wolgemuth, Kees, and Safarik 2003). Similarly, Iowa State University collects a significant amount of quantitative data regarding transfer students (e.g., retention rates and GPA) but lacks data that more thoroughly examine the experiences of transfer students that, in turn, may impact the retention rates and GPA.…”

“…In other words, two-year institutions serve as a critical gateway into college for a significant proportion of college-going students but frequently are not the final degree destination. Although students may have been successful adjusting to and navigating their two-year institutions, research on "transfer shock" (Laanan 1996) suggests that transitioning from one institution to another can be difficult. Transfer students may struggle to do well academically or socially and may be at risk of dropping out (Davies and Casey 1999;Flaga 2006;Townsend and Wilson 2006).…”

The role of community college-based transfer programming in transfer student success.

“…Despite both community colleges and four-year institutions wanting and needing students to transfer, the process is still remarkably arduous (Laanan, 1996;Leigh & Gill, 2004).…”

“…One of these factors that helps students be successful during and after transfer is taking the appropriate preparatory coursework-work that will be accepted by the receiving institution-and work that matches the students' academic abilities and needs. Over the past few decades, research has shown that some progress has been made in the way of articulation agreements and other programmatic initiatives to help transfer students succeed (Cameron, 2005;Ignash & Townsend, 2000;Kisker, 2007;Laanan, 1996). Still, more research needs to be conducted to see if these initiatives have a positive impact on the transfer student population they were designed to assist.…”