TY - JOUR

T1 - Challenges in calculating two-year college student transfer rates to four-year colleges

AU - Sylvia, Christine L.

AU - Song, Chunyan

AU - Waters, Tony

N1 - Funding Information: In addition to these district and statewide efforts, there are also a growing number of national organizations attempting to bring more states together to provide more comprehensive data for institutional research. The three studies noted in Table 1 took place in 2004 and 2005. Most of these groups are financed through government and foundation grants (see Table 1). These studies generated helpful data, but the participation rates by colleges are still lacking. Part of this is possibly due to the age of these organizations. Since the studies are funded by foundation grants rather than on-going government appropriations, it is also doubtful there will be funding for longitudinal studies.

PY - 2010/7

Y1 - 2010/7

N2 - Two-year colleges play an important role in facilitating transfers to four-year institutions. This has resulted in the demand to assess how well the community college systems train students for successful transfer to four-year bachelor-granting institutions. Existing datasets on two-year college transfer rates provides inconsistent and, sometimes, even contradicting answers. In this paper, we examine exactly why and how there are such varied results on two-year college transfer rates. Our findings indicate that there is no valid or universal measure of successful transfer programs. We find that such a measure is hindered by six factors: structural, technological, economic, governmental, and social. These factors make reliable comparisons of national and even statewide transfer success rates problematic. We suggest that policy makers should review existing datasets on two-year college transfer rates with a knowledgeable eye to avoid drawing inferences or making decisions based upon a review of potentially inaccurate comparisons.

AB - Two-year colleges play an important role in facilitating transfers to four-year institutions. This has resulted in the demand to assess how well the community college systems train students for successful transfer to four-year bachelor-granting institutions. Existing datasets on two-year college transfer rates provides inconsistent and, sometimes, even contradicting answers. In this paper, we examine exactly why and how there are such varied results on two-year college transfer rates. Our findings indicate that there is no valid or universal measure of successful transfer programs. We find that such a measure is hindered by six factors: structural, technological, economic, governmental, and social. These factors make reliable comparisons of national and even statewide transfer success rates problematic. We suggest that policy makers should review existing datasets on two-year college transfer rates with a knowledgeable eye to avoid drawing inferences or making decisions based upon a review of potentially inaccurate comparisons.

KW - Sociology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79960094072&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/10668921003709101

DO - 10.1080/10668921003709101

M3 - Scientific review articles

AN - SCOPUS:79960094072

VL - 34

SP - 561

EP - 575

JO - Community College Journal of Research and Practice

JF - Community College Journal of Research and Practice

SN - 1066-8926

IS - 7

ER -