For students interested in transferring from a community college to a bachelor’s degree–granting institution, navigating the transition can be challenging due to complications with credit transfer.

Even within higher education systems, such as the City University of New York (CUNY), students can lose credits in the transition between institutions, which can increase costs associated with earning a degree as well as time to completion. Approximately half (47 percent) of CUNY community college transfers lose credits, according to system data.

Faculty members play a key role in evaluating and applying transfer credits, but previous research shows faculty can stall transfer student progress by underappreciating learning at the community college level.

A recent survey from CUNY evaluated faculty members’ understanding of transfer and recommended ways to improve student credit mobility from the instructor’s perspective.

State of play: The most common reason students’ credits don’t apply to their degree program is because the evaluating institution believes the course does not match program requirements.

A study by policy nonprofit MDRC of Texas universities found that faculty are not consistent in how or when they accept credits, which varies according to such factors as class topic sessions, course objectives, course modality, assignments, assessment methods and the instructor’s home discipline.

“At times, the process of transfer credit evaluation can be somewhat subjective,” MDRC researchers wrote.

The study at CUNY sought to understand faculty members’ perceived roles in the transfer process and the norms that may vary by college and discipline, with the goal of identifying gaps in faculty knowledge or perceptions inhibiting transfer success.

Understanding faculty: Surveys sent to 17,381 full-time and part-time CUNY faculty in October and November 2021 yielded a total of 3,871 participants. Researchers classified faculty by whether they worked primarily with prospective vertical transfer students (those staying at two-year colleges) or with bachelor’s-seeking transfer students.

Associate-degree faculty were less likely to be white, to use English as their first language or to have served in a leadership or advising role. They were also more likely to have attended a community college themselves and have earned an associate degree. And they proved more likely to be aware of prospective transfers and engage in transfer-related activities.

The survey highlighted some misconceptions about transfer. A significant number of respondents indicated that more credits transfer when a student completes an associate degree, which is not true at CUNY; in addition, fewer than 40 percent correctly identified that transfer students can modify major credits to elective credits.

Similarly, respondents demonstrated a lack of awareness about the academic outcomes of transfer students. Over 61 percent of faculty from two- and four-year colleges said they didn’t know what happens to students’ GPAs after transfer, and 66 percent of bachelor’s degree faculty said they don’t know how many graduates of their college were transfer students. (In 2020–21, 43 percent of CUNY bachelor’s graduates were transfer students.)

When asked about their perceptions of transfer, two- and four-year college instructors showed some variance in their responses. For example, four-year professors were more likely to say students learn more in a bachelor’s-degree course even if it has the same name as an associate-degree course. Community college faculty were more likely to say there’s a stigma attached to students who attend a two-year college compared to their four-year peers.

Nearly half of two-year college professors said they never communicate with colleagues at other colleges about transfer; 60 percent of four-year faculty said the same.

“The bachelor’s faculty seem to acknowledge that their support of transfer is not excellent,” the study noted. “The bachelor’s faculty were less likely than the associate faculty to state that their colleagues try to understand transfers’ challenges, that transfers get tailored information and advice, and that faculty value transfers.”

Researchers also evaluated how faculty opinions varied depending on whether they worked at more or less selective colleges. Faculty at more selective institutions were more likely to say transfer students should retake courses in their majors, even if they did well in the courses at the associate-degree level, compared to two-year faculty or those at less selective colleges.

Instructors at selective colleges were also less likely to say transfer students should attempt most of their major courses at the two-year college or to believe that the central office at CUNY should do more to facilitate transfer, compared to their two-year college staff.

Based on the findings, researchers urge faculty to be more aware of transfer-related activities beyond their own classroom, including policies and transfer outcomes. Additionally, both sending and receiving colleges may need additional support from a third party to set policies and provide incentives for cross-sector cooperation to improve transfer.