Tracking Transfer Student Progress

Alice van OmmerenSenior Researcher

California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office

Christine KellerDirector of Research/VSA Executive Director

Association of Public & Land-grant Universities

Martha Ellis Associate Vice Chancellor Community College Partnerships

University of Texas System

Focus of Presentation

Tracking the progress and success of students who transfer to a 4-year institution to earn a

bachelor’s degree.

“Tracking Facts”

Over 60% of 4-year college graduates attend more than one institution

Community colleges seen as access point and pathway to a bachelor’s degree – but transfer rates are low

No standard, agreed upon way to track the progress and success of transfer students

Larger Context and Relevance

Obama administration goal of “highest degree attainment in the world” within a decade 870,000 to 1.06 million more degrees

70% of high school students enroll in college, half leave with a degree

Transfer rates from community colleges to universities very low

To increase degree attainment must know more about progress of transfer students

California Community Colleges

Alice van OmmerenResearch & Planning

California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office

CCC Transfer Tracking System

110 colleges, 72 districts, 2.5 million studentsStudent, course and faculty/staff dataColleges submit end of term, since 1993-94Student identifiers allow for matching

CCC CSU/UC National Student Clearinghouse

Transfer Matching

California Community Colleges• Vertical transfers• First-time freshmen

CSU/UC match• Public system transfer

NSC match• Private system transfers (non- and for-profits)• Out-of-State transfers (public and private

Transfer System Metrics

Metric #1 - Volume of Transfers “How many students with at least 12 units

transferred in year X from CCC’s to four-year institutions?”

Metric # 2 -Transfer Rates “Of students with behavioral intent to

transfer who started in Year X, what % of them eventually transferred in X number of years?”

Volume of Transfers

Segments Approximate California State University ~ 48,000 (51%)University of California ~ 13,000 (14%)Non-Profit Private 4-year ~ 14,000 (15%)For-Profit Private 4-Year ~ 12,000 (13%)Out-of-State (Public) ~ 7,000 (8%)

Top For-Profit Transfer Schools

Frequency Percent

University of Phoenix 8,868 73.5%

DeVry University California 855 7.1%

ITT Technical Institute 786 6.5% Academy of Art University 544 4.5% Ashford University 397 3.3% Argosy University 155 1.3% Capella University 116 1.0% Grand Canyon University 116 1.0% Walden University 76 0.6% Strayer University 74 0.6%

Who goes where?

CSU UCNon

ProfitFor

Profit

White47.9

%43.0

%55.8% 41.0%

Black/Afr Am 5.7% 3.3% 9.5% 16.3%

Hispanic26.9

%16.2

%21.3% 30.1%

Asian19.5

%37.5

%13.4% 12.6%

Transfer Rate

Transfer Rate DefinitionBehavioral intent - 12 units &

attempted transfer Math or EnglishTime to transfer - 6 years (10 is

better)

Transfer Rate ResultsAverage Statewide - 42%Highest College - 58%Lowest College - 13%

Transfer Rates Demographics

EthnicityAsian - 56% White - 44% Hispanic - 31%Black - 36%

OtherAge - lower rates for 25 plusGender – same rates

Comparing Transfer Rates

Predictors of TransferBachelor attainment of the service areaPercent of students over age 25

Transfer Rate AdjustmentsExpected and actual transfer rates

Peer Grouping of Transfer Rates Clusters colleges that are alike for

comparison

Policy and Program Implications

Volume of TransferEnrollment managementMarket share of private sector Flow of underrepresented students

Transfer RatesProgram evaluation purposesTransfer initiatives

Martha Ellis, Ph.D.Associate Vice Chancellor Community College Partnerships

University of Texas System

State of Texas

UT System 9 general academic

institutions 6 health science

centers 195,107 students 33% of all students

enrolled in academic institutions

67% of all students enrolled in health-related institutions

7 other university systems in Texas

50 Community College Districts—Independent

610,500 students 75% of the state’s

freshmen and sophomores

78% of all Texas minority students in higher education

Definitions

Transfer student is one who has successfully completed 30 SCH at another institution Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

does track by community college to university but student unit tracking not available to institutions

Core completer—completion of general education hours at community college

Associate Degree completer

  UTA UTAUS UTBUTD UTEP UTPA UTPB UTSA UTT Totals

Core Curriculum Completer 604 92 40 336 226 246 6 190 318 2058

GPA First Year:  < 2.0 111 13 5 46 25 20 0 35 52 307

GPA First Year:  2.0 - 2.49 93 9 1 50 30 36 1 35 53 308

GPA First Year:  2.5 -2.9 128 14 5 69 35 50 0 30 64 395

GPA First Year:  3.0 - 3.49 122 26 15 97 61 68 1 40 87 517

GPA First Year:  3.5 > 142 30 14 65 67 67 4 47 50 486GPA First Year UNK 8 0 0 9 8 5 0 3 12 45

UTS: Core Completers and GPA

  UTA UTAUS UTB UTD UTEP UTPA UTPB UTSA UTT TotalsAcademic and Technical Degree Transfers 663 92 81 332 275 262 80 323 261 2369GPA First Year:  < 2.0 114 8 13 38 33 19 4 58 39 326GPA First Year:  2.0 - 2.49 100 10 7 51 37 39 9 48 44 345GPA First Year:  2.5 -2.9 131 15 11 68 41 56 14 55 59 450GPA First Year:  3.0 - 3.49 142 27 19 101 75 73 29 74 63 603GPA First Year:  3.5 > 165 31 30 67 80 70 21 84 44 592

