Six years after I transitioned from working at a university one on one with community college transfer students to researching transfer outcomes and reforms, two things have remained unchanged: lots of hard work is going into supporting transfer students, and yet only a fraction of entering community college students realize their goal of completing a bachelor’s degree. My work studying how educators can improve transfer outcomes has only emphasized what I knew already: transfer students aren’t the problem; rather, college-created barriers are holding transfer students back.
We simply cannot afford to underutilize the community college transfer pathway as a driver of more equitable college attainment. Bachelor’s degrees are increasingly required for good jobs, which are more resilient to economic downturns. Yet our educational system is failing to provide equal opportunity to a bachelor’s and beyond, exemplified by continued underrepresentation of Black and Latinx adul