The Aspen Institute

National surveys reveal that 80 percent of students who begin in a community college aim to earn a bachelor’s degree, but only 14 percent achieve that goal within six years. It doesn’t have to be that way. Based on original research into the practices of six highly effective community college-university partnerships, this joint report from the Aspen Institute and Columbia University’s Community College Research Center (CCRC) provides a roadmap for how institutions can improve transfer student outcomes by prioritizing transfer, creating clear transfer program maps, and establishing dedicated transfer advising. The report provides concrete examples of essential strategies as well as a checklist of “How to Get Started.” Funded by Carnegie Corporation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, this is the second in a series of recent reports on transfer and follows the January 2016 Aspen, CCRC, and National Student Clearinghouse report “TRACKING TRANSFER,” which examined transfer outcomes among institutions nationally and at the state level.