For this week’s readings, it has become very clear the
importance of going to a four-year institution right off the bat than to go to
a two-year community college before transferring. According to Pascarella and
Terenzini, many studies have shown that students who had aspiration to get a
Bachelor’s Degree by way of an Associates Degree at a community college are
more likely to not see those aspirations come to fruition. In fact, after they
obtain their Associates Degree, their goal of getting that degree diminishes so
much that most never make the transfer to a larger institution to finish
getting their degree. It would be interesting to see how these statistics play
out when it comes to dual enrollment students who take college classes while
also completing their last one or two years of high school. Students will take
a certain amount of classes either their Junior or Senior year of high school in
order to get ahead on credits when it comes to starting college. The structure
of dual enrollment is a little different here at the University of West Florida because students can
actually study at a four-year institution but back in Washington (where I
grew-up) Running Start was done through the local community college. Because of
this program, some graduating high school seniors will start college at the
traditional age of most freshman but may already have their Associates Degree. The
transition may be easy for students to make if they do their dual enrollment at
a four year university, which may help with the persistence rates of students
in this program. In the community college model one question still remains a
mystery: do students enrolled in a Running Starts program also have a reduced
chance of obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree after transferring from a community
college? That would be an interesting study to read.
The authors also
talk about the effects of living on campus and being involved in campus life
may also be a factor for student persistence which could also be a factor in
transfer students not being successful. If a student goes from high school to
community college and then to a four year institution, the traditional window
for them to get involved has become much smaller than what it could have been
had they gone straight to a four year institution. When traditional freshman come
to college, so many opportunities to get involved are thrown at them from every
direction but transfer students are not given the same treatment. The same can
be said for students who participate in a running start/ dual enrollment: they
have already been established in a college environment and do not feel that the
freshman activities apply to them. I had a friend in college who held this
sentiment very dearly to her heart. She had participated in a running start
program through her local community college and once she got to our university
campus, she felt she had already done the ‘freshman’ thing and did not want to
get as connected as she might have if she had not already obtained her
Associates Degree.
Another interesting
point to look at because of this reading how students who attend a satellite four-year institution fair when it comes to degree completion, especially if
the satellite campus is on a community college campus. Do the rates of
persistence go up, down or stay the same because the low-stakes environment of a
community college is merged with the higher-stakes course load of a four year
institution? There are so many interesting scenarios when it comes to community
colleges that would be interesting to study or read about.
The idea that the
authors present that private vs. public universities also impact degree
completion never really crossed my mind but seems to make a lot of sense.
Pascarella and Terenzini make the claim that studies have shown that
universities that are religiously affiliated seem to have better persistence
and degree completion rates. The authors also note that this may be caused by
other factors but there is a statistically significant difference between
public and private universities. This idea also carries over to HBCUs as well
as all women colleges: those that attend these universities are more likely to
persist to graduation than those who attend a traditional four-year public university.
It is worth noting that the authors do contradict themselves when it comes to
this topic however. They present studies that prove that a certain ‘non-traditional’
college environment may increase persistence but then also provide studies/
evidence that proves otherwise.
Here is a funny Gif about transferring.. for fun :D
