Vital Connections Transfer Program: Learning The Transfer Process From The Transfer Student

College Student Journal, Sept, 2000 by Timothy Gray Davies, Rita Kratky

The transfer process is difficult for students and continues to affect their retention and matriculation towards earning a baccalaureate degree. The Vital Connections Transfer Program at Colorado State University is an assistance program for community college students in Colorado and Wyoming wishing to transfer to the university. The Vital Connections Transfer Program offers assistance with the application process, provides information about transfer events and scholarships and advising services. Focus Groups were conducted for students participating in Vital Connections Transfer Program after their first year at the university. The focus groups provided student perspective on what assistance transfer students like in the Vital Connections Transfer Program and what aspects they feel are missing or need enhancing. The implications for practice include more timely and accurate dissemination of information, more interactive campus visits, improvement in the transfer peer mentoring programs, and assisting students in accepting individual responsibility.

Students transferring from a community college to a senior institution do not consider it an easy process. They express their frustrations with the actual process of applying, gaining admission, transferring their credits, and registering for their senior institution courses. They tell of difficulties in making new friends, getting involved with academic organizations or clubs, and learning about services available. Their difficulties continue as they attempt to adjust to larger classrooms, increased academic rigor, and less interaction with faculty/counselors/staff. The process of transferring from a community college to a senior institution is a complex and often ominous task for students pursuing the baccalaureate degree (Davies & Dickmann, 1998).

Colorado State University's Vital Connections Transfer Program is a transfer assistance program to support Colorado and Wyoming community college students pursuing their baccalaureate degree at Colorado State University (CSU). Vital Connections' students first started transferring to CSU in significant numbers in fall 1996. After completing the fall semester, a focus group was conducted to hear the students' perspective on the Vital Connections program: whether it assisted them in the transfer process, which aspects of the program were helpful, and which aspects needed to be strengthened or eliminated.

Current research provides some insight into the difficulties community college students experience in transferring, but the literature presents few examples of transfer assistance programs designed to address these difficulties. Helping students transfer from community colleges to senior institutions is important at both individual and national levels. "... Because the quality of public life we seek requires a highly educated citizenry. Because our economic prosperity is uniquely dependent upon the effectiveness of our colleges and universities. Because, as a nation, we continue to value fairness, decency, and social justice." (American Council on Education, 1991).

Research identifies potential avenues to lessen student difficulties in transferring from a community college to a senior institution. Cohen (1992) identifies some potential avenues: "At the institutional level, faculty-to-faculty articulation activities, concurrent enrollment in more than one institution, guaranteed admission at the senior institution, and various types of student services, including testing, placement, and advising, function to smooth the process." Dougherty (1992) suggests: "Transfer rates would be increased by better transfer advising, familiarizing would-be transfer students with four-year colleges through campus visits, and more financial aid tailored to transfer students' special needs." Advising is one student services component senior institutions can employ to better assist community college transfer students. Advising services provides academic information on transferability of credits, begin building students' exposure to the senior institution's culture, and develop student contact with faculty and staff. Laanan (1996) reinforces this notion: "... administrators and student affairs professionals involved in student services or academic advising ... should be given to efforts that assure students who are in the transfer pipeline are not disillusioned and are well equipped with the tools to handle the transfer process." Senior institution contact with potential transfer students helps assure that students are not disillusioned, but rather are well equipped with tools to handle the transfer process. Hughes (1992) suggests the need for programs that assist transfer students in making the transition to a large university. Many of these students are capable academically; yet, they may need assistance in succeeding in a very different environment. Senior institutions, which choose to make contact with transfer students prior to their arrival on campus, may have the potential to lessen students' disillusionment and provide useful tools and information via academic advising.