Social facilitators of and barriers to community college transfer student success

Abstract

Students who transfer to four-year institutions from community colleges often encounter difficulty within their classes post-transfer and tend to graduate at lower rates than their peers who began at four-year institutions as freshman (Bailey, Jenkins, & Leinbach, 2005; Jenkins & Fink, 2016). Reasons for these lowered rates of success have been explored, but have often focused on academic reasons while neglecting any possible social causes. The current review aimed to explore what is known about the impact of social factors, such as belongingness, on community college transfer students' rates of persistence and academic success at four-year institutions. The literature was searched in a systematic way using a three-part search strategy, through which 21 articles were deemed eligible to be included and further evaluated. Several social factors emerged, including sense of belonging, the stereotype of a community college transfer student, and additional considerations for student success as well as social support from family, peers, faculty, and advisors. Most students reported the social factors identified to play a role in their success at the four-year institution. The findings from each theme are presented and future directions for research and programs to be used to address those factors mentioned are suggested.