Can the Transfer Process be improved at Community Colleges?

by Diana Samoylova

During the New York region Honors in Action Conference we were asked to join a research study on students transferring from community colleges to higher education facilities, such as four year colleges. The interviewer was a Ph.D. student and I was happy to participate and contribute to the study, because I believe this to be an important issue. He asked us, me and my fellow PTK member Esmeralda Vargas to answer some questions, while we were tape recorded. He wanted to know why we chose to complete associate degrees rather than attending a four year college and if we planned on continuing our education. Additionally he asked what our future goals were for college as well as careers. He asked us what resources our school provided for transfer and if they were helpful. He asked if the transfer process was hard and what we thought would improve our experience. What did we plan on majoring in and if we had a plan to achieve it. He asked if we were worried about attending a four year college and what we anticipated.

Many of our answers described the deficiencies of community colleges and students’ knowledge about the transfer process. We are fortunate to be PTK members and have more intimate knowledge of programs and resources that are available to us. However, time is limited and resources for travel to visit potential schools are unavailable in most cases. I feel that it would be best to have a class dedicated to the transfer process, because after attending workshops about the transfer process, I realized it was no easy task. There is large amount of research that needs to be done prior to choosing a college. In addition to the amount of work that needs to be done, students must continue to attend their classes, internships and many times jobs. I feel that something needs to be done to make this process easier.

I felt it was very important to contribute to this study. I consistently hear how difficult the transfer process is. If this study could improve people transfer process in any way I was more than willing to share my ideas and opinions. I think it is very important for us as students to communicate what could be improved and how in order to see any improvement.