Washington state students do well when transferring from community to four-year colleges. The problem is that too few students are transferring.
ACROSS Washington, newly-admitted college students are breathing a sigh of relief with the stress of the application process behind them. But for many students, the decision about where to earn their college degrees has just begun.
Almost half of Washington’s college-bound seniors enroll at public community colleges, and most of them have aspirations of transferring to a university to earn a bachelor’s degree.
The bad news: The path from community college to a bachelor’s degree leads to a dead end for far too many students. Nationally, surveys tell us that 80 percent of students who begin in a community college aim to earn a bachelor’s degree, but data reveal that only about 14 percent achieve that goal within six years.
Washington has among the highest rates in the nation for transfer students from community colleges attaining a bachelor’s degree. But the state’s low rate of students making the leap to a four-year school drives down the overall bachelor’s attainment rate for transfer students in Washington to near the national average.
The good news: Over the past decade, Washington legislators have enacted a series of forward-thinking measures to try to smooth the transfer process. And the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges recently launched a statewide effort to create clearer pathways to degrees for students and help them get on a path as soon as possible. But while policymakers have a role to play in improving transfer outcomes, what colleges and universities do independently and in partnership are critical.
Everett Community College is one of several colleges across the country that exemplifies how transfer can work for students, their families and, ultimately, the American economy. The community college partners with the University of Washington, Western Washington University and other state universities to get students to the end zone with a bachelor’s degree.
Everett improved advising and ensured that faculty members were on board to help students planning to transfer become “major ready.” Students now identify their desired degree and a path toward it in their first year, rather than waiting until they transfer. And they are directed toward classes that transfer and count toward their intended degree or major. No more assuming that loading up on “general education credits” will ensure a smooth transition to university. Everett has also partnered with state universities to create a “university center” where students can take upper-level bachelor’s program courses on the community-college campus.
But, as the expression goes, it takes two to tango. Helping more community-college students transfer also requires committed leadership at the universities.
Western Washington University President Bruce Shepard gets this. He has made clear on his own campus and to his fellow presidents in the community-college sector that transfer students are a big priority. In his first year as president, Shepard rallied leaders from community colleges in the region to identify ways to support transfer students, which ultimately led to a series of initiatives designed to ensure alignment between community-college courses and the expectations for degree programs at Western.
Today, the Everett and WWU collaboration has resulted in strong transfer outcomes, both in terms of the number of community-college students who transfer and the success of those students in their junior and senior years. Thanks to sustained leadership on both ends of the pipeline, maintaining a rigorous, efficient transfer process has become a priority at both institutions.
Community colleges and universities in Washington and across the country working to improve degree-completion rates would do well to study Everett and WWU’s playbook. That starts by ensuring that bachelor’s degree attainment for students who start at community colleges becomes a core priority. This is especially important because the large and growing number of low-income students in higher education starts at a community college. The broken transfer process not only thwarts students’ dreams, it costs taxpayers money and makes it harder for the state to meet the growing demand for workers with bachelor’s degrees.
If two- and four-year colleges followed simple steps to improve the transfer rate among all new students at community colleges in this country by just 10 percent, there could be about 70,000 more students earning bachelor’s degrees every year, according to a recent report from our organizations. That success would mean materially better lives for students and their families and would give the American middle class a booster shot at a time when it is desperately needed.