The (50) State(s) of Transfer Data by Alex Anacki and Jessica Steiger

Students are told that enrolling in a community college is a smart, affordable on-ramp to a bachelor’s degree—two years at community college, two years at a university and then a degree. But in reality, only a small percentage of students transfers and graduates. About 450,000 students transfer each year, but far too many others get waylaid by broken systems.

To fix the problem, we have to know what’s causing it. However, the kinds of data needed to fix transfer are nonexistent or severely lacking in most states, according to a new analysis of public reporting data conducted by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program and the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

Why Does This Matter?

These obstacles to transferring affect hundreds of thousands of students, and the income mobility a bachelor’s degree confers is life-changing. In order to design transfer systems that work for everyone, it is imperative that we have the data to understand students’ experiences and to make the case for investments in reform.

Click here to read more.