Community colleges transfer students

Florida has formal articulation agreements between schools that traditionally feed students into the state university system, (feeder schools) and state universities. Despite formalized agreements, evidence shows that many students do not make the transition smoothly. In order to assess community college transfer student success when compared with those students who attend four-year institutions only, most research to date has used... 

Community college transfer students in Florida receive more Pell Grant awards (federal grants based on economic need) than their four year degree earning counterparts regardless of ethnicity (see figure 7.4). 

For example, see McLoughlin (2012) for a detailed analysis of the challenges that community college students face when transferring into engineering programs. 

Figure 7.2 2006 Florida Community College System Transfer Students by...

Older students attending community colleges are most likely to be employed and attend community colleges part-time (Bryant, 2001). It appears, then, that female students make the transfer from community colleges into four-year programs with more frequency than their male counterparts and yet they are less likely to choose STEM fields, engineering in particular. 

Class size. All but one of the transfer students individually interviewed are more comfortable in smaller classes. One even favors community college classes overall (UF Hispanic male student). Another notes that while large classes are helpful because there are more students to get to know, it is hard to ask questions (USF White female student). Still another believes community college courses are better for preparation—especially with calculus since these classes are smaller allowing for more individual student participation (UF White male student). Another student sits in front, but... 

Another salient difference between community colleges and four-year institutions, expressed by three transfer students (White female students... 

Lee, V.E., Mackie-Lewis, C., Marks, H.M. (1993). Persistence to the Baccalaureate Degree for Students Who Transfer from Community College. American Journal of Education, 7(22(1), 80. 

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