3. Prioritize the recruitment and enrollment of community college transfer students

Recruitment 09.20.24

Here’s what the federal government can do:

  • The U.S. Department of Education should regularly collect, conduct, and disseminate data on transfer partnerships between two- and four-year higher education institutions.
  • The U.S. Department of Education should ensure that higher education institutions have access to and an understanding of best practices on transfer and community college partnerships.

Here’s what state government can do:

  • Governors and state legislatures should set goals and metrics to increase the enrollment of community college transfer students at four-year higher education institutions.

Here’s what institutional leaders can do:

  • Four-year higher education institutions should partner with community college systems to strengthen their transfer agreements, including stronger course alignment.
  • In an easily accessible and publicly available manner, higher education institutions should share their articulation agreements that have been established with other two- and four-year institutions.
  • Higher education institutions should facilitate the transfer process by providing advising to transfer students.

Black and Latino students represent 41 percent of students enrolled at two-year community colleges.[i]

Higher education institutions, both public and private, should remove barriers for transfer students, such as credit loss, by partnering with community college systems and building stronger transfer agreements.

There are nearly 9 million students enrolled in community colleges, making up 41 percent of undergraduate students nationwide.[ii] In 2023, the U.S. Department of Education released data on transfer rates and student success between two- and four-year colleges and universities, showing that most transfer students enrolled in public colleges and universities. Less than 1 percent of private four-year institutions had enrolled at least 30 transfer students.[iii]

According to the 2022-2023 Common Data Set,[iv] transfer students represented just 3 percent of admitted applicants at Princeton University,[v] 1 percent at Yale University,[vi] and less than 1 percent at Harvard University.[vii] For nearly three decades, Princeton University did not accept a single transfer student and only began to accept transfer students after 2018.[viii]

[i]U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Characteristics of Postsecondary Students. Condition of Education. 2023. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/csb/postsecondary-students.

[ii]U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), 12-month Enrollment component 2021-2022 provisional data. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/TrendGenerator/app/build-table/2/2?rid=5&cid=9.

[iii]

“New Measures of Postsecondary Education Transfer Performance: Transfer-out Rates for Community Colleges, Transfer Student Graduation Rates at Four-Year Colleges, and the Institutional Dyads Contributing to Transfer Student Success.” U.S. Department of Education. November 9, 2023. https://blog.ed.gov/2023/11/new-measures-of-postsecondary-education-transfer-performance-transfer-out-rates-for-community-colleges-transfer-student-graduation-rates-at-four-year-colleges-and-the-institutional-dyads-contributi/.

[iv]The Common Data Set does not require higher education institutions to collect and report the number of admitted and enrolled transfer students by institution type and whether they are transferring from a community college or two- or four-year higher education institution.

[v]Common Data Set 2022-2023. Princeton University Office of the Registrar. https://registrar.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf136/files/documents/CDS_2022-2023.pdf.

[vi]

Common Data Set 2022-2023. Yale University Office of Institutional Research. https://oir.yale.edu/sites/default/files/cds_yale_2022-2023_vf_10062023.pdf.

[vii]Common Data Set 2022-2023. Harvard University FAS Institutional Research. https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.harvard.edu/dist/6/210/files/2024/05/CDS_2023-2024-Final-4755619e875b1241.pdf.

[viii]Kirkevold, Simone. “Princeton’s transfer program establishes itself-and expands,” The Daily Princetonian. March 2, 2023. https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2023/03/princeton-transfer-students-program-expansion.