Transfergalicious Improving transfer student adjustment at fouryear college

1
Transfergalicious Improving transfer student
adjustment at four-year college universities

• Scott Peska, M.A., Associate Director of
  First-Year Experience and Orientation and
  Coordinator of the First Year Connections
  Programs, Northern Illinois University

Artwork by Lenny Gilmore and published in the
Northern Star (2007)
2
Presentation Outline

• Introduction
• Review of Literature
• Best practices
• Discussion

• Associate Director Orientation First-Year
  Experience at NIU
• UNIV 201 Transfer Experience seminar instructor
• Doctoral student researching transfer student
  adjustment
• Community college transfer student

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Fergalicious

• Fergalicious adjective
• Meaning Fergie, a contemporary musical artist
  (formerly with the Black-Eyed Peas) is so
  attractive that she drives men crazy (i.e., make
  them boys go loco.)
• Derived from combining her name with delicious

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Transfergalicious

• Transfergalicious adjective
• Meaning transfer students are such an
  attractive population that institutions are
  expanding programs to increase their number of
  transfer students and help them adjust to campus.

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Northern Illinois University

• Four-year, public, comprehensive,
  doctoral-extensive institution located 60 miles
  west of Chicago
• 18,600 undergraduates (3,200 freshmen,
  3,100-3,200 transfers)
• 75 percent of transfers come from Illinois public
  community colleges
• Majority (60 percent) of juniors and seniors are
  transfers
• Transfer Center developed within past five years
• New office for Commuting and Non-Traditional
  Students established 2005
• Mandatory 1-day transfer orientation

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Review of Literature

• How do we define transfer?
• Who are considered transfer students?
• Transfer student adjustment

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Transfer Definitions

• Are individuals who transfer fewer than 12
  credits to be considered transfer students?
• Are students that are co-enrolled and
  transferring their hours considered transfer
  students?
• Are students who are leave, attend elsewhere, and
  return an institution considered transfer
  students?
• Is someone who attended a different institution
  15-20 years ago and transferring those credits
  considered a transfer student?
• How about a student who has 219 credits and is
  entering to gain a teacher certificate?

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Types of Transfer

• Vertical (2-4) Two-year to four-year institutions
• Horizontal (2-2 4-4) Two-year to two-year or
  four-year to four-year
• Reverse (4-2) Four-year to two-year
• Gypsy/Multiple (?-?-?) Attending more than two
  institutions
• (Jacobs, 2004)

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Transfer Definitions

• McCormick and Carroll (1997) Transfer can be
  defined as a transition between post-secondary
  institutions, in which the second institution
  (the receiving institution) grants the student
  credit for coursework taken at the first
  institution (the sending institution) (p.1).

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Transfer Definitions

• Townsend (2002) investigates numerous transfer
  rate studies and claims, the major difficulty in
  determining transfer rates is deciding which
  students are to be included (p.15).

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Characteristics of Transfer Students

• Number Variety commonly used to describe
  community college students (Cohen Brawer,
  2003)
• Fredrickson (1998) reported on more than 4,700
  that the typical (mean) transfer student was
• Employed part-time
• 26 years of age
• Female

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Characteristics of Transfer Students

• Grubb (1991) reported that a considerable number
  of minority students who receive a baccalaureate
  degree started at two-year institutions
• Cohen and Brawer (2003) suggest that the students
  least likely to transfer are adult students that
  attend community colleges part-time

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Characteristics of Transfer Students

• In their NCES national study based on
  longitudinal data, Peter and Cataldi (2005) found
  that nearly twice as many younger, dependent,
  traditional-age students (58) attended more than
  one institution compared to independent,
  non-traditional students (27).

California State University, Chico Web Site (2008)
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Characteristics of Transfer Students

• Eggelston and Laanan (2001) reported that nearly
  50 of community college transfer students are
  from CTE programs.
• Many community college students transfer prior to
  earning an associates degree (Cohen Brawer,
  2003 Dougherty, 1992 McCormick Carroll, 1997
  Townsend and Ignash, 2000).

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Transfer Student Adjustment

• Laanan (2001) states student transferring from
  one institution to another is going to experience
  some form of adjustment
• Community college students transferring to a
  four-year institution have been well documented
  that they may experience a number of academic and
  social adjustment challenges (Berger Malaney,
  2003 Britt Hirt 1999 Cedja, 1994 1997 Diaz,
  1992 Graham Hughes, 1994 House 1989 House
  Keely 1993 Laanan 1996 1998 2001 2004
  Townsend, 1993 1995 Townsend Wilson, 2006).

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Transfer Student Adjustment

• Steinmann, Pope, and Miller (2004) analyzed
  academic research journals and found that the
  majority of studies on the transfer process were
  quantitative with a focus on academic challenges
• The drop out rate is high for community college
  students and for students who decide to transfer
  to senior institutions, they experience a
  difficult adjustment process (Laanan, 2003 p.
  498)

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Transfer Student Adjustment

• Most common discussed is Hills (1965) findings
  of Transfer shock (dip in GPA in first semester
  after transfer)

• Diazs (1992) meta-analysis of studies
  investigating transfer shock found that 79
  percent of the studies indicated a relatively low
  magnitude of half a point or less experienced and
  that 67 recovered their GPA usually at the end
  of their first year.

