Faculty Perceptions of Community College Transfer Students: The Private University Experience

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study, using an ethnographic study design, examined small, private university faculty relationships, experiences, interactions, and perceptions of the community college transfer student. Sachs University faculty were interviewed to provide an insider view of the students’ relationships with faculty, as well as the faculty assessment of community college transfer students within the small private institutional context. The following findings emerged: (1) a balancing act: aligning faculty and student expectations; (2) students perceived by the faculty as complicated; (3) students not seeking faculty for help; (4) faculty and students being unaware of services and transfer processes. Each of the four themes pieced together developed an understanding of the faculty perception of community college transfer student experience, the faculty/student relationship, as well as barriers that exits between the students and the faculty that are described in detail in this paper.