Annual Report on Articulation and Transfer, 2009
Author: Tennessee Higher Education Commission
Date: 2009-10-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Graduate Students,Universities,Community Colleges,Public Colleges,Graduation Rate,Institutions,Graduation,Articulation (Education),College Transfer Students,College Freshmen,Longitudinal Studies,Enrollment Trends,Bachelors Degrees,Associate Degrees,State Universities,Undergraduate Students

This report fulfills the statutory responsibilities of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission pursuant to T.C.A. (Tennessee Code Annotated) Section 49-7-202(f) to report on the progress made toward full articulation between all public institutions. In order to evaluate articulation among institutions, this report tracks the occurrence of student transfer and the relative success of transfer students across the state using several different data sets. First, a snapshot of all public undergraduate and graduate students in fall 2008 is taken to show the occurrence of transfer and where students transferred from and to. Second, a cohort of fall 2003 first-time freshmen is longitudinally tracked over six years to report the retention and graduation rates for transfer students in comparison to native students (those who never transferred). Finally, a subset of the fall 2003 first-time freshmen cohort is extracted to compare retention and baccalaureate degree outcomes for students who started at community colleges and public universities with similar degree intentions. Key findings from these analyses include the following: (1) Fall 2008 Snapshot: (a) Transfer is multi-directional; only 50 percent of Tennessee public institution transfers were from community colleges to universities; (b) Transfers to Tennessee public colleges and universities originate from institutions of all types; 58 percent of transfers were from Tennessee public institutions, 22 percent from out-of-state public institutions, and 9 percent from Tennessee private non-profit institutions; (2) Fall 2003 First-Time Freshmen Cohort: (a) Of the 29,205 first-time freshmen, 19 percent transferred during their educational career; (b) Transfer students were more likely than native students to be Caucasian and less likely to be adults (age 25 and older) and African-American; (c) Transfer students graduated within six years at a higher rate than native students; 40 percent of transfer students graduated compared to 31 percent for native students; (d) Most students (44 percent) transferred with less than 30 credit hours, yet those students were the least successful, graduating at just 24 percent; (e) The most efficient enrollment path defined by both terms and credit hours at Bachelor's degree attainment, is to enroll and graduate from the same institution, while the least productive path is to first enroll at a university in a differing system (TBR or UT) and transfer before graduating; (f) The fall 2003 first-time freshmen cohort produced 7,734 Bachelor's degrees, but only 2,158 Associates degrees. Further, only 617 (29 percent) transferred with an Associate's degree; and (3) Fall 2003 First-Time Freshmen Native and Transfer Paired Cohort: (a) Although students who start at a community college demonstrate a higher retention rate, those who started at a university have a graduation rate that is 6 percent higher. Appendices include: (1) Transfers to Community Colleges from Other Public Institutions by Receiving Community College, Fall 2008; (2) Transfers from Community Colleges to Other Public Institutions by Sending Community College, Fall 2008; (3) Transfers to Universities from Other Public Institutions by Receiving University, Fall 2008; and (4) Transfers from Universities to Other Public Institutions by Sending University, Fall 2008. (Contains 9 figures.)