Westmont College Admissions Web site (2008)
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Transfer Student Adjustment

• Townsend (1995) interviewed 24 transfer students
• (16 who left the university) and found
• Transfer students described the university as
  having higher academic standards
• That they felt unprepared to attend the
  university
• Transfer students perceived the university as a
  competitive environment
• That transfer students needed to be more
  self-reliant
• They perceived freshmen to be more prepared and
  serious than community college transfers students

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Transfer Student Adjustment

• Bauer Bauer (1994) surveyed 92
• community college transfer students and
• reported
• Nearly 33 percent experienced difficulty with
  making friends at the university
• 31 percent shared they struggled to meet new
  people
• 30 percent reported personal self confidence
  issues after transferring and had difficulty
  fitting in

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Transfer Student Adjustment

• Keup (2006) found that 61 percent of 1,140
• transfer student respondents rated
• themselves as above average among their
• peers in their social self-confidence.
• Gumm (2006) found that the community college
  transfer students interaction with peers was a
  high social predictor of transfer students
  persisting the following semester

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Transfer Student Adjustment

• Britt Hirt (1999) Conducted group
• interviews with 25 students and interviews
• with 16 administrators
• They found that participants reported feeling
  isolated and found the most difficult part of
  their adjustment to the institution was in making
  friends
• The administrators believed this was in part due
  to the lack of institutional resources available
  to students in the spring

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Transfer Student Adjustment

• Smiths (1999) dissertation study
• investigated the concept of mattering
• through perceptions of 161 community college
• transfer students and found

• That nearly one third of the participants
  perceived that they did not matter to the
  university (compared to the community college)
• They found the university to be less
  student-centered than the community college.

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Transfer Student Adjustment

• Nowak (2004) interviewed 23 community
• college transfer students and eight faculty
• and found
• That often the four-year institution made
  assumptions that students transferring from
  community colleges had similar experiences, when
  in fact community colleges are vastly different.
• Perceived that they had to search things out on
  their own at the university and did not feel that
  they knew many people on campus

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What we can, should, and need to do!

• Best Practices

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Best Practices

• Transfer FIGS University of Oregon
• Transfer First-Year Interest Groups are designed
  for transfer students with major or pre-major
  status, but open to all transfers
• Transfer FIGs are promoted during orientation.
• Transfer FIGs have a transfer student Teaching
  Assistant to help address the unique needs of
  trans transitioning to campus.

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Best Practices

• Transfer mentor/Ambassadors - University of North
  Texas
• Transfer Ambassador Program connects new transfer
  students with current UNT transfer students.
• Transfer Ambassadors attend transfer orientation
  sessions and help personally mentor new transfer
  students
• Transfer Ambassadors participate in a
• "Transfer Panel" to answer questions
• at orientation.

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Best Practices

• Transfer Seminars
• Radford University UNIV 100-T
• Transfer student academic transcript evaluation
• Getting involved
• NIU UNIV 201 Transfer Transition course
• 1 credit, 12-week graded course
• Extended orientation academic social aspects
  of the community

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Best Practices

• Orientation options - University of Utah
• A 3-hour transfer orientation
• A 6-hour comprehensive transfer orientation
• An overnight transfer orientation
• A combined (freshmen transfer) orientation
• Mini orientations (during the first day of
  classes)

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Best Practices

• Welcome Week Events
• Transfer small group meeting opening night
• Transfer Student Cookout
• Transfer student Academic Success/involvement
  seminars
• Transfer student social dinner

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Best Practices

• Transfer Student Organizations
• Tau Sigma
• 50 chapters nationwide
• 14 Scholarships of 500 to 2,500
• Transfer Student Associations
• Transfer student BBQ
• Open house and transfer days

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Best Practices

• Brochures - University of Michigan
• Downloadable (PDF) Transfer Brochure -for each
  term (summer, fall, winter, spring)
• Includes
• Overview of the day
• Important dates / Academic calendar
• Registration information
• Traveling to campus information
• FAQs
• Important Contacts (phone numbers Web pages)
• How to access an online checklist of what
  students need to do before arriving on campus

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Best Practices

• Web Resources - Use and promote national,
• regional, and state online resources
• http//www.collegetoolkit.com/Guides/Transfer/resT
  ransfer.aspx
• http//www.ehow.com/how_2143738_college-transfer-s
  mooth.html
• http//tes.collegesource.com/
• http//collegetransfer.net/
• http//www.itransfer.org/newwebsite/

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Best Practices

• Transfer student living-learning communities
• or housing floors - University of California,
  Santa Cruz

7 different residence house floors or apartments
for transfer students
University of California, Santa Cruz Web Site
(2008)
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Best Practices

• One-on-one advising University of
• Pittsburgh
• In addition to talking with your
  college/department academic advisor, offer
  one-on-one appointments with a transfer advisor
  specialist to address the needs and questions
  unique to the transfer student experience.

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Your thoughts

• What do you do or are aware of on your
• campuses that support the adjustment of
• transfer students?

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The end

• For more information or the references please
  contact Scott Peska, at speska_at_niu.edu

Artwork by Lenny Gilmore and published in the
Northern Star (2007)