NC community college transfers lag behind national average

Although the UNC system has focused on accepting more transfer students from community colleges, a new study found the state still ranks below the national average in graduation rates for these students.

According to a study by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 45 percent of students who graduated from four-year colleges in 2011 transferred from community colleges.

In North Carolina, 39 percent of all four-year college graduates started out at community college. The state ranked 28 of 50 states with this percentage, which is slightly lower than the national average.

Sharon Morrissey, senior vice president and chief academic officer for the N.C. Community College System, addressed the challenges faced by community college transfer students at the N.C. General Assembly’s Education Oversight Committee meeting Tuesday.

Morrissey discussed the UNC system’s credit transfer partnership with community colleges, which was established in 1995.

“It really was the envy of the country for a while,” she said. “North Carolina’s articulation agreement was studied by other states. So what happened?”

Morrissey said the problem is that 66 percent of students transfer without an associate degree, making it more difficult to graduate in a four-year time span.

Certain associate degrees — specifically arts and science — allow for a simpler transfer process into four-year institutions, she explained.

Of transfer students who entered system universities in 2007, students with one of those two associate degrees had the highest four-year graduation rate — 74 percent.

But other degrees, such as applied sciences and general education, are not as easily transferable, she said.

Better advising for transfer students could help to alleviate some of these problems, but Suzanne Ortega, senior vice president for academic affairs for the UNC system, said she’s been concerned about the lack of guidance for students.

“I can tell you I worry personally about whether or not we have enough advisers,” she said. “They tend to disappear when we worry about classroom budgets.”

Some community college advisers are assigned more than 800 students, Morrissey said.

“We have excellent advisers,” she said. “But we are woefully under-resourced.”

Alyssa Hedrick, a UNC junior who transferred from Sacramento City College, graduated with an associate arts degree in anthropology with honors.

Hedrick explained the application and transfer process for her degree were not too difficult. But she said the stakes are high for community college students.

“You have so much riding on getting in. If you don’t get in, you’re stuck. There are only so many classes you can take at a community college.”

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.