All, thank you for viewing our video. We are excited about our project and how we hope to make tremendous gains in our state and for our university on how two-year transfer students experience the transfer process and how welcomed they feel when they arrive at a four-year university, as well as progress for our state on how to streamline the process for all institutions. Our project also places great emphasis on faculty and peer mentoring, academic monitoring, financial awareness (scholarships, research opportunities, summer stipends, etc.) and general resources for navigating a four-year university.

 

Feedback on our video and suggestions on above very welcome.  We're particularly interested in how others have created successful pathways with their state departments of education, industry and communities (if not already published as a best-practice) for two-year students to pursue STEM bachelor's (and above) degrees at four-year universities.

Hi, Janet. 

    Your video got me interested in the question of 2-yr transfer.  I was left with a couple of questions. 

First, what are the critical barriers or inhibitors that you've identified and aim to address-- is it related to getting students to think about making such a transfer at all, or is it more related to what the experience of transferring is like?

Second:  Is there something about STEM majors that makes them more (or less) interested in (or eager to) transfer?

 

Brian,

 

Thanks for viewing our video and posing a couple of questions.

 

With regard to your first question, the answer is yes and yes! Our project includes a "recruiting" component at community colleges. We know that getting students to consider our university is the first hurdle, as we have to overcome the stigma that we are "so much more expensive" than other universities in the state (we are not, but it's long, long MISperception about our school). Then getting them to consider STEM degrees is next--actually in tandem with the recruitment. We are the flagship university for our state with tremendous STEM research opportunities, and a high graduation rate. We simply need to overcome the entrance barriers (BIG task!).

 

Next, transfer students' experiences once on campus comes next, as transfer students report that they often feel unwelcome on campus... we are diving into this now to understand what is at the root of that feeling of unwelcome. We are working to put programs in place that provide mentoring, academic monitoring, campus navigational skills, financial opportunities, and a host of other small, yet mighty, steps to make their transfer successful.

 

Your second question leads to the state of our state's economy. We are bursting at the seams with STEM job opportunities, and struggling to fill the positions available. Our workforce development agencies, in conjunction with state agencies, is doing a great job of publicizing how valuable it is to have a STEM education post high school -- students are interested, we just have to get them on to earn a 4-year degree after starting at a community college. It's a win win for everyone: the student, the 2-year college, the 4-year university, and our state.

 

Let me know if you want more information. Thanks!

Such an important project and I love that your presenter says this is a decade long commitment. Change takes time. Did Obama visit your project? More important, do I understand that you are building a network of community colleges that partner with University of Colorado? If so, is that partnership relatively new? I know the INCLUDES projects were just recently funded? You mention that there are more STEM jobs that can be filled. Are you creating a STEM internship program with industry for HS, Community College and for students at University of Colorado Boulder from underserved populations? There are so many ways to take this so would be interested to know which are your first priorities. Very interested to follow this project as it progresses. Thank for this video!

 Joni, thanks!

 

No Obama did not visit our project (I wish though!). He visited our campus a couple of years ago, and I pulled the video from his visit to Boulder off our university news channel.

 

You are mostly correct... we are forming networks with the five major Denver-metro community colleges to create an intentional community invested in transfer student success. Each of these colleges has relationships with our university, but we are formalizing the partnerships through our CAPS project. So while they are loosely already partnered with us, we are taking those partnerships a step further to create a holistic model for support for 2-year students. Having said that, we are not excluding the other 8 community colleges in our state (there are 13 total), we're just focusing now on the low-hanging fruit at the colleges who are located closest to Boulder.

 

STEM internships will be brokered through our CAPS project with various industry partners and national labs in/around our area and made available to community college students who pursue 4-year degrees at our university (albeit internships with the same are currently available to University students through myriad programs that already exist). Since we are focusing on underserved populations, these internships will most definitely serve the same targeted students, providing opportunities that may not exist at their smaller colleges. 

 

One thing that I'd like to state is that while our project initially is focused on CU Boulder, we aim high, and hope to create a transfer model that can be replicated at all 4-year universities in our state.

 

Hope this answers your questions... thanks for having me articulate our work!

This is a really interesting undertaking, and I agree with Joni that this is such a rich opportunity that I'm sure the temptation is to think of 17 other things that would also be fascinating to start in on!

You mention that one of your big tasks is to overcome entrance barriers--can you say a little more about what you mean here? I wasn't sure whether you meant the barriers to convincing students from community colleges that they should consider matriculating to Boulder, or that there were challenges related to student preparation for coursework at Boulder and/or students' sense of belonging. With regard to the latter, it would be great to hear about your early take on this challenge as you dive into this question. 

Janet

I love big audacious goals and this project qualifies for that! Rock on UC Boulder! I appreciate your responses already and those forthcoming to Lynn's questions above. The statistics you share are compelling and those related to the Lt. Governor's portion of the video carry across the nation...we do need to encourage, recruit, and generate systems and structures that support more diversity in STEM careers and 4 year degrees!

 

I will be curious to hear what you think are the factors that make students feel "unwelcome"...you seem to have the academic, financial and logistical side covered with mentoring, monitoring, counseling, etc. I wonder...do you think there may also be a "social integration" component too (such a HUGE part of undergraduate college life), and maybe a "big step up" from a CC campus to a major 4-year institution? If other students that begin as freshman at UC Boulder by year 3 have formed their club/fraternity/community service/intramural or dorm friendships...could this be a factor too?

Great video, Janet & team. The numbers of transfer students to CU Boulder seem terribly small (6%). With increasing tuition rates it seems like the numbers would go up just because it is so much more cost effective to cover the basic courses at an inexpensive CC.

It would be great to have some context - what is the national percentage of 4YC graduates that transferred from a CC? What are high transfer rates? And what do the colleges do differently than CU to encourage the transfer? I know these are big questions but I am curious what your thoughts are why CU has such a low rate (if it is a low rate in comparison...). Thanks again - an amazing project.