Exploring Community College Students' Transfer Experiences and Perceptions and What They Believe Administration Can Do to Improve Their Experiences

Abstract

This study explored the interconnectedness of the transfer student experience and used it as a foundational framework to inform the administrative leadership on a North Carolina, midsized, historically Black college of the existing transfer students' experiences. This study focused on (a) how transfer students at a midsized historically black college and university (HBCU) describe their experiences, (b) how transfer students described the factors that affected their retention, and (c) what transfer students' believed that university administrative leadership could do to ensure their retention. Twelve transferred students participated in the study. The findings from the qualitative analysis show that (a) students are aware of the differences that exist between themselves and native students and desire for administration to recognize those differences, (b) they desire more resources tailored to their needs as transfer students, and (c) they have substantial academic and non-academic barriers that need to be recognized by those who regularly come into contact with the transfer population.

Keywords:

• community college transfer students
• nontraditional student barriers
• transfer student retention
• leadership
• transfer student experience

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kimberly Young Walker

Kimberly Young Walker, PhD, is Assessment Associate, Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Analytics at the University of South Carolina-Columbia, Columbia, SC.

Comfort Okpala

Comfort Okpala, EdD, is Chair and Professor, Department of Leadership Studies, School of Education, North Carolina A & T State University, Greensboro, NC.