Focusing on Transfer Student Retention: Zooming in on Best Practices

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Focusing on Transfer Student Retention Zooming
in on Best Practices

• Chris Hockey - SUNY Oswego, Transfer Services
  Coordinator
• Carol Costell Corbin - SUNY Cortland, Transfer
  Credit Coordinator
• Chris Keffer - St. John Fisher College, Transfer
  and Adult Services Coordinator
• Kelly Lamb - SUNY Albany, Transfer Experience
  Coordinator

NYSTAA Annual Conference 2008
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Retention Committee Background
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Why It Was Started

• Lack of time for Issues Committee to deal with
  research and best practices of all areas within
  transfer
• Growing number of Transfer Services Professionals
• Perceived lack of professional diversity within
  NYSTAA

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How We Got Started

• Proposal made to E-Board at 2007 Conference
• Committee granted ad-hoc status with
  representation on E-Board
• Began active search for members who work with
  transfers from a services or retention
  perspective
• First meeting held in September 2007

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Committee Members

• Chris Hockey - SUNY Oswego
• Marlee Burgess - Nazareth College
• Carol Costell Corbin - SUNY Cortland
• Camille Girardi-Levy - Siena College
• Lia Hallett - University of Buffalo
• Chris Keffer - St. John Fisher
• Maria Kendzierski - SUNY Buffalo
• Kelly Lamb - SUNY Albany

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Committee Members

• Jim Maio - Mohawk Valley CC
• Aimee Miloro - Erie CC
• Meg Nowak - Ithaca College
• Cathleen Sheils - Cornell University
• Tanya Strachan - University of Rochester
• Heather Stevens - Tompkins-Cortland CC
• Michelle Thibault - SUNY Oneonta
• Eric Zizza - Cayuga CC

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How We Got Started

• Decided on topics to discuss and research
• At-Risk Transfers
• Data Collection
• Mentor Programs
• Orientation Programs
• Transfer Advisement
• Broke topics up into sub-committees with each
  region focusing on one topic
• Eastern Region - Orientation Programs
• Buffalo Region - Transfer Advisement
• Central Region - Data Collection
• Rochester Region - Mentor Programs
• Southern Region - At-Risk Transfers

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Data Collection

• Central Region

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What Do We Know?What Do We Want to Know?

• Do you already have information on your campus?
• How is transfer information collected on your
  campus? Who collects it? How is it distributed?
• What data are you collecting? Does the data meet
  your needs?
• How does your data help you provide new services
  and improve current ones?

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Survey Instruments

• Data Collection sub-committee set out to create a
  survey instrument that would provide transfer
  professionals with a variety of information

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Survey Topics

• Factors influencing decisions
• Reasons for attending institution
• Ranking expectations
• Demographic information
• Financial Aid information
• Expectations for graduation
• Associate degree? How many credits?
• Attended orientation?
• Employment
• Living situation
• Extra-curricular information

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Central Region Sub-Committee

• Chris Hockey, Transfer Services Coordinator
• SUNY Oswego
• chockey_at_oswego.edu
• Eric Zizza, Transfer Counselor
• Cayuga Community College
• zizza_at_cayuga-cc.edu

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At-Risk Transfer Students

• Southern Region

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How Do You Define At-Risk?

• Qualitative and quantitative approaches
  students are not at-risk just due to academic
  preparedness or entering GPA
• Personal experiences i.e. mental health issues,
  financial issues, family situations
• Cultural fit of institution for students
• Transitional Issues

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Other At-risk Populations

• Students with below admission-level GPA and
  accepted through a special program
• EOP
• Special talent athletes
• Certain scholarship programs
• These students are more easily identifiable as
  at-risk, but have support systems in place

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Our Focus

• Encouraging the creation of an individualized
  definition of at-risk for our campuses and
  programs, yet
• Recognizing that all transfer students are
  at-risk despite solid entering GPA, and
• Recognizing the transfer shock phenomenon of
  all students and providing timely and appropriate
  outreach

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Strategies to Support Students

