Why Community College Students Make Successful Transfer Students

Journal of College Admission, Winter 2007 by Urso, David, Sygielski, John J "Ski"

Twenty-three years after she left high school as a junior, Mary Ann was once again in a classroom with many individuals her age who were enticed by the textile plants with high paying positions two decades ago. After several months of coursework and dedicated study, she took the exam and passed-on her first attempt. With this newfound confidence and pride, she began to think seriously about enrolling in some skills classes at her community college.

Aware that she was the first in her family to even think about attending college, she contacted her minister who spent many hours over the course of the summer talking to her about the possibilities a college education could afford her and her family, especially since her mother became disabled and had recently moved in with her and her children.

Upon arriving at campus with her minister. Mary Ann learned more about what it would take to become enrolled in college courses. After listening to a counselor for several hours discuss the process and procedures of enrolling at the community college, Mary Ann decided to take the placement test and complete the necessary paperwork for financial aid. Now working part-time, she decided to enroll in two classes in the evening and one on Saturday morning while her mother watched her children. Several weeks later, she learned she qualified for both financial aid and a College Foundation scholarship to help pay for tuition, books and some housing expenses.

Mary Ann's commitment was bolstered by her success in those initial three classes, and she enrolled as a full-time student the following semester. She remamed such for the next two years. During this time, Mary Ann also worked up to three part-time jobs at once. This requirement left little time to become heavily involved in college life. However, she did become an active model to and mentor for several other single mothers who were just beginning their higher education experience. She received her associate's degree in Nursing (ADN) and, through an approved articulations agreement, was able to transfer all of her community college coursework to a local four-year institution to attain her bachelor's degree in Nursing (BSN).

Having received a full-scholarship to attend the local four-year university nursing program, Mary Ann met with an informed counselor who helped her navigate her academic roadmap. She enjoyed the stimulation and challenges of university life and brought her entire family to university events, exposing them to a new life filled with new possibilities: possibilities never experienced by any generation of her family before.

Two years later, a few months before graduating with her BSN. she interviewed for jobs in various hospitals and nursing homes in the area and was offered two job opportunities; one in the regional hospital and one in the local nursing home. Even though she could have earned three times what she was making just five years earlier without college degrees if she took a job in the hospital, she took the job at the local nursing home so she could be close to her grandparents. Finally, her long-time dream had come true.