Community College Reverse Transfer Students: A field Survey of a Nontraditional Student Group

Abstract

Community college educators have been aware for more than two decades that the profile of community college students is undergoing steady and profound change. A facet of this change has been that students described as "nontraditional" constitute an increasing proportion of the student population. Nontraditional students (Cohen & Brawer, 1996) are individuals who do not conform to the profile of the traditional 18-year-old student who enrolls full-time at a community college, completes the freshman and sophomore years, and transfers to a four-year college to earn a baccalaureate degree. Cohen and Brawer (1996) noted various changes that during the period 1970 to 1994 affected the nontraditional student population: (a) the mean age for students increased from 27 in 1980 to more than 31 by 1993 as large numbers of adult learners returned to college to acquire and upgrade skills; (b) females, many of whom attend college part-time, did not equal males in enrollment until 1978 but outnumbered males (55 % to 45%) by 1991; (c) minority enrollment increased from 20% in 1976 to 25 % by 1991; and (d) part-time students, most of whom are members of one or more nontraditional groups, increased from 49% of the student population in 1970 to more than 65% of the population by 1992. The above patterns have remained the same through 1996, and it is likely that over 65 % of the students enrolled in community colleges fall into at least one nontraditional student category (American Council on Education, 1998).

No Longer Junior Colleges: Integrating Institutional Diversity in Graduate Higher Education Programs

“…However, transfer pathways between two and fouryear institutions are complicated: only 24% of community college students who indicated a desire to transfer actually enroll in a four-year institution six years later (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). In addition, research has found patterns of lateral transfers (Bahr, 2009), reverse transfers (Friedel & Wilson, 2015;Winter & Harris, 1999), and co-enrollment (Wang & Wickersham, 2014) between two and four-year institutions creating a student swirl among community colleges and universities. Given this complexity, some researchers have called for call for alternative classifications of higher education institutions not just by the type of credentials awarded but through a more multifaceted approach related to program and student characteristics (Skolnik, 2011).…”

Reverse transfer students : characteristics, motivations, and implications.

“…From the college's standpoint, students with demonstrated academic ability are more likely to be successful in certain academic programs and count toward the school's completer numbers. Winter and Harris (1999) found that once reverse transfer students enrolled in a specific program, they were more likely to complete it than regular community college students.…”

“…The purpose of this study was to investigate demographic characteristics of reverse transfer students, the motivations for reverse transfer behavior, and the implications this behavior has with regard to program completion. Previous studies of reverse transfer students (Brimm & Achilles, 1976;de los Santos & Wright, 1990;Harris, 1997;Heinze & Daniels, 1971;Hill-Brown, 1989;Hogan, 1986;Hudak, 1983;Kajstura & Keirn, 1992;Kirby, 1977;Klepper, 1990;Lambert, 1993;LeBard, 1999;Lee, 1975;McCormick, 2003;Meadows & Ingle, 1968;Mitchell & Grafton, 1985;Phelan, 1999;Pope et aI., 2001;Quinley & Quinley, 1998;Renkiewicz, Hirsch, & Drummond, 1982;Rodrigues, 1991;Rooth, 1979;Ross, 1982;Slark, 1982;Swedler, 1983;Townsend, 1999;Winter & Harris, 1999;Winter et aI., 2001) identified a number of common characteristics to use as research variables to gain a more complete picture of reverse transfer students. Of particular interest in this study are the intention of reverse transfer students to complete credentials and what predictors of completion exist in the reverse transfer population.…”

“…While many researchers have asked reverse transfer students why they left the four-year institution (Kuznik et aI., 1974;Hagedorn & Castro, 1999;Hill-Brown, 1989;Kajstura & Keirn, 1992;Mitchell & Grafton, 1985;Slark, 1982) and why they entered the community college (Bethune, 1977;Bigelow, 1982;Catanzaro, 1999;Drakulich & Karlen, 1980;Hagedorn & Castro, 1999;Hill-Brown, 1989;Hogan, 1986;Kajstura & Keirn, 1992;Klepper, 1990;Quinley & Quinley, 2000;Rooth, 1979;R. Ross, 1982;Winter & Harris, 1999), none have analyzed student demographics and the given motivations to determine predictors of community college credential completion.…”

“…Clark (1960) was the first to formally examine the reverse transfer (reverse articulation) phenomenon. Since then, studies have examined reverse transfer students in the context of community colleges nationwide (Heinze & Daniels, 1971;Hudak, 1983;Rodrigues, 1991), in state systems (Harris, 1997;Hillman, Lum, & Hossler, 2008;Hogan, 1986;Kuznik, 1972;Lambert, 1993;Winter & Harris, 1999;Winter, Harris, & Ziegler, 2001), in districts (Baratta, 1992;de los Santos & Wright, 1990;Lee, 1975;Mitchell & Grafton, 1985), and within single institutions (Kirby, 1977;Meadows & Ingle, 1968;Pope, Turner, & Barker, 2001;Quinley & Quinley, 1998a;Rooth, 1979;R. Ross, 1982).…”