Practices from the Field Exploring the Needs/Impact of Non-traditional Transfer Students Participating in a Discipline-Based Learning Community

The landscape for higher education has never been more challenging. In the last four decades higher education in the United States has been transformed through a dramatic increase in the number and types of colleges and universities and with that comes a student body that is increasingly more diverse (Lord et al. 2012; Smith, et. al. 2004). For example, today’s typical college student is no longer an 18-year-old recent high-school graduate who enrolls full-time and has limited work and family obligations. Students today are older, more diverse and have more work and family obligations to balance (National Center for Education Statistics 2012; Choy 2002). Further, the lines between community colleges and universities are becoming more blurred as more and more students move back and forth between two year and four-year institutions. This research explores the impact of a disciplinary specific learning community that was designed to meet the needs of transfer students. Specifically, the research focuses attention on the stressors faced by traditional and nontraditional transfer students.

[1]  Elizabeth J. Whitt,et al.  Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter , 2012 .

[2]  Gail A. Herndon.  The chronicle of higher education , 1977 .

[3]  Kristin Wilson,et al.  "A Hand Hold for A Little Bit": Factors Facilitating the Success of Community College Transfer Students to a Large Research University , 2006 .

[4]  Charles R. Pastors.  Assessing a Learning Community Program through a Student Survey. , 2006 .

[5]  R. H. Keniston,et al.  AN ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES. , 1900, Science.

[6]  Jean MacGregor,et al.  Learning Communities and the Quest for Quality , 2009 .

[7]  Janyth Fredrickson.  Today's Transfer Students: Who Are They? , 1998 .

[8]  D. Dabney,et al.  Freshman Learning Communities in Criminology and Criminal Justice: An Effective Tool for Enhancing Student Recruitment and Learning Outcomes , 2006 .

[9]  Susan P. Choy.  Nontraditional Undergraduates: Findings from the Condition of Education 2002. NCES 2002-012. , 2002 .

[10]  S. Mitchell,et al.  A Physical Education Learning Community: Development and First-Year Assessment. , 2006 .

[11]  A Longitudinal Assessment of an Initial Cohort in a Psychology Learning Community , 2008 .

[12]  Ron Pennington.  Rethinking Grade Transfer Shock: Examining its Importance in the Community College Transfer Process. , 2006 .

[13]  Joseph B. Cuseo.  The Transfer Transition: A Summary of Key Issues, Target Areas and Tactics for Reform. , 1998 .

[14]  Vincent Tinto,et al.  Classrooms as Communities: Exploring the Educational Character of Student Persistence. , 1997 .

[15]  David T. Conley.  Understanding University Success. A Report from Standards for Success. , 2003 .

[16]  Leila González Sullivan,et al.  National Profile of Community Colleges: Trends and Statistics, 4th Edition. , 2000 .

[17]  Jean MacGregor,et al.  Learning Communities: Reforming Undergraduate Education , 2004 .

[18]  George D. Kuh,et al.  Adding Value: Learning Communities and Student Engagement , 2004 .