Davis Jenkins and John Fink of the Community College Research Center[1] found “almost three quarters of states have adopted some sort of statewide policy to facilitate transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions” (4). The percentage nationally of students who transfer out of a community college to a four-year college or university is around 35%, and roughly the same percentage transfer out with an associate’s degree or certificate (Jenkins & Fink 13 – 14). Nationally, the percentage of those who graduate with a bachelor’s degree after having transferred from a community college is just over forty percent (Jenkins & Fink 19).

In Connecticut, we have twelve community colleges and four state universities, as well as UCONN and a number of private four-year universities. Our transfer-out rate is twenty-nine percent and our bachelor’s completion rate is thirty-four percent (Jenkins & Fink 19). Beginning in 2012, the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CCSU) has developed a Transfer and Articulation Policy (TAP) that seeks to ensure “Connecticut community college students complete degree programs that transfer to Connecticut State Universities and Charter Oak [the state’s online college] without either losing or generating excess credit[2].” To do this, students are given pathways “that are easily accessible; include appropriate lower division general education; move students toward the competencies the states [sic] employers are looking for; and relate to specific majors offered at the state universities.”[3] Successful completion of the transfer associate degree guarantees “admission and junior status to the receiving university or Charter Oak State College without ‘course by course’ transfer[4].”

Although this current iteration of TAP is not fully implemented yet (it is due to come online for Fall 2016 with a “soft” opening), it should make the process less onerous for students, obviating the need to seek out transfer credits for particular courses. TAP also stipulates that “Transfer associate degrees will include no more than 64 credits and baccalaureate degrees will include no more than 128 credits[5]” (though exceptions are made by the Board of Regents on a case-by-case basis). If students follow the suggested schedule of courses, they are guaranteed those courses will count as part of the general education courses of the university they transfer to. It does not mean, however, that they are guaranteed admission to their chosen major, especially if the major or program has additional admission criteria (e.g. a certain GPA). Nor are students locked into a particular path – the transfer degree has a good bit of flexibility. Students complete 60 credits at the community colleges, of which 9 credits may fall within their intended major and the remaining 51 are general education credits[6]. Each of the four state universities and Charter Oak have stipulated which courses will transfer and have also set limits on the number of upper level, general education or liberal arts core courses a student can take at a community college.