GPA First Year UNK 11 1 1 7 9 5 3 4 12 53

UTS: Associate Degree Completers and GPA

UTS: Qualitative Research

Focus Groups with successful community college transfer studentsCredit hours upon transfer Hours lost upon

transfer

Demographics:50 %male/female 46% 1st Generation 47%Hispanic, 38% White, 7% African American, 7% Asian59% 18-24 yrs of age 41% 25 yrs and older

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Percentage Of students

8-29 sch

30-59 sch

60-66 sch

67-77 sch

78-125 sch

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Percentage of students

0 sch

3-12 sch

13-24 sch

25-45 sch

N/A

Transfer Students Speak

Students say: Advising is lacking at both cc and university Academically well prepared by cc for university Customer service needs to be improved in student

services Must be highly self motivated to navigate the system

Recommendations: Use transfer students as ambassadors, Provide better information and utilize technology Eliminate competitive attitudes between institutions

Policy changes

Accountability report includes transfer enrollments and graduation www.utsystem.edu/OSM/accountability/2008/homepage.htm

Associate Vice Chancellor for Community College Partnerships

Statewide initiative with UTS, Texas A&M University, and Texas Association of Community Colleges

Joint legislative platformPublic awareness campaign Transfer101.org

www.transfer101.0rg

Challenges

Student unit tracking dataComprehensive transfer action plans that

include sharing of student dataConsistent information about state policies

for core curriculum Competition for students based on current

funding model and therefore reluctance to share information

Definitions and tracking beyond 1 year for GPA

Christine KellerDirector of Research and Policy Analysis

Executive Director, Voluntary System of AccountabilityAssociation of Public and Land-grant Universities

National Examples

Other Measures of Student Progress

Success & Progress Rate Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA) National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) data

Time-to-Degree APLU/Sloan Foundation Grant National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) data

Community College Transfer Survey The Consortium for Student Retention Data

Exchange (CSRDE) - University of Oklahoma

3,300 postsecondary institutions

92% of U.S. enrollment - 16.4 million students

86 million current and historical records

70% of degrees awarded in the U.S.

StudentTracker provides mechanism to combine institution data with NSC data for variety of analyses and tracking

Overview of NSC Database

Developed as alternative to IPEDS graduation rate

Focuses on student success in higher education system

VSA Success & Progress Rate

Tracks student progress across 2-year and 4-year institutions using NSC data

New cohort query available to all Student Tracker users

Pilot project by APLU and NSC, funded by Sloan Foundation

Test common method for calculating undergraduate time-to-degree using days enrolled

Combines NSC and institution data

Benefits: comprehensive, comparable

Time-to-Degree

Percent Time at Home Institutionby Admit Status

Admit Status N Time Period

Home Institution

(mean)

All Institutions

(mean)

% Time at Home Institution

Full-timeFirst-timeStudents

4148 YearsTermsDays

4.59.4

1042.8

4.910.2

1134.0

92%

Transfer Students

1918 YearsTermsDays

3.57.0

792.7

5.712.0

1345.5

59%

Transfer Students: Days at Home Institution and Other Institutions

954 718 869

488 428 580

792

538

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Research Midwest East Southeast

Other

Home

TTD by Admit Status & Pell Grant

1,103

973

1,1891,222

1078

1,225

900

1,000

1,100

1,200

1,300

Pell No Pell

ResearchEastSoutheast

Freshmen

1,259

1,116

1,4161,479

1,248

1,518

900

1,000

1,100

1,200

1,300

1,400

1,500

1,600

Pell No Pell

ResearchEastSoutheast

Transfers

Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange (CSRDE) - University of

Oklahoma

Voluntary data exchange among 500+ two-year and four-year institutions

Comparative benchmarking data on retention and graduation by cohort 2-year cohorts: first-time full-time; first-time

part-time 4 year cohorts: first-time full-time; first-time

full-time STEM, community college transfersCommunity College Transfer Survey tracks

full- and part-time cohorts with over 30 credit hours

Graduation Rates by Race/EthnicityFall 2000-2006 Cohorts

Hayes, R. (ED). (2009) CSRDE Community College Transfer Report: The Retention and Graduation Rates of 2000-07 Community College Transfer Cohorts in 113 College and Universities

 

Two-Year Three-Year Four-Year

(2000-06) (2000-05) (2000-04)

Black 16.3% 38.0% 49.2%

Hispanic 21.0% 48.2% 60.2%

Asian 20.3% 48.8% 61.2%

White 22.4% 50.5% 62.2%

113 four-year institutions

Questions?

Concurrent Session 1:

Follow up: Tracking Student Progress

Advarado F

Alice van OmmerenCalifornia Community College Chancellor’s Officeavanommeren@cccco.edu

Christine KellerAPLU Director of ResearchVSA Executive Directorckeller@aplu.org

Martha Ellis Associate Vice Chancellor Community College Partnershipsmellis@utsystem.edu