Navigating Transfer “Pivotal Points” in Challenging Contexts: A Longitudinal Investigation of STEM Transfer Students’ Pathways During COVID-19

Abstract

Community colleges have long been touted as a pathway to increase social mobility through their transfer function, yet this promise has not always been realized. This study uses the lens of community cultural wealth, particularly the concepts of aspirational, social, and navigational capitals, to understand vertical transfer students’ experiences and outcomes during the pandemic. Longitudinal interviews were conducted with 27 students over a four-year period as they moved through the transfer pathway in STEM majors. Students who transferred to a university immediately prior to or during the pandemic experienced greater academic and navigational challenges and reported diminished access to social capital. Students employed multiple, informal navigational strategies and drew on social networks, when possible, to maintain their academic progress. Findings also reveal the importance of the transfer-receiving department, especially access to supportive institutional agents, in sustaining STEM transfer students’ progress during COVID-19.

Exploring the transfer student capital-building experiences of lateral transfer

“…Participants understood the positive impact of those important relationships, which motivated them to prioritize the acquisition of more social capital after 123 they had transitioned to the research site. This aligns with research conducted by Thiry et al (2023) which found that access to social capital is essential to the acquisition of other types of transfer-specific capital, like motivation and navigational skills. As their time at the research site continued, participants chose to focus intentionally on the types of engagement that would add to their experience, and it is clear that having access to relational capital early on was a contributing factor in honing that focus.…”

“…In both those studies, and a few others, students were found to have been able to overcome these challenges by staying motivated, utilizing campus resources, leaning on their social networks, and building academic skills (Denton & Borrego, 2021;Marine Nin & Gutierrez Keeton, 2020;Nahlik et al, 2023;Thiry et al, 2023). This was true for the participants of this study, who shared many examples of the ways they utilized their navigational capital to problem solve effectively.…”

“…The evolution of this capital and skill development is iterative, with students adding to and pulling from their metaphorical toolbox in whatever ways make sense for the situation at hand. This model builds on previous work that has explored the capital-building experiences of transfer students in greater depth (Laanan et al, 2010;Mobley & Brawner, 2019;Moser, 2013;Starobin 132 et al, 2016;Thiry et al, 2023;Winberg et al, 2018). The original TSC framework developed by Laanan and colleagues (2010) evolved from quantitative research on community college transfers that focused on the information and knowledge needed to successfully complete the transfer process.…”