• Designate one transfer expert on your campus as
  a starting point for transfer questions and
  concerns who can then make referrals as necessary
• Visibility and accessibility of transfer expert
• Create and distribute information that is
  specific to the transfer student population
• Provide opportunities for new transfer students
  on campus to interact with returning transfer
  students

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Strategies to Support Students

• Identify faculty/staff (outside of transfer
  professionals on campus) who have an interest in
  working with transfers provide information to
  students or opportunities to connect
• Explain our campus culture and unwritten
  expectations of students
• Avoid language that assumes transfers are at a
  deficit avoid campus jargon with new students

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Strategies to Support Faculty/Staff

• Provide information regarding transfer policies
  and transfer student experience to faculty
• Through established advising workshops/programs
• Through websites
• Engage in discussions about transfer issues on
  campus where appropriate to raise awareness
• Share information between offices/make referrals
  to support transfers, i.e. counseling assistance,
  scholarship opportunities

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Strategies to Support Faculty/Staff

• Share student profiles frequently with
  faculty/staff to recognize academic preparedness
  and accomplishment
• Total number of matriculated transfers
• Incoming average GPA of transfer class
• Average number of credits transferred
• Number of transfer students inducted into honor
  societies

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Southern Region Sub-Committee

• Carol Costell Corbin, Transfer Credit Coordinator
• SUNY Cortland
• costellc_at_cortland.edu
• Meg Nowak, Assistant Dean, School of Business
• Ithaca College
• mnowak_at_ithaca.edu
• Heather Stevens, Coordinator of Transfer Services
• Tompkins/Cortland Community College
• stevenh_at_tc3.edu
• Cathy Sheils, Associate Director, Admissions
• Cornell University
• crm3_at_cornell.edu

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Transfer Orientation Programs

• Eastern Region

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Questions Asked of Our Survey Schools

• Does your institution have a Transfer Orientation
  Program currently?
• If you offer Transfer Orientation, does it
  include registration for courses?
• What parts of your Orientation do you believe are
  most effective?
• What do you see as the current flaws in your
  program?
• Is your program mandatory?
• Approximately what percentage of your transfer
  students attend your Orientation program?

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General Findings

• All schools that responded did have some type of
  Transfer Orientation Program. These were mostly
  1 or 2 day programs held in the summer.
• Some programs were offered in conjunction with a
  continued orientation session in the fall.
• A few schools did not separate their transfer
  program from the freshman program.
• A majority of respondents did have
  advising/registration as a part of the
  orientation.

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What Is Being Done at Orientation?

• 2 basic types of activities
• Business tasks
• Social/developmental activities
• Often difficulty in balancing the two students
  are focused on the business, faculty/staff are
  focused on transitional issues.
• In the end, most institutions do seem to follow
  the feedback of their students, and use a one
  stop shopping approach.

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Advising/Registration at Orientation

• Of the 35 responses, 23 indicated that
  registration is included in Orientation.
• 26 schools indicated that advising is included.
• Advising/registration is often held until the end
  of the day.
• Many of the schools that did not advise/register
  at orientation had a program that allowed
  students to do these tasks from home before the
  orientation program.

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What Are the Primary Flaws In Transfer
Orientations?

• Not interactive/engaging
• We dont need it!
• The many faces of a transfer student
• Time
• Course availability
• Mixing of transfers and freshmen
• More faculty involvement needed

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What are the Best Practices?

• Course registration/advisement
• Time with major department
• Time to take care of business
• Time to speak with current students who have
  transferred
• Time to ask specific/individual questions
• Mandatory!

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Eastern Region Sub-Committee

• Camille Girardi-Levy, Director of Academic
  Advising
• Siena College
• girardi_at_siena.edu
• Kelly Lamb, Transfer Experience Coordinator
• University at Albany
• kburke_at_uamail.albany.edu
• James Maio, Counselor
• Mohawk Valley Community College
• jmaio_at_mvcc.edu
• Michelle Thibault, Associate Director of Academic
  Support
• SUNY Oneonta
• thibaumw_at_oneonta.edu

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Transfer Student Advisement

• Buffalo Region

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• Sub-committee assigned to the topic ADVISING
  decided that their primary goal this year would
  be simply to better understand how students are
  advised in the two-year/community college setting
  and at the 4-year/senior institutions, in other
  words before and after transfer.
• The committee proceeded with a survey method of
  collecting information and then focused on
  identifying best-practices, areas for
  improvement and implications of advising on the
  retention and success of transfer students.
• Specifically they gathered data in three areas
  1) the structure/function/staffing of advising
  offices 2) advising procedures (first
  advisement/registration, mandatory advisement,
  supplemental advising) 3) transfer
  credit/articulation.

