Not in Kansas Anymore

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Not in Kansas Anymore

• Taking Care of Your Transfer Students

Christopher Hockey Transfer Services
Coordinator SUNY Oswego
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Where We Are Headed

• Who are our transfer students?
• What challenges do transfer students face?
• How can we improve the transfer experience?
• Housing
• Socialization
• Transitional Programs
• Communication/Technology
• The Future of Transfers
• Discussion/Questions/Comments

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Who Are Transfer Students?

• FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT!
• NO TWO TRANSFER STUDENTS ARE ALIKE!
• About ½ of all CC students transfer to a 4-year
• Only 1/3 of those students transfer with an
  associates.
• 48 are racial and ethnic minorities.
• 74 of transfer students are 24 or older.
• 15-20 drop out within first year at 4 year.
• Only 15-20 of students intending to get
  Bachelors actually do

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Who Are Transfer Students?

• Many are coming from CCs with housing.
• Transfers engage in required, class-related
  effective educational practices to same degree as
  native students.
• Transfers are less engaged in out-of-class
  discretionary activities.
• Life exigencies (work, family) may preclude
  taking advantage of learning opportunities.

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Who Are Transfer Students

• Come from less advantaged backgrounds.
• 1st generation college and 1st to graduate from
  high school.
• Extremely dependent upon financial aid and fewer
  means to get it.
• 57 of community college students work more than
  20 hours per week.
• 36 of community college students care for
  dependents.
• 21 of community college students commute (and
  spend significant time doing so).

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Do You Know Your Transfers?

• Avoid making assumptions about your transfer
  students based upon national data.
• Go to the source your floor, your building,
  your campus, your students.
• Utilize data from existing sources.
• Admissions data
• National surveys and assessment tools.

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Challenges for Transfers

• Direct Challenges
• Academic under-preparedness
• Social deficiencies
• Negative perceptions of transfers
• Financial stress
• Challenge-of-choice
• Lack of connection with someone at the
  institution.
• Environmental Change
• Unrealistic expectations

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Challenges for Transfers

• Indirect Challenges
• Limited institutional support
• Lack of research and information about them
• Little to no transfer student tracking

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Improving the Transfer Experience

• Housing
• Socialization
• Transitional Programs
• Communication/Technology

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Housing

• Options are crucially important for entering
  transfer students.
• Family housing
• Suite/apartment style
• The ability for transfers to see their housing
  before making a selection.
• Roommate selection process.
• Room selection process.
• Living-Learning Communities for Transfers.

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Living-Learning Communities

• TIGS
• Designed as First Year Interest Group
• University of Texas at Austin
• http//www.utexas.edu/student/vpsa/fig/trigs.php
• Interest Housing
• Syracuse University/ESF
• WiSE Transfer-LC
• Women in Science and Engineering
• Iowa State University
• http//www.pwse.iastate.edu/oncampus/transferlearn
  ingcommunity.htm

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Socialization

• The social relationships mean everything
• Tau Sigma National Honor Society
• Specifically for Transfer Students
• Created out of Auburn U in 2000
• Transfer Mentor Programs
• NYU Transfer Buddy Program
• U of Florida College of Engineering
• Transfer Assistants in Residence
• Transfer Ambassadors

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Transitional Program (Orientation)

• Create a separate transitional program for
  transfer students
• Move away from one size fits all models
• Online programs
• One day visits
• Overnight programs w/ student parents
• Use more mature themes
• Provide activities for social interaction
• Provide hands-off informational sessions

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Communication

• Challenges
• Transfer students need information and want
  services that they dont know they need or want
  until after graduation.
• A transfer student is only a transfer student
  until the first day of classes.
• Possible Solutions
• Designate a transfer expert
• Transfer newsletters
• Talk to your transfers early and often

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Technology

• Transfer friendly websites
• What turns up when you search for transfer on
  your website?
• Utilize stat trackers to understand population
  and flow
• Using online chat systems
• http//www.meebo.com
• Facebook/Myspace transfer groups
• Listservs

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The Future of Transfers

• 6.67 million students enrolled at Community
  Colleges by 2010
• Enrollment rate increase for Community Colleges
  is 32
• As tuition rises, enrollment at CCs will
  increase.
• By 2015, numbers of native students will decline.
• Increasing amount of CCs offering Bachelors.

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• Questions, Comments, Discussion

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References

• The College Transfer Student in America The
  Forgotten Student AACRAO Bonita Jacobs
• Transfer Students Trends and Issues New
  Directions for Community Colleges, Summer 2001
• The Transfer Transition A Summary of Key Issues,
  Target Areas and Tactics for Reform Joseph
  Cuseo