Assisting Students To Graduate With Transfer Credits

Community college is an affordable and accessible way for students to get their education. However, community college cannot offer the same credentials as higher level institutions, so students most often have to finish their degrees at a different university.

 Most commonly, students will study 2 years at a community college and then the last 2 years in a bachelor’s program, but only about 8% of students actually complete their degree in this way. Supporting transfer students from the beginning is the best way to ensure more students will continue their education even after attending community college. 

One of the best ways to encourage students to continue their education after attending community college is with transfer advising. Students can meet with an advisor to chart, continue, and complete their path to a bachelor’s degree after their first two years. More than half of transfer aspiring community college students have never used transfer advising, and many do not even know it is a service that is available to them. Marketing these services and encouraging students to take advantage of them will be the first step in increasing the amount that continue onto bachelors programs.

Transferring to a bachelors program can be intimidating, and transfer students are less likely to interact with their universities faculty or participate in co-curricular activities. Having a plan can help build confidence in these students and increase their overall happiness with their university which will help them continue their path to earning their degree. Encouraging regular checkups with a transfer advisor can help to overcome some of the informational barriers that contribute to students not feeling as comfortable within their programs. 

Centering students’ needs above all else is also integral to increasing the amount of transfer students that complete their degrees. White students are often given more opportunity than Black and Hispanic students, and they are twice as likely to transfer. Students from families with higher incomes are also twice as likely to transfer than students from families with lower incomes. Centering the needs of these students and providing equal opportunities will help to improve transfer students’ success.

Taking these steps has been effective across colleges in the U.S. With no degree below bachelor’s available in the UK, ensuring students have ample opportunity to complete their degree should be a priority. To learn more about how to assist transfer students in completing their degrees, take a look at the infographic below:

Source: Kentucky Student Success Collaborative