Survey Results

• Project Survey (see full report in PDF format)
• Research Synopsis (see full report in PDF format)

Overview of the Transfer Role

From the 1901 founding of Joliet Junior College, considered the first “community college,” a core function of the American two-year college has been transfer. As initially conceived, a well-equipped two-year college, with appropriately credentialed faculty, was assumed to be capable of offering instruction at the freshman and sophomore levels equal in rigor and breadth to a university and could do so in a setting of small classes with close faculty-student interaction. Those students who completed a prescribed sequence of general education and specialized courses over their two years at community college would then be able to transfer earned credits to a senior college and begin their studies at the senior college with full junior standing.

The capstone of a student’s two years of study at a community college was to be the Associate Degree, as introduced by William Rainey Harper at the University of Chicago late in the 19th century. This degree consisted of 60 semester hours, comprising general education courses designed to provide the student with mastery of basic college-level skills and an introduction to the major disciplinary fields. Very quickly, this single degree evolved into the Associate in Arts, with an emphasis upon general education courses in the liberal arts, and the Associate in Science, with an emphasis upon courses in the natural and physical sciences. Toward the end of the 20th century, the Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree has gained in popularity. This degree offers the student relatively limited exposure to general education courses, emphasizing instead discipline-specific vocational courses.

As the community college grew in number and enrollments over the course of the 20th century, many in the higher education community grew concerned that the Associate Degree, in whatever form, was failing to realize its full potential as a vehicle to facilitate transfer. Despite various initiatives, the number of Associate degrees awarded has not kept pace with growth in community college total enrollment, and, of even greater concern, a growing percentage of community college students were transferring to senior colleges and universities without first earning the degree or, had they earned the degree, were being admitted with less than junior standing.

Purpose of the Access to the Baccalaureate Survey

In an effort to identify both the obstacles to the Associate degree’s universal acceptance as the equivalent of the first two years of senior college/university study and to suggest specific steps at the state, system, and institutional levels that might address these barriers, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) collaborated on a survey of their respective memberships, comprising presidents and other administrators, faculty, and others at both two- and four-year colleges. The survey demonstrated a high degree of consensus among those surveyed with respect to both the barriers standing in the way of a revitalized Associate degree and strategies capable of removing existing barriers. Following is a summary of the survey’s findings.

Perceived Disparity of Standards

Despite a substantial body of research documenting the comparability in basic college skills and breadth of knowledge of Associate degree holders and native students, the barrier most frequently noted by survey participants is the perception that community college graduates are simply less well-prepared academically than students who began their studies at a four-year institution. This perception cut across institutional boundaries, emerging as the dominant undercurrent of all responses. Where four-year college and university faculty attributed this obstacle to a lack of intellectual challenge at two-year colleges (as one senior-college faculty member summarized the view of colleagues, “There is a belief among faculty that some two-year campuses lack academic standards with respect to course expectations in comparison with four-year-institutions”), two-year college faculty attributed the problem to a dismissive and unfounded attitude on the part of four-year faculty that community college courses simply lack the rigor and breadth of content of “equivalent” senior college courses.

In addition to this questioning of the comparative rigor of two-year college courses, the open-ended responses of survey participants, when clustered and compiled, revealed a high degree of consensus on a number of other, more specific barriers to baccalaureate transfer. These obstacles ranged from the process of transfer to such student-related factors as access and cost.

Articulation Issues

Beyond the issue of perceived comparability, the principal obstacle to successful transfer identified by survey participants was the complex set of inter-institutional arrangements collectively known as articulation. Essentially, articulation is the process by which two- and four-year colleges formally agree on the equivalency of courses, thereby permitting credits earned at the two-year college to be counted toward the baccalaureate at the four-year institution. Unfortunately, numerous obstacles frequently confront students who seek to transfer two-year college courses, even where there is a formal articulation agreement between the two institutions.

Among the many articulation barriers noted by two- and four-year faculty are the lack of any formal, inter-institutional agreement, the failure of senior-college officials to enforce existing agreements at the departmental level, the imposition by four-year colleges of additional general education requirements beyond those listed in the formal transfer agreement, and a more general failure to regularly review and publicize up-dated agreements.

Content and Comparability of Core Course work

According to survey participants, another major hindrance to transfer revolves around fundamental disagreement over the composition of the basic general education core expected of baccalaureate candidates. While in recent years a number of state legislatures have mandated a common general education core for all state two- and four-year institutions, the survey revealed that institutional adoption of this core has been inconsistent. Even faculty from four-year institutions acknowledged that, despite such mandates, “not all four-year institutions have adopted [the general education core.]” In the same vein, two-year college faculty reported that “Theory and practice for the [general education] model are often incongruent.”

A long-standing concern of two-year colleges seeking to promote transfer is the practice of some programs within four-year institutions to impose course requirements above and beyond institutional general education requirements. Some four-year programs argue that these requirements are mandated by program-specific accreditation standards (as in the case of NCATE), or the need for course prerequisites to upper-division courses which have no place as part of the institution’s general education core. Two-year college faculty, however, view the “inflexible” imposition of additional course requirements at the program level of four-year institutions not simply as obstacles to “seamless” transfer, but also as a means to indirectly limit the number of potential transfer students absent program-to-program transfer agreements.

