Community College to a Four-Year Institution: Transition for Underrepresented Students

Many four-year public institutions are experiencing increasing enrollment of students transferring from community colleges. For this qualitative assessment, six underrepresented students who transferred from a two-year community college to a fouryear public institution were interviewed to examine both support and risk factors that underrepresented students experienced during and after the transition process. Findings showed that underrepresented students' common influential factors were finances, location, family/parental support, motivation and preparedness. The data revealed that underrepresented students experienced support from family, friends, TRIO, faculty and counselors while transitioning from community college. Risk factors that were revealed for underrepresented students at community college and their universities were paperwork, course work/credit hours, culture shock and organizational involvement. The study concluded that faculty/staffmentorship programs and providing students with oneon-one personal interactions both at the community college and four-year public institution are needed for underrepresented transfer students to succeed navigating the higher education system. 1 TRANSITION FOR UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS DEDICATION I dedicate my thesis to my mom and dad. My mom and dad have been two of my biggest supporters. Dad, thank you for always pushing me to study hard, work hard and have fun. You are always there whenever I need advice. Mom, thank you for your wonderful caring personality. You go the extra mile to make me feel special. You challenge me to be a better person by supporting me and listening to my every complaint. Thank you mom and dad for your amazing support through all my educational endeavors. I could not have done any of this without you. I also want to dedicate my thesis to my twin sister, Sally. Sally, thank you for supporting me and understanding the trials and tribulations of writing a thesis. It has been great to share our educational journey together. I appreciate your honesty, passion and work ethic. You push me to strive for perfection so that eventually I can be just as great if not better than you. Finally, I would like to dedicate my thesis to my husband, Matt. Matt, thank you for sharing in this graduate school journey with me. I appreciate you sacrificing your time and energy for me to attend graduate school. You have inspired me to complete this study on your behalf because of the many struggles you have faced within higher education. Thank you to my family for always loving and supporting me. 11 TRANSITION FOR UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dr. Davenport I appreciate all of the help and support you provided me through this process. I want to acknowledge you for all of the time that you sacrificed to read through my many edits and provide feedback. I value your advice and honesty you have given me through this journey. I appreciate your willingness to learn together. I know at times this was not easy and I appreciate you jumping in 100%. Dr. Polydore thank you for taking the time to sit down with me when I needed assistance to better understand your feedback and recommendations. Your expertise in research and methodology has helped improve my study. I am truly grateful for your honesty and willingness to help me improve as a researcher. This research would not be as robust without your advice and wisdom. Ms. Burkhead I appreciate your knowledge on the participants and helping me understand their needs. I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with you on your first thesis committee. Your expertise in the area of TRIO is phenomenal and I thank you for your resources. To my fellow cohort members, thank you for your constant words of encouragement and motivation. I appreciate you allowing me to project my trials onto you in my time of need. You all are wonderful and helped make my journey fun and entertaining. Thank you to everyone who has supported me through this process. 111 TRANSITION FOR UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS lV TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Dedication ii Acknowledgement iii Table of