By Xueli Wang
Transfer partnerships in higher education stand at a pivotal moment, teetering a thin line between promise and challenge. Numerous initiatives now aim to facilitate student transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions, yet many still lack an equity-centered focus. This oversight underscores a persistent problem: despite the volume of partnerships, transfer rates remain stagnant, particularly for students of color and low-income students. These disparities reveal long-standing systemic barriers that often transpire invisibly in even the best-intended transfer partnerships.
Fortunately, there has been a recent shift toward equity-centered transfer partnerships, as I showed in Delivering Promise. Declining enrollment and heightened attention to student well-being—brought upon by a crisis that loomed long before the pandemic—have sparked efforts to reimagine transfer initiatives. While transfer has gained traction as a policy priority, it’s critical to recognize that rhetoric and action about equity must go beyond individual initiatives to realize change at the systemic level.
Naming and Addressing Institutional Biases and Inequities
Biases and tensions within transfer partnerships are not new. Historically, universities have often undervalued community college education, situating themselves as the primary decision-makers in higher education and transfer agreements. This power imbalance perpetuates a system where transfer students are seen as lesser than their direct-entry peers. This perception, however, could not be further from the truth, as research has consistently shown that community college transfers perform at about the same level as those starting at four-year institutions.1 Thus, equitable transfer partnerships begin by addressing stigma and power imbalances to dismantle these historical barriers. Especially, universities must challenge these norms and acknowledge community colleges as equal partners. Case studies in Delivering Promise demonstrate many ways in which institutions can build equitable partnerships, such as recognizing community colleges’ distinct contexts, strengths, and realities, asking questions first to understand how each institution can best carry out their work, and acting with respect and humility to put other partners’ needs first. These approaches help cultivate a more clear-eyed vision toward institutional inequities often embedded and unaddressed within partnerships. Particularly, learning from and working with community colleges’ unique structures, resources, policies, and practices can lead to a perspective shift and reimagination for lasting partnerships. Otherwise, transfer initiatives risk fueling resentment and disengagement rather than fostering genuine collaboration.
Holistically Tackling Student Inequities
At the heart of any effective transfer partnership lies a commitment to holistically tackling the inequities students face. However, these partnerships have often complicated or even compounded