Impact of the Associate of Applied Science Degree

The increasing popularity of the Associate in Applied Science (AA/AS) Degree has created a new, and largely unanticipated range of obstacles to seamless transfer. Among these obstacles, noted by four-year faculty, is that many institutions granting the AA/AS degree have yet to secure regional accreditation, and that the preponderance of courses included in these programs, because of their explicitly vocational orientation, have no general education equivalent at most four-year institutions. Two-year faculty note, however, that AA/AS degree holders are under increasing pressure from their employers to acquire the baccalaureate, because of the rapidly developing cognate base of these fields, and that this need could be readily met if more four-year colleges were to put aside their long-standing unwillingness to accept the academic legitimacy of vocational courses and programs.

Process and Information Flow

Not all obstacles to transfer, according to survey participants, are structural. Many originate in inadequate or flawed processes, especially with respect to the flow of accurate and timely transfer information among institutions, and between institutions and students. Two- and four-year faculty agreed that there is a pressing need to strengthen the knowledge base of faculty and staff at both institutions with respect to frequently changing transfer requirements. Two-year faculty reflected a particular concern that four-year institutions provide incomplete information on their current transfer requirements, or fail to routinely up-date transfer information. As one two-year faculty member observed, “The printed and Web-based materials reflecting articulation agreements are woefully lacking and out-of-date.”

Cost and Distance

Beyond institutional and process obstacles, two-year college faculty, in particular, noted a range of student-specific obstacles whose resolution will require innovative solutions. One such obstacle is distance – the fact that many graduates of geographically isolated two-year colleges are simply unable to relocate to a four-year institution often several hundred miles distant. A second obstacle within this cluster is the issue of cost. Not only do both two and four-year faculty agree that states have failed to provide the basic funding necessary to support the staff and processes essential to effective transfer, but that a general reduction in state support continues to raise the cost beyond the reach of many able students.

Solutions and Best Practices

Both two and four-year faculty reflected a high degree of agreement that any effort to reduce existing barriers to student transfer must begin with the development and implementation of effective articulation agreements. Ideally, such agreements would follow the 2+2 model, with the AAS Degree providing the student with all required general education courses as well as a limited number of introductory courses in the student’s desired field of study. Recalling the model initially proposed by William Rainey Harper, upper division courses would serve as a capstone to this program of study, leading to a field-specific baccalaureate degree. Certain states, notably Illinois and North Carolina, were frequently mentioned for having made progress in this direction, and providing possible models for other state systems.

Along with the introduction of 2+2 programs, many survey participants indicated the importance of combining such initiatives with program-to-program agreements, thereby ensuring transfer students a seamless transition into their desired cognate field. One model, Maryland’s recently adopted Associate of Arts in Teaching (AAT) degree, was cited as a potential model. At the same time, the widespread popularity of the AAS degree presents obstacles that even program-to-program initiatives may not easily resolve. Initiatives which either use upper division courses to provide AAS students with the general education courses they did not take at the community college, or the introduction of the BAAS degree reflect efforts on the part of both two- and four-year colleges to respond to growing employer demands for formal education that builds on the AAS degree. Another cluster of initiatives designed to facilitate transfer includes the introduction of a dual-credit/dual-enrollment option for community college students intent on the baccalaureate. Such programs guarantee admission to specific programs at four-year colleges, notably nursing and education, for those students who complete a prescribed program of study at the community college with a minimum grade point average.

Technology as the Key

In the view of survey participants, the resolution of information obstacles to transfer will come through an expanded and enhanced use of technology, particularly Web-based technology. Among the more established, Web-based systems maintained to facilitate transfer are Minnesota’s multi-system Web-site, Utah’s online academic advising system and ARTSYS, the articulation System for Maryland colleges and universities. Importantly, these Web-based systems are not only accessible to college personnel and students, but also to the general public, so that individuals can weigh their transfer options even before enrollment. No less importantly, these systems are well maintained to ensure accuracy and encourage states to explore other initiatives supportive of transfer, including common course numbering systems.

As with improving transfer information, a variety of technology-based initiatives are moving forward to eliminate the barriers of distance and access for place-bound AA/AS degree holders. One initiative, found in New Mexico, Texas and Kentucky, is the “virtual university.” The virtual university uses various technologies to bring upper division courses to isolated and place bound students in sparsely populated areas of these states. In other states, such as Florida, community colleges are being given specific legislative authority to offer baccalaureate degrees when senior institutions simply cannot meet the demand, while other states are exploring the joint use of facilities, so that a student can complete a baccalaureate degree on the same campus, even though lower and upper division courses are offered by two separate institutions.

Steps to Eliminate Cost as a Barrier

While apparently less widespread, some survey participants indicated that their institutions are taking significant steps to eliminate financial barriers to student transfer. Even during a period of limited new funding, some two and four-year colleges are purposefully reallocating aid or reducing tuition to support the transfer of both high-need and academically gifted students. Such initiatives include the creation of targeted financial aid programs, the award of earmarked financial aid to students who achieve high GPA’s prior to transfer, and a one-third reduction in tuition at state senior colleges for transfer students enrolled in a joint program and who have maintained a minimum 3.0 GPA.