At a large public research university in Southern California, community college transfer students reported dissatisfaction with their undergraduate college experience. Dissatisfied students may not graduate, may not network with undergraduates at their alma mater, and may not contribute financially to their alma mater. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore why students were dissatisfied with their college experience. Data collection included semi structured interviews with 11 community college transfer students enrolled at the university. The conceptual framework was based on Astin's student involvement theories. The data were analyzed by looking for codes that emerged from the student interviews. From these codes, 12 categories were condensed in to seven themes. These seven themes were: academic reputation, transfer student issues, misinformation, apprehensions and fears, relationships and support, benefits, and ideas for a better college experience. Findings were used to design a 3-day professional development program for student affairs staff. Goals were to provide staff with a better understanding of the issues community college transfer students faced. Social change implications include student affairs staff advocating for changes in processes, procedures, and programs to benefit transfer students.

Community college students who transfer to a bachelor's degree granting institution to complete degrees in science often change majors before graduation. Limited research is available on institutional support programs that target this specific population and how programs such as summer research and academic enrichment might increase their motivation to study and persist in a science major. The present study examined the relationship between participants' perceptions of their experience in a summer research program and their motivation to persist in science-related majors and career paths. Participants were community college students with an interest in pursuing a science major and career at the host university. All participants completed a 10-week residential summer apprenticeship-style research program. Participants completed pre- and post-surveys before voluntarily participating in a semi-structured interview that utilized questions adapted from the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation Inventory. The findings demonstrate the relationship between program features and participants' science-related self-efficacy, science identification, science-related goals, and effort. / Doctor of Philosophy / This study explored the relationship between community college students' experiences in a summer research program and their decisions about science-related academic and career goals. Participants were enrolled in a ten-week summer research and academic enrichment program at a research university. Each participant was assigned a faculty mentor for the duration of the program. The findings suggest that certain features of the program were related to participants' goals in science.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions and performance of native and community college transfer students at a rural land grant institution. The study included students’ perceptions of the following areas: (1) academic and intellectual development; (2) faculty concern of student development and teaching; (3) social integration; (4) goal and institutional commitment; and (5) transfer students’ perceptions of their transfer process. The theoretical framework of the study was Tinto’s Longitudinal Model of Student Departure. A survey research design was employed in this investigative study to collect and analyze the data. A total of 567 Mississippi State University (MSU) students participated in the research study. An instrument entitled The Student Experience Survey was used to gather the data utilized in the research study. The researcher sought to answer 6 research questions related to participants’ perceptions and performance at MSU. To analyze the collected data both a Multivariate of Variance (MANOVA) and an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) tests were used. Other statistical tests that were utilized in this research study were cross tabulations, descriptive frequencies, and Chi-Square. All results were presented in both descriptive and table forms. Among the major findings of the research study were: (a) there was a significant difference in the grade point averages (GPAs) of university native and community college transfer students, (b) there was a significant relationship between the collegiate GPAs of community college transfer students and their perceptions of specific transfer variables; and (c) there were significant differences in the students’ perceptions of the factor variables of academic and intellectual development, faculty concern for student development, social integration, and goal and institutional commitment among university native and community college transfer students.

Research indicates that college students who engage in proven educational practices associated with high levels of learning and achievement gain more from their educational experiences and have higher rates of degree completion than those who do not. Studies also indicate that community college students who transfer to senior colleges are less likely to engage in these proven educational practices than non-transfer students attending senior colleges. Participants in this research study were administered a survey developed by the National Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE) to compare levels of engagement in five benchmark categories. All-USA Community College Academic Team national winners attending senior colleges were compared with a general population of community college transfers students attending senior colleges and All-USA Community College Academic Team national winners attending senior colleges were compared with non-transfer students attending senior colleges. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Independent samples t-tests were run to determine if significant differences existed in the levels of engagement between the groups. The findings of this study showed that the 2006 All-USA Community College Academic Team national winner‘s levels of engagement in each of the five benchmarks categories were higher and significantly different when compared to the other two groups. Further, the personal characteristics of the 2006 All-USA Community College Academic Team national winners were analyzed to determine if there were significant differences which led to higher levels of engagement while attending senior colleges. The findings revealed that only one personal characteristic, gender, contributed to a significant difference in the level of engagement for a benchmark. Female respondents‘ level of engagement in the academic challenge benchmark was higher and significantly different compared to male respondents.

