Putting Students First: How Colleges Develop Students Purposefully

What environmental conditions have a significant effect on community college student‐transfer activity? What are the interrelationships between the external and institutional conditions affecting community college student‐transfer activity? These questions were examined using a sample of 78 public community colleges across the country that participated in the 1990 Transfer Assembly (Center for the Study of Community Colleges). Analyses involved semi‐stepwise regressions and two‐tailed t‐ tests. The dependent variables based on first‐time freshmen of the Fall 1985 cohort were credits accumulated and transfer rates of students completing 12 or more credits. Findings suggest that institutions with larger percentages of students completing 12 or more credits have greater proportions of full‐time and younger students and are located in areas with high unemployment. Institutions with larger percentages of students transferring with 12 or more credits have are located in high income areas in states with formalized articulation and transfer agreements.