<p>
[quote]
elective four-year colleges enroll a smaller percentage of transfer students than they did 20 years ago, despite the growing number of students who start their postsecondary education at community colleges, according to a report on a national study released on Monday by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.
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[quote]
Top community college students struggle against the mistaken perception by some college administrators and others that community college transfer students cannot succeed at elite institutions. They also face cultural and economic barriers to completing their bachelor's degrees.
<p>Not true in So. Cal. where many CC have a "transfer track" that guarantees the student placement in the UC system. The UC is bound by the agreement but not the student. In order to qualify, the student must declare at the start their intentions to transfer to a certain UC, must follow the track, and maintain a decent GPA (2.5 - 2.75 is average).</p>
<p>I've seen a LOT of kids follow the track, and transfer into UCLA, UCSB, and more.</p>
<p>The best part is that kids who may have floundered in HS or are late bloomers have a great chance of an excellent college education, and save thousands over the 2 years.</p>
<p>I didn't look at the report, but I'm wondering if the numbers dropped because the top elite institutions are giving better need-based financial aid and also are doing more to recruit first generation and low income college students. It may be that the very best of such students now go to top colleges as freshmen instead of going to community college first.</p>
<p>This what the report says about California:</p>
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[quote]
As discussed in Section I, the special case of California, with its highly articulated
transfer system and relatively large number of low-income students enrolling at selective
institutions, deserves further consideration in estimating the national population of low-income
two-year transfers at elite institutions. Two elite public universities, the University of California,
Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles both report high numbers of transfer
students, close to 4,000 combined, in the College Board data. State system data indicates that the
majority of these students transfer from community colleges. If socio-economic status (SES) is
not a barrier to transfer enrollment at elite public institutions in California, 40% of these 4000
students would be from the two lowest SES quintiles. This suggests the possibility of 1600 lowincome
transfers, over one-and-a-half times the total of the national estimate above, could have
enrolled at two public institutions in California alone.
Unfortunately, the proportion of low-income students among community college
transfers in California is not known through the available data. However, the results of the case
study of transfer access reported in Section III indicate that it is a poor assumption to treat all or
even the majority of community college transfers as low-income students. The national case
study findings indicate a stratification of opportunity at community colleges. While some
community colleges serve as conduits to transfer at elite institutions, others do not. Similarly
community college honors programs sometimes tap into feeder networks for transfer in ways that
the college as a whole does not. Navigating this hierarchy of opportunity requires knowledge of
Community College Transfer Students at Selective
Colleges and Universities in the United States
the relative value of different colleges and programsknowledge that low-income and first
generation college students are less likely to have.
<p>Northstar - your questions are good ones, and seem to make sense to me. But I did want to point out regional variations in junior college systems. California by and large has excellent schools which put people on a track for a BA and BS at quality schools. But this is not the case everywhere. Our local junior college system, which has many fine programs, and indeed, in vocational areas, is often superb, can qualify (and does) people for transfer to four year schools. But it is a hard road, and the good students on a college prep track are comparatively few. So it is an environment for the hardy few. And throw into the mix that there are local four year schools that are state supported that are both very good and cheap, and statistically, in any event, JUCO's don't seem ideal in our area.</p>
<p>It's funny, when I read the title I was about to come in here and say there is a foundation that is putting money towards correcting the trend... the JKC foundation. LOL.</p>