The bachelor’s degree pipeline is growing stronger for community college graduates.
A new report by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center found that of community college graduates who hold no previous degrees or certificates, 41 percent earn a bachelor’s degree within the next six years.
Continue reading Report: Community College Paves the Way to Four-Year Degrees
Nine percent of all international students in the US, or 95,000, were enrolled at community colleges in 2015-16, according to the Institute of International Education’s Open Doors report.
National data on the proportion of international students that start at community colleges upon initial entry to the US, versus those who start at a four-year college and then transfer to a community college, is currently unavailable. However, it’s clear from preliminary research that similar to domestic transfer students, international students reverse transfer from four-year colleges to community colleges, concurrently enroll in both, and swirl back and forth between the two.
Continue reading A Closer Look at Reverse Transfer and International Students
Community colleges are an integral facet of the US higher education system. Serving nearly 6.3 million students, these public, two-year institutions offer a variety of courses and degree programs at a third of the price charged by four-year colleges. Because most community colleges have transfer agreements with baccalaureate-granting institutions, many students who seek a bachelor’s degree initially matriculate at a community college to take advantage of its cost-saving benefits. In fact, data from the National Student Clearinghouse show that 49 percent of students who completed a degree at a four-year university in 2015-16 had previously enrolled in a community college during the last 10 years.
Community colleges have typically established transfer agreements with local and regional institutions. These include “2+2” pathway programs, which guarantee admission for students at the partner four-year college if specific academic requirements are met, and articulation agreements that delineate how specific coursework will transfer between programs.
Results from a recent survey of 140 community colleges conducted by NACAC and Community Colleges for International Development (CCID) indicate a growing number of these colleges are also interested in pursuing transfer partnerships with universities abroad.
Continue reading Study: Interest in International Transfer Pathways Growing Among Community Colleges
Editor’s note: A version of post was first published on Counselors’ Corner.
Spring is a season of mixed emotions for school counselors. As students come in to share the exciting news of college acceptances and generous scholarships, an equal number of families come in with questions that are harder to answer:
“What more were they looking for?”
“Don’t they know this isn’t enough to cover my needs?”
“Why does college cost so much?”
It turns out this last question has a pretty clear answer—it’s complicated, but it’s clear.
“It doesn’t have to cost this much, if you start at a community college and transfer.”
Looking for quick facts about college admission?
Want to learn more about transfer students and trends in international education?
A series of new NACAC infographics tackles those topics and more. Drawing upon data from the State of College Admission and other NACAC reports, the new resources are now available online.
Continue reading New NACAC Infographics Highlight Admission Trends
Transportation and law enforcement majors are seeing declining enrollments at America’s community colleges, while history and math programs remain popular among students at two-year schools.
Those findings are included in a new report released this week by the National Student Clearinghouse.
Continue reading New Report Highlights Popular Community College Majors
Community colleges that offer guided pathways may be better prepared to serve military veterans, according to a new report.
The approach maps out the sequence of courses students must take to complete a degree, and provides academic counseling and support services to help them stay on track. It also represents a departure from the “cafeteria-style” method of course selection, which allows students to choose from an abundance of often unrelated courses.
Continue reading Report: Guided Pathways Beneficial for Veterans
Consensus is growing within higher education: Successful transfer pathways incorporate strong advising components.
The strategy is one of three essential practices highlighted in the recently released Transfer Playbook, and was discussed at length last week during a conference hosted by the Transfer Admissions & Advising Committee (TAAC).
An honor society for community college students wants to recruit more members, and organization leaders say the move has the potential to bolster US degree completion rates.
Members of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) are far more likely than their peers to earn a two- or four-year degree, data show.
But currently, only 11 percent of students eligible for membership join the honor society, according to a recent article published in Community College Week (CCW).
Continue reading Honor Society for Community College Students Hopes to Expand its Reach
For the second year, NACAC sponsored the annual conference of the National Institute for the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS). At the sold-out event in February, attendees gathered to learn new ideas and share best practices designed to help students navigate the transfer process.
Continue reading Taking a Deeper Dive to Improve Transfer Student Experiences on Your Campus
