rethinking the other first year: the transfer experience john n. gardner betsy o. barefoot thecb...
TRANSCRIPT
Rethinking the Other First Year: The Transfer Experience
John N. GardnerBetsy O. Barefoot
THECB Transfer Success ConferenceMay 22, 2009
Future Texas Transfer Students?
Wesley and Jack Barefoot
A Transfer Golf Team Student?
And coming soon to a campus near you…
Jon David Gardner
The Nation’s Most Famous Transfer Student
Our Old Assumptions
That all students would start and finish at a single four-year institution
Historic notions of college do not includetransfer.
Expanding our view of new students
Who are they?
• Traditional 18 year olds
• Dual enrollment students
• Transfer students
• Today, over 60% of college students transfer at least once. Transfer is normative, not the exception
Transfer is uniquely American!
Lessons Learned
The role of “crisis”
◦ Retention – the catalyst for attention to first-year students
◦ State economic concerns – the catalyst for attention to transfers
◦ Empty classroom seats – Why private institutions are courting transfers
Lessons Learned
The importance of good data/information
What do you know about your transfers?
How do they compareto native students?
Moving beyond myths and stereotypes
Lessons Learned
The importance of interacting with students
When is the last timeyou talked with a transfer student?
How do you structure interactionWith other students?With faculty/staff?
Lessons Learned
The need for common experiences
What do all transfers need, no matter what academic department they call home?
Who advocatesfor all transfers?
Lessons Learned
The importance of partnerships
Between unitson a single campus
Between counterparts at sending and receiving
institutions
Between families and campuses
Lessons Learned
Similar concerns
First-year
◦SOCIAL
◦Academic
◦Financial
Lessons Learned
Transfer Concerns
◦Primarily academic
◦(Also financial)
Lessons Learned
The importance of advising
While advising is important in the first year . . .
There is special urgency for transfers
Lessons Learned
Value of special programs and services
Pre-term orientation
First-year and transfer seminars (TRIGs)
Peer leaders/mentors
Academic support
Career planning
Residential living
Targeted financial aid
Lessons Learned
The desire for invisibility
Why?
◦Fear of bias?
◦Not wanting to feel likea “second-class” student?
Counter invisibility: Celebrateand honor transfer studentaccomplishments.
Lessons Learned
The importance of rewards
◦Credit to institutions?
◦Rewards to faculty?
Lessons Learned
Myths and half-truths◦First-year
The first six weeks are the danger period. Only the worst students drop out. Work is bad for college students.
◦Transfer Transfer students are not as “good” as native
students. Instruction in two-year colleges is inferior. Transfers students don’t need support.
Lessons Learned
Justice
◦For freshmen
◦For transfers
Concluding Thoughts
While policy matters, faculty and staff on the front
line have to take responsibility for transfer success.
Demographic, economic, and public policy trends
suggest we will have more, not fewer, transfer
students.
Texas is, and must continue to be, a leading advocate
for the successful integration of transfer students.
Final Recommendations
Invite your campus CEO and CAO to drive the transfer issue.
Embed your transfer student commitment into your institution’s strategic plan.
Collaborate with institutions in your region to support student transfer (e.g., UTEP & EPCC).
Organize your campus to support transfers (e.g., “transfer centers”).
◦ Establish a standing committee to oversee the transfer experience.
Make orientation a requirement for both first-year and transfer students.
Examine campus financial aid policies to determine their fairness to transfers.
Final Recommendations
Develop a transfer student “bill of rights and responsibilities.”
Create regional, discipline-based faculty collaboratives to bring
together two- and four-year faculty.
Use reaffirmation of accreditation as an opportunity to focus on
transfers (SACS QEP).
Participate in national professional organizations whose work
relates to student transfer (NODA, NACADA, National Resource
Center for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition).
Final Recommendations
Share and celebrate best practices in the State of
Texas.
Conduct an institutional self-study of the transfer
experience (e.g., Foundations of Excellence®).
Contact Information
John N. Gardner
[email protected]; 828-966-5309
Betsy O. Barefoot
[email protected]; 828-966-5310
Policy Center on the First Year of College