Study Shows Only 13% of Community College Students Receive Bachelor's Degree in Eight Years; Partnerships Show Promise to Increase Transfers

New Data Highlight Challenges of Credit Transfer and Ill-equipped Guidance Systems; Existing Co-Enrollments and Innovative Solutions Show Promise.

Only 13% of federal financial aid recipients who enrolled in community college in 2014 received a bachelor’s degree within eight years, highlighting the challenges of credit transfer and ill-equipped guidance systems in the education sector.
Black, Hispanic and low-income students are more likely to start at community colleges, and the outcomes for these groups are particularly concerning as they face additional challenges in transferring to four-year institutions.
Partnerships between two- and four-year colleges and universities have shown potential in helping more community college students earn bachelor’s degrees. Notably, established arrangements like the ADVANCE program at Northern Virginia Community College put students on definitive paths to their degree goals.
The City University of New York and the State University of New York have implemented innovative solutions to mitigate transfer issues; CUNY uses an online transfer explorer, T-Rex, to make course transfer information transparent, while SUNY is experimenting with artificial intelligence to help students map their courses between campuses.
The U.S. Education Department is convening higher education leaders to examine, discuss and improve state and school transfer policies. It's expected to address statewide policies such as assigning codes to courses to ensure consistency across schools and guaranteed admission for certain students.