Transfer Partnerships: Lessons to Improve Student Success During and After COVID-19 - Volume 11 - Data Note May 2020

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob

Transfer Partnerships: Lessons to Improve Student Success During and After COVID-19 examines how uncertainty during the pandemic affects students moving from community colleges to universities. The brief analyzes bachelor’s degree completion for transfer students across Colorado, Minnesota, and Ohio, and reviews policies and practices in Washington. It emphasizes equity gaps affecting racially minoritized and lower-income students and highlights research-based lessons from transfer partnerships, including the need for coordinated supports, pathway guidance, and shared disaggregated data.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Racial Inequities in the Transfer Process

Bachelor’s degree completion differences by race, ethnicity, and income

Data Disaggregation and Sharing

Gathering and sharing disaggregated data to close equity gaps

Transfer Partnerships Lessons for Student Success

Strengthening supports and pathways from start to finish

COMMUNITY COLLEGE RESEARCH INITIATIVES TRANSFER PARTNERSHIPS SERIES Transfer Partnerships: Lessons to Improve Student Success During and After COVID-19 Debra Bragg, Lia Wetzstein, Elizabeth Apple Meza, & Theresa (Ling) Yeh DATA NOTE 11 | MAY 2020 Transferring from a community college to a university is a time of uncertainty for students. Leaving a familiar environment to attend another school where everything and everyone is new creates stress. Navigating a college journey that requires cutting ties during COVID-19 is especially daunting, yet this is exactly what we expect transfer students to do. We empathize with these students, and we write this brief to share research on transfer partnerships that focuses on improving transfer student outcomes. In December 2020, our New Directions for Community Colleges (NDCC) issue on “Transfer Partnerships for More Equitable Student Outcomes”(Volume 192) will be released, but we believe current times call for sharing results now (the table of contents appears at the end of this brief so readers can see the full spectrum of themes covered in the volume) . We studied baccalaureate completion for students who transfer from community colleges to universities in three states (Colorado, Minnesota, and Ohio), and we also examined policies and practices in Washington, a state demonstrating some of the highest transfer student bachelor’s degree completion in the U.S. An important part of our research is to understand gaps in baccalaureate attainment for racially minoritized and lower-income students relative to White and higher-income students. Disseminating policies and practices that help students succeed in navigating transfer pathways during COVID-19 is important now. In advancing these ideas, we also seek to help improve policies and practices to increase baccalaureate attainment for racially minoritized and low-income transfer students beyond this moment and into the future. During the COVID-19 crisis, as higher education institutions are working even harder to keep students in college, we urge them to pay close attention to transfer students. Vulnerable populations may face a lack of access to health care and dire economic circumstances that leave them no choice but to pick work over school. To succeed in college right now, students need resources and support that institutions have limited experience providing, straining their own capacity to respond and survive. During these tumultuous times, it is critical for colleges and universities to stay in touch with how transfer students are doing and what they need to succeed. Any college student could become a transfer student due to the unpredictability of our times. Thus it becomes crucially important for the higher education community to understand students’ rapidly evolving needs and ensure equitable student outcomes are a top priority. The remainder of this brief presents lessons learned from our research on transfer partnerships and equitable student outcomes that is featured in the forthcoming NDCC volume. We describe observations and insights from our team, and we also invite partners in our research to share their thoughts and actions. We hope the brief provides food for thought on the necessity for higher education to create more equitable transfer partnerships and pathways during and after COVID-19. [uw. edu/cc ri](uw. edu/cc ri) 1 TRANSFER PARTNERSHIPS SERIES | Transfer Partnerships: Lessons to Improve Student Success During and After COVID-19 RACIAL INEQUITIES IN THE TRANSFER PROCESS The bachelor’s degree completion rate for students who transfer from a community college to a university differs substantially for students of different racial, ethnic, and income groups. Nationally, while almost one in four Asian students and one in five White students complete a bachelor’s degree in six years, just one in 10 Hispanic students and about one in 12 African-American students do so (Shapiro et al. 2017, p. 2). O

FAQs

What is the central focus of this brief?

The brief shares research on transfer partnerships and how they can improve transfer student outcomes during and after COVID-19.

Which student groups experience the largest gaps in transfer completion?

Racially minoritized and lower-income students face gaps in bachelor’s degree attainment compared with White and higher-income students.

Why is data disaggregation important in transfer partnerships?

Examining transfer by race and ethnicity helps close equity gaps, and partnerships benefit from gathering and sharing disaggregated data between institutions.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jacob