Should Community College Students Earn an Associate Degree Before Transferring to a 4-Year Institution?

Exploring Influences of Policy Collisions on Transfer Student Access: Perspectives From Street-Level Bureaucrats

“…Research on the efficacy of articulation policies has found mixed results, with some studies indicating transfer students perform on par with first-time-in-college (FTIC) students in terms of grade point average (GPA; Garcia Falconetti, 2009), have better graduation outcomes if they transfer through an articulation agreement (Kopko & Crosta, 2016), and are more likely to transfer vertically if they live in a state with a blanket articulation policy across all public institutions (LaSota & Zumeta, 2016). Other research has shown that articulation agreements had no effect on increasing the prevalence of transfer (Roksa & Keith, 2008) or successful completion of bachelor’s degrees after transfer (Garcia Falconetti, 2009; Huffman, 2012).…”

“…Community college transfer pathways are increasingly formalized through articulation agreements at the state, system, and institutional levels (Hodara et al, 2017). However, the efficacy of these policies in increasing transfer is inconclusive and varies across states and institutions (Anderson et al, 2006;Eaton, 1994;Giani, 2019;Kopko & Crosta, 2016;Roksa, 2006Roksa, , 2009. The effectiveness of articulation agreements in STEM contexts is particularly constrained by rigidity in how credits transfer between institutions, highly sequenced coursework, disagreement among faculty members about the content of foundational STEM courses, and perceptual concerns over "rigor" of prerequisite coursework, particularly in math courses.…”

Communication of Career Pathways Through Associate Degree Program Web Sites: A Baseline Assessment

“…In contrast, approximately one third of the general education courses for the AAS degree transfer to 4-y institutions 16 because AAS programs were designed as terminal degrees, not with transfer in mind. 17,18 Thus, it is more difficult for AAS graduates to transfer as many of their credits to most baccalaureate degree programs 19 because of their vocational focus. 16 As a result, AAS graduates have a less efficient pathway to earn their bachelor's degree.…”

“…A higher completion rate for AS degree graduates has been shown in some studies, 20 while other studies have shown either no effect 16 or a lower completion rate. 17,21 An encouraging finding is that AAS graduates are transferring to baccalaureate programs at increasing rates. 16…”

“…22,31 Both 2-y and 4-y institutions have the responsibility to motivate students along the career pathway. 17 Two-year institutions need to provide the transfer curriculum and clearly communicate the pathway. A recent evaluation of how well 2-y institutions serve their transfer students indicated that transfer rate is directly related to service.…”