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• There was some overlap (with the Orientation
  sub-committee) in what they learned about
  transfer orientation because, for many
  institutions, advising is part of the orientation
  program/process.
• Additionally, they also gathered information
  about transfer course articulation since this too
  is closely related to academic advising and
  sometimes both occur in the same office.

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• The members of this sub-committee are
• Lia Hallett, University at Buffalo
• Maria Kendzierski, Buffalo State College
• Aimee Spahn, Erie Community College
• This committee has developed its project into a
  separate presentation for this conference. The
  presentation is titled Cropping Enlarging
  Reframing Our Knowledge Of Transfer Advisement
  Models and is during session IV today at 1215
  p.m.

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Transfer Mentor Programs

• Rochester Region

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Transfer Student Mentor Programs Lit Review

• Review of transfer mentor programs found on web
  include
• SUNY ESF
• Penn State University
• Oklahoma State University
• NYU
• UCLA
• Tau Sigma Transfer Student Honor Society
• Most programs are peer-based, frequently related
  to orientation. Most are focused on retention,
  one on recruitment of new transfer students.

Peer mentors must be trained to understand their
role and its limitations. No research-based
articles found specific to transfer student
mentor programs.
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Expanding the Mentoring Program Concept

• Types of Programs
• Freshmen
• Athlete
• Underrepresented Student Populations (first gen,
  EOP/HEOP)
• Academic
• Personal
• Peer to peer
• Success coaches
• Academic Discipline
• Science scholars, honors
• Artistic
• Female Engineers
• Academic Advisement
• At Risk many of the above

• Who can be a Mentor?
• Peer
• Faculty
• Staff

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Why Mentoring? What Do Our Transfer Students
Need? We want to know the following

• The comfort level of transfer students toward the
  end of their 1st semester
• If existing programs have contributed to transfer
  students comfort levels
• If there are gaps/room for improvement in the
  resources that we offer
• What students find important to their transition

• If students have encountered any problems in
  their 1st semester
• If so, the nature of the problem
• Who, if anybody, the student has gone to for
  assistance
• If the student has met with their advisor, and
  their level of satisfaction with that experience.

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Next Steps

• Review our process
• - what did we learn?
• Analyze data
• - are there themes or new information?
• Review and/or revise programming
• - can or should we make changes?
• Develop measurable outcomes for specific programs
• - are we achieving the program goals?

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What Weve Learned So Far

• Dont forget to differentiate between part-time
  and full-time students on surveys
• Informational e-mails about campus
  programs/resources are used
• Regularly asking transfer students about their
  experience is a good practice as it promotes our
  greater connection to students
• Value in working with colleagues at peer
  institutions on student experience efforts
• Larger N
• Professionals working from different points of
  view
• Shared strategies for working with transfer
  students
• Professional growth and development of local
  contacts
• Some outreach strategies work better than others
• Timing of survey efforts important its success.

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Rochester Region Sub-Committee

• Marlee Burgess, Director of Student
  Transition/First Year Center
• Nazareth College
• mburges4_at_naz.edu
• Chris Keffer, Transfer and Adult Services
  Coordinator
• St. John Fisher College
• ckeffer_at_sjfc.edu
• Tanya Strachan, Transfer Admission Counselor
• University of Rochester
• tanya.strachan_at_rochester.edu

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The Future
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Where To Go From Here

• Retention Committee is now a standing
  sub-committee of the Issues Committee
• Continuing the current conversations and adding
  new ones
• Looking for new members

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Q A
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Thank You!!