SHAPING FUZZY GOALS THROUGH TEACHER-STUDENT INTERACTION: A DETAILED LOOK AT THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY AND TRANSFER STUDENTS by Diana K. Leonard Faculty-student interactions have been largely neglected in the research regarding community colleges and community college transfer students. Yet faculty serve as points of institutional contact, and might also serve a central role in student experiences and decision-making. The purpose of this study was to increase our understanding of the dynamics and interactions that impact student experiences and decisions regarding transfer at the community college and to understand how those interactions contributed to goal formation. Symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969) provided a framework to guide the mixed-methods approach, which was primarily qualitative, utilizing online surveys and personal interviews to investigate students' interpretations of the student-teacher interactions. Quantitative data analysis measured teacher influence. 429 students who successfully transferred to a Research I university in the southwest, from in-state community colleges completed the survey. Ten students from this pool, subsequently interviewed, reflected various levels of uncertainty in their goals to transfer. These uncertain goals were termed "fuzzy" goals.In addition to symbolic interactionism as a framework, Stanton-Salazar's (1997) concept of institutional agents, supported with Bourdieu's (1977) cultural and social capital and Tinto's (1975) theory of social and academic integration were used to guide this study. Findings illustrated that students did utilize their teachers as institutional agents, who provided them with cultural knowledge and facilitated their understanding of procedures and processes through active as well as passive teacher-agency. Five themes emerged in students' interpretation of the student-teacher interactions: support, motivation, guidance, inspiration, and modeling. All had varying effects on students' uncertainty and contributed to shaping their fuzzy goals and to their social and academic integration into academe.This study can inform our understanding of the well-known gap in BA attainment between students who begin at a community college intending to transfer and students who begin at a four-year institution. Further, this study can inform strategic planning geared toward supporting teachers more fully in their role as institutional agents conveying social and cultural capital to students to increase their leverage for success once they transfer to the university.

Community colleges are an increasingly important component of the higher education systems in the United States. Community college as a pathway toward a better educated workforce has been emphasized at a national and state level. Virginia’s policy makers set a goal of producing 100,000 new baccalaureate degrees in the Commonwealth by 2025. Critical to meeting this goal is Virginia’s Community College System. In 2005, Virginia passed the Higher Education Restructuring Act which granted students graduating from Virginia’s community colleges with an associate’s guaranteed admission into any state-funded, four-year institution. Building on this earlier policy, Virginia passed The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011. This act expanded the role of the community college and placed a greater emphasis on articulation policies and baccalaureate attainment. The effectiveness of articulation policies on community college transfer and baccalaureate attainment has been debated in the academic literature. Some have suggested to measure policy effectiveness, academic outcomes and not transfer rates, must be compared before and after policy implementation. To gauge the effectiveness of Virginia’s guaranteed admission policy, this study examined archival student data for native and transfer students who achieved a junior standing at a single four-year state-funded institution. Furthermore, transfer student baccalaureate attainment rates and time to degree baccalaureate completion were compared before and after policy implementation. The study results showed native students graduated in greater percentages and have lower mean time to baccalaureate completion than transfer students; high school and college GPA are predictors of baccalaureate attainment for transfer and native students; transfer student baccalaureate attainment rates and mean time to baccalaureate completions were lower following policy implementation, or simply, fewer bachelor’s degrees were awarded but those completing a baccalaureate did so in less time after policy implementation. The findings of this study suggest transfer students with baccalaureate aspiration are negatively impacted for attending community college prior to transfer and Virginia’s articulation policy at the study institution had little impact on academic outcomes for transfer students following policy implementation. These single institutional results may suggest modification to Virginia’s articulation policy is necessary to improve academic outcomes for community college transfer students.