Tracking Transfer: Four-Year Institutional Effectiveness in Broadening Bachelor's Degree Attainment

A bachelor's degree is increasingly necessary for securing a job that pays a family-supporting wage, yet while most community college students aspire to transfer and complete a bachelor's degree, too few make it through to this goal. As is clear from the companion report on community college transfer outcomes, some responsibility for this lies with community colleges. But four-year institutions--which tend to have more financial resources to invest in student success--also need to do more to serve students who transfer from community colleges. These students make up a substantial proportion of four-year enrollments and tend to be more diverse in terms of family income, race, and age than students who start college at a four-year institution. Yet, as this report shows, although more than 80% of community college transfer students are retained into their second year, only about half complete a bachelor's degree within four years after transferring, and completion rates are even lower for low-income, Black, Native American, and older students. This report, which provides first-of-its-kind data on four-year institution outcomes for community college transfer students, is designed to be used by university and state-system leaders to set clear goals for eliminating disparities and expanding transfer opportunity for all students who start at a community college with the dream of earning a bachelor's degree. The analysis in this report offers insights into how effective four-year institutions are in enrolling and supporting community college transfer students. Using data on students who entered four-year institutions in 2015-16, we report on the prevalence of transfer, the retention and bachelor's completion outcomes of community college transfer students, and the extent to which they are represented among graduates in various majors. We disaggregate findings and examine differential outcomes for low-income, Black, Hispanic, and older students (those 25 years old or older). [The authors acknowledge research for this report was conducted through a partnership between the Aspen Institute's College Excellence Program; the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University; and the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Additional funding was provided by Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research.]