New Research: Chutes or Ladders? Strengthening Community College Transfer

New Research: Chutes or Ladders?

Strengthening California Community College Transfer So

More Students Earn the Degrees They Seek

Today, the Campaign for College Opportunity released “Chutes or Ladders: Strengthening California Community College Transfer So More Students Earn the Degrees They Seek.” Join us today at 1pm for a webinar on this report (details below).

Like Chutes and Ladders game players, California community college students who want to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree are trying to make progress, but one bad roll of the dice can set them back several turns.

The result is that less than 3% of California community college students transfer in two years, 23% in four years, and 40% in six years. Even after six years, 60% do not transfer at all. For those students who reach transfer on the gameboard, less than half will earn their bachelor’s degree at the CSU and less than two-thirds will earn their bachelor’s degree at the UC in two years.

"Chutes or Ladders" demonstrates how improving transfer for community college students is central to remedying racial inequity in higher education and offers recommendations for removing remaining obstacles for students in the transfer process and for strengthening the ADT pathway.

Students earning ADTs graduate with 6.5 fewer excess credits than students who earned traditional associate degrees.

More than half of students who transfer to a CSU on a guaranteed ADT pathway are graduating with their bachelor’s degrees in two years, outpacing traditional transfer students.

The ADT is increasing minoritized students’ college success: More than half (54%) of Latinx students earning associate degrees from the California Community Colleges are earning ADTs.

The AS-T (Associate Degree for Transfer) program has really helped me focus on sticking to a plan. It has also given me the confidence of knowing I’m headed in the right direction. It keeps me motivated knowing that the classes I take under the AS-T program count towards my educational goal of obtaining a bachelor’s degree. I think it helps me really push myself in those classes and I end up doing better.

-Alexandra Juarez Alvarado

Student, Mt. San Antonio College

However, improvements to ADT implementation are needed:

The ADT pathway remains underutilized. In the 2019 – 2020 school year, 48% of students earned an ADT compared to 52% of students who earned an AA/AS degree, which does not provide students the benefits of the ADT.

While the percentage of Black graduates earning ADTs has doubled over the past five years, only 37% of Black community college students who earn associate degrees are awarded ADTs.

Students earning ADTs still complete excess credits – an average of 84 semester credits at community colleges, despite the typical associate degree requiring 60 semester credits.

ADT enrollment has increased steadily at the CSU, but not all students with ADTs are on a guaranteed path, meaning they enroll without the benefit of junior standing and are accruing more units to earn a bachelor’s degree.

Community college students intending to transfer often have to make a decision early in their trajectories on whether to apply to the CSU or the UC, instead of both. In California’s K-12 system, students in high school can take one curricular pathway (A-G) with different grade point average requirements to be qualified for admission to both systems. By not further aligning the ADT with UC admissions and not creating an admission guarantee for ADT earners, the UC is adding to the complexity of transfer.

Through faithful implementation of the ADT, college and state leaders can save California millions. Students earning ADTs in 2019-2020 saved $10,429,293 in community college fees (tuition). But California and its students could save over $100 million annually if public colleges and universities commit to ensuring a 60-unit pathway, as the ADT originally intended, and ensure that 80% of transfer-seeking students are on an ADT pathway.

Join us today at 1 pm as we share the key findings from "Chutes or Ladders." Hear from a panel of practitioners and policy experts from across the state on why transforming transfer at this moment is so critical to the success of California and its students.