Lit Review #1

Zamani, Eboni M. "Institutional Responses to Barriers to the Transfer Process." New Directions for Community Colleges.114 (2001): 15. Print.

Eboni M. Zamani-Gallaher is Professor of Educational Leadership and Coordinator of the Community College Leadership Program in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at Eastern Michigan University. She holds a Ph.D. in higher education administration with a specialization in community college leadership and educational evaluation from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Zamani-Gallaher’s teaching, research, and consulting activities largely include psychosocial adjustment and transition of marginalized collegians, transfer, access policies, women in leadership, and institutional practices affecting work and family balance. 

The article is called Institutional Responses to Barriers to the Transfer Process. In this article there are many quotes I could use that relate to my paper. 

Here are some examples:

"Low-income and non-Asian minority students have lower transfer and program completion rates, compared with their white counterparts from families with higher annual income"

"The lack of financial resources is one of many barriers facing community college students who are attending, persisting, and, in some cases, ultimately transferring to four-year institutions"

"Two-year students at commuter campuses are typically on campus less often than are students at four-year institutions because of work responsibilities; they attempt fewer credit hours and they interact with faculty members less as a result of residing away from the college"

"It is estimated that residential students are 43 percent more likely to persist and complete degree requirements than are commuter student" 

"In addition to institutional type, poor student transitions between two- and four-year institutions often reflect a lack of student-college fit"

"Community colleges primarily face the difficulty of determining how to best facilitate student transfer to senior-level postsecondary institutions"

These quotes give some great examples of what kind of barriers students face when transferring from a community college to a four-year institution.

Blog #5

 Altavena, Lily. "4 Out of 5 in Community College Want to Transfer, Report Says." The Choice. New York Times, 14 Jul 2011. Web. Web. 21 Apr. 2013. <http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/14/community-college-transfer>.

Bowen, W. G., M. M. Chingos, and M. S. McPherson. Crossing the finish line, completing college at america's public universities. Princeton Univ Pr, 2009. Print.  

CollegeBoard, The. Cumulative Earnings by Education Level. 2013. 18 April 2013. <http://trends.collegeboard.org/education-pays/figures-tables/cumulative-earnings-education-level>.

HOUSE, J. (n.d). THE EFFECT OF TIME OF TRANSFER ON ACADEMIC-PERFORMANCE OF COMMUNITY-COLLEGE TRANSFER STUDENTS. Journal Of College Student Development, 30(2), 144-147

Laanan, F. S. E. Transfer students: Trends and issues.. 29. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc, 2001. Print.

Langenkamp, Amy G. "Effects of Educational Transitions on Students' Academic Trajectory: A Life Course Perspective." Sociological Perspectives 54.4 (2011): 497-520. ProQuest Social Sciences Premium Collection. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.

Rodriguez, Nancy C. Transferring to a four-year school: Barriers remain but aren’t insurmountable. 29 October October 29. 28 February 2013.   

Toland, Vaughn. Community College Transfer Student Integration. LAP Lambert Acad. Publ., 2010.

Zamani, Eboni M. "Institutional Responses to Barriers to the Transfer Process." New Directions for Community Colleges.114 (2001): 15. Print. 

Research Proposal

Michelle Fraser
Professor Goeller
Research in Disciplines: College!
February 26, 2013
Research Proposal

Working Title: Decreasing transfer shock
Topic

I will explore how transferring from a community college to a four year school affects students. The paper will discuss effects such as credit transfer, financial burden, as well as adjustment issues.

The Research Question
           What are the barriers that students face transferring from a community college to a four year university? How can these barriers be reduced or eliminated? Such as “in Florida, a legislatively mandated system standardizes more than 120,000 courses offered at its 28 community colleges, 10 state universities and some private colleges. The state also has a common core and a prerequisite course-list that further eases transfer for students.” As well as “Tennessee joined the list with the Complete College Tennessee Act of 2010, which mandates that schools develop a “60 hour set of classes, 41 general education and 19 pre-major, that will be fully transferable by the Fall 2011 semester.”
For states that don’t help out students or have a program in action, should ensure that their students get the right advice on what to take can be crucial for students.

Theoretical frame
There have been many states that attempt to help student who transfer from a community college to a four year institution in regards to credits.

