Highlights From a Transfer Report

The Office of the Secretary of Higher Education for New Jersey made public its most recent report on the state of transfer in the state. Some of it is a bit inside baseball, but it contained a few observations that struck me as worthy of wider notice. In other words, I read it so you don’t have to. The short version is that it makes a nice rebuttal to some of the doom-and-gloom pieces gaining currency of late.

Some highlights:

• Ninety-one percent of the students who graduated with an A.A. or A.S. degree and then transferred to a senior public college or university in the state had all of their credits accepted.
• The remaining 9 percent included students who changed their majors upon transfer.
• “Transfer students graduate at a higher rate overall within 6 years of entry to their institution than their first-time student counterparts.” For students who transferred from a community college in-state, the bachelor’s degree graduation rate within 6 years was 76 percent. For those who completed the associate’s degree and then transferred, it was 78 percent.
• Unlike the sensational stories, the report notes correctly that the headline IPEDS graduation rate counts students who transfer early as dropouts, even if they subsequently complete the higher degree on time. Even allowing for that, though, graduation rates around the state continue to climb for both “native” and transfer students.

Some data points that might have been useful weren’t included, such as the rate of successful transfer of dual enrollment credits. That can be addressed in future reports. It’s also difficult to assess the success rate of transfer credits out of state, particularly to private institutions. But even allowing for those, the news is largely positive.

It’s also consistent with national findings that roughly half of all bachelor’s degree recipients have community college credits. They may or may not have bothered to pick up associate degrees, but they earned community college credits and used them. That could happen through dual enrollment, January classes, summer classes and/or transfer prior to graduation. The Boy even took a couple of classes at Brookdale on his way to his UVA degree. Inexpensive credits earned over breaks made some semesters more bearable.

There’s no shortage of ways to interpret statistics, of course. But seeing that students who graduate with an A.A. or A.S. and then transfer actually finish bachelor’s degrees at higher rates than students who started natively at four-year schools makes it hard to argue that the teaching at community college is below standard.

The overarching piece of bad news is that the number of transfer students has been dropping. That’s to be expected, given that the number of students in community colleges has been dropping. And I hope to see a closer examination of the fate of dual enrollment transfer credits in a subsequent report.

(Earlier this week I ran a poll on Twitter asking my tweeps if it’s okay to start a sentence with “And.” 86 percent said yes. I respect the result.)

Still, kudos to OSHE for compiling and sharing the data and kudos to all of the students who keep giving the lie to the community college stigma. That’s a story that deserves a larger audience.