The Community College Transfer and “Plus Two” Programs: Access to a Baccalaureate Degree in Four Years?

Abstract

Community college graduates from all disciplines seek the opportunity to earn a four year degree. No longer do these potential transfer students earn their associate degree studying the traditional "transfer program." Unfortunately, transfer for many of them means the loss of credit and being required to complete more than two years of additional full time collegiate study.Many colleges and universities provide no special access programming for associate degree holders transferring to baccalaureate degree programs. Where access has been addressed, it often means an articulation agreement has been drawn up between two institutions. However, in a few cases "plus two" or "capstone" programs have been created which provide access to the holders of any associate degree without loss of credit.At question is whether such programs actually provide access to a four year degree with the completion of an additional two years of full time study.

Transfer from Community College to University: Perspectives and Experiences of British Columbia Students

“…Several studies document difficulties incurred at all stages of the transfer process (Alba & Lavin, 1981;Grubb,1991;Lee & Frank, 1990;Lee, Mackie-Lewis, & Marks, 1993;Nora & Rendon, 1990;Prager, 1993;Velez & Javalgi,1987). Attrition after transfer has been found to be influenced by loss of credits (Dennison & Jones, 1970;Dougherty, 1987;Small, Vaala, & Tyler, 1989;Swift, 1986;Vaala & Holdaway, 1989), inadequate academic performance (Diaz, 1992;Johnson, 1987;Willingham, 1985), finances, residence location, admissions policies (Cohen & Brawer, 1981;Cross, 1968;Pascarella, 1986;Rich, 1979), and problems conforming to traditional student services (Anglin, Davis, & Mooradian, 1995). Lunneborg and Lunneborg (1976), and Sandeen and Goodale (1976) found that community college transfer students had a lower social and academic self-image, lower academic ability and motivation, and were half as likely to aspire to education beyond the baccalaureate degree than those students who began their postsecondary studies at the university.…”

The other transfer degree

“…From the perspective of program continuity and credit integrity on transfer, these designs may be more effective for articulation of career programs than negotiation of special agreements or course equivalency lists. A recent study of 4,300 student records from a midwestern university that accepted students from seven community colleges over an eight-year period found that 2+2 students required even fewer hours for the bachelor's degree than students who had completed traditional transfer programs or who were covered by special interinstitutional agreements (Swift, 1986).…”

The Academic Performance of Community College Transfer Students at a Major State University in Kentucky

“…Previous research indicates that community college students who transferred into the upper division of four-year institutions achieved GPAs that were similar to (and in some cases higher than) the GPAs of native four-year college students (House, 1989). Community college transfer students are expected to encounter academic difficulties and drop out of the baccalaureate program (Swift, 1986), but the likelihood of dropout is smaller for those students who transfer into the upper division (Knoell & Medsker, 1965).…”