PAGE TURNER
by Laura S. Love and Tony W. Cawthon
On many campuses, the transfer student population experiences low support and, as a result, may also suffer less success when it comes to degree attainment, retention, and graduation rates. Acknowledging this discrepancy, The Transfer Experience: A Handbook for Creating a More Equitable and Successful Postsecondary System, edited by John N. Gardner, Michael J. Rosenberg, and Andrew K. Koch, is a call to action and provides in detail what higher education institutions and their stakeholders need to do to improve the transfer process and provide equitable access to education for all students. These authors argue that one of the primary reasons that transfer students struggle is that they lack a primary advocate, and they present this book as a way to ensure a successful transfer student experience.
The authors model their writing on the conceptualization of the transfer experience as being not a sole “event” or “phase” but rather the “sum of everything the student goes through at both the sending and receiving institutions.” This holistic view of the process helps to structure the book into four parts that model the totality of the transfer experience: a review of the background of the transfer process and how one should view the process in context moving forward; the varying ways in which the transfer process can occur; the ways in which the transfer experience should be supported upon successful transfer; and detailed cases of successful institutional commitments to the transfer student experience. These sections create a comprehensive guide that not only details the needs of transfer students through extensive research and data but also provides recommendations that can assist policy makers.
The first part of the book advocates a holistic view in order to best support the process and the students who experience the process. Beginning with a history of the development of community colleges, the authors illustrate the systematic barriers that transfer students have experienced. More importantly, they boldly state that the transfer population is one that experiences discrimination and neglect. By offering a framework in which higher education leaders can view the transfer process as an essential part of furthering the principles of social justice, the authors establish a clear need for why more attention and better developed policies are needed to support the transfer student population and thus enhance the overall institutional goals of increased enrollment and retention in higher education.
Part 2 explores the varying pathways through which students transfer, acknowledging that the transfer process is not always an upward one from two-year to four-year institutions. Ensuring the inclusion of all methods of transfer emphasizes the need for support from both the institution from which students transfer and the one to which they transfer, regardless of institutional classification. The discussion of the non-upward modes of transfer, including competency-based education and reverse-credit transfer, places importance on finding ways that “post-traditional transfer students” may still be able to attain a degree if they cannot be successful in upward transfer. Topics of campus culture and financial aid are also discussed as areas that can ease the transition of transfer students, as campus culture and financial aid affect all students.
Continuing the acknowledgement of the transfer experience as a holistic one, Part 3 focuses on the experiences of the students after a successful transfer. These chapters provide important guidance for how institutions must continue to provide support to ensure the retention of its transfer students, as well as their learning, development, and degree completion. Emphasis is placed on the concept that simply ensuring successful transfer and mobility between institutions is not enough. To increase transfer student degree attainment, institutions must provide them with continuous support in their academics and their sense of belonging on campus.
Finally, Part 4 provides two real-life examples of institutions that have successfully implemented improved policies and procedures with the goal of supporting the transfer student. Acknowledging that continuous improvement is necessary, the included institutions ensure the enrollment of transfer students, and their degree attainment is at the forefront of policies and decisions surrounding student success. One strength of this book is an accompanying online compendium which provides additional case studies of institutions that have also made progress in ensuring a successful transfer experience for their students. With the addition of this digital collection, the book provides a wealth of information accessible to those who wish to provide support to these students.
While the topic of housing is not explicitly included as a core part of the transfer students’ experience, this book remains applicable to the work of housing professionals (especially those who oversee a larger population of transfer students living on campus) who can use this book and its recommendations to ensure that housing does not provide additional barriers. Eligibility criteria for on-campus housing should be reviewed for any underlying prejudice against transfer students. If the aim is to ensure equitable access for all students, then equitable access to housing for all students, regardless of their admitted status, should be included.
Many schools, such as UCLA, The University of Texas, and University of California San Diego, offer a transfer student living-learning community, which brings transfer students together in a community and builds resiliency among them. This book is an excellent resource for how we create a sense of belonging, enhance the transfer transition process, and amplify the curricular and cocurricular experience. The discussion questions concluding each chapter could be utilized by housing professionals to develop a living-learning curriculum and to identify programming needs to assist transfer students.
Advertised as a handbook, the book presents data, theory, discussion, and recommendations on how to improve the transfer experience at multiple levels, serving as a comprehensive guide for all areas of student affairs professionals and policy makers. Throughout each chapter the authors utilize data and theory to support practical recommendations, and they include questions for discussion that each higher education practitioner can then apply to their own area. Both editors and authors present compelling arguments supported with evidence that aim to inspire institutional change.
Laura S. Love is a doctoral student in educational leadership and is an academic advisor for the biological sciences at Clemson University in South Carolina. Tony Cawthon, Ph.D., is the director of graduate studies for Clemson’s University College of Education. "Page Turner" is a recurring column that pairs Cawthon with a graduate student or professional colleague as they review books and scholarship of interest to campus housing and student affairs.