Research and Plan
           The state of New Jersey has a system in place called the New Jersey Statewide Transfer Agreement which is the supposed to be “seamless transition from public associate to public baccalaureate degree programs and supporting the successful acquisition of baccalaureate degrees by transfer students.” The biggest problem that students face is the transferring of credits from a two year institution to a four year institution. The NJSTA was adopted in 2008 in order to ensure that the transfer process would be easier for students. "But when only some credits were accepted, the degree-completion rate fell to 42 percent. And more than half of the students who transfer to four-year institutions receive only partial credit for their previous coursework." (Zamani) Students expect to go to a community college inorder to save some money and students, like myself, attend community college with intent to attend a four year school. There are many acts in place that allow students to transfer all credits from a community college to a four year state institution. When transferring from a public school to a state school, students expect all their credits to transfer, but some of them don't which could cause  a lot of frustration.     
The next barrier students face is the financial burden. Students who attend community colleges with intent to attend a four year institution, go to community college to save money. Little do we know, we could be wasting our money by attending a community college. Students who attend community college could be misadvised and steered in the wrong direction which could ultimately cause a waste of money and more accumulated debt.
Another problem that students might face is receiving loans that help with the financial burden put on students. "The lack of financial resources is one of many barriers facing community college students who are attending, persisting, and, in some cases, ultimately transferring to four-year institutions."(Zamani) Students who are anticipating transferring to a four year institution might not be able to do so because of barriers such as lack of financial resources. Some students just aren't financially able to pay for a four-year institution, no matter how academically good the student is. "Students coming from low socioeconomic backgrounds are at a disadvantage, as the costs associated with higher education may prohibit even the most talented two-year students from successfully transferring into a baccalaureate degree program" (Zamani)  This is very unfortunate because every student deserves a chance to get an education, especially those that work hard for it.
The third barrier that students face is the adjustment of a four year institution. Students who transfer from a community college to a large four year institution usually deal with something called transfer shock. Transfer shock could cause students to feel isolated and depressed. Students might also feel lost if attending a large four year institution. Navigation around a four year campus could be challenging. For this section and some of the others I will be reading parts of Vaughn Tolands book called Community College Transfer Student Integration.
Zamani, Eboni M. "Institutional Responses to Barriers." 2001.

Privatization Effect

After doing additional research I see how privatization could slightly effect transfer students. We have spoken about privatization in class and its got me thinking of how higher education puts a lot of pressure on students trying to transfer. Even though students face barriers when transferring from a four-year institution, some rely heavily on community colleges in order to save some money. In Bob Meisters article Debts and Taxes he stated that "...creating pressure on community colleges for which students borrow very little, since the community colleges are cutting back on classes and programs due to declining state funds." This is a very scary thought. If community colleges keep cutting back on classes students would not be able to take the courses required for their four year institution. The pressure on community colleges could also cause them to look for income else where other than the state, which, if relied on heavily, could cause the community college to privatize and then start increasing tuition.

Scouting the terriory

My topic has not changed since my first blog although I have refined it somewhat. My topic will be the barriers that students face transferring from a community college to a four-year institution. When i typed into Google: "Barriers students face transferring from a community college to a four year college", i found a ton of information. In Zamani's article Institutional Responses to Barriers. according to McCormick and Carrol "Many community college students intend to transfer to four-year colleges and universities; however, only 22  percent successfully do so" (McCormick and Carroll, 1997). I found that there were three main barriers that students face; credit-transfer, financial struggle, and social life of the student. I found that the most frustrating obstacle that students face is credit-transferring. Students(myself included) who attended a community college intending to go to a four year school, who don't get all the credits from the community college transferred are a little frustrated. In my situation, I was half a credit away from meeting the new jersey statewide transfer agreement(NJSTA) which would have transferred all my credit from my community college to Rutgers. HALF A CREDIT, ridiculous! The thing that frustrated me more, was the fact that when I called my community college to obtain a waiver for the NJSTA, they had no idea what I was talking about. As a student, I feel that I have wasted so much money as well as being advised incorrectly at my community college.
Students attend community college for various reasons, one of them being that they are financially able to. Some of these students who attend community college wish to go to a four year university but are unable to due to financial reasons. In Zamani's article Institutional Responses to Barriers. Stewart D.M. stated  "Students coming from low socioeconomic backgrounds are at a disadvantage, as the costs associated with higher education may prohibit even the most talented two-year students from successfully transferring into a baccalaureate degree program".
Last but not least, social life is important for transfer students. Transferring in could make a student feel lonely which could ultimately lead to depression. Also, student who feel this way end up getting bad grades in school because of a lack of care.

Sources:
A study was done by AMY G. LANGENKAMP, University of Notre Dame on the EFFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL TRANSITIONS ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC TRAJECTORY: A LIFE COURSE PERSPECTIVE which i find interesting to my topic because she discusses "the negative consequences of solitary transitions" http://search.proquest.com/docview/920269874/fulltextPDF/13C8CBC8D875C4859F8/4?accountid=13626

Zamani, Eboni M. "Institutional Responses to Barriers." 2001. http://mysite.du.edu/~cdlovell/05-InstResptoBarriers.pdf  There are many quotes in this article that explain the barriers to transferring.
 

Controversies

According to http://www.chea.org/ia/IA_110405.htm, there is major controversy about  those who view transfer as effective and those who believe that we have a major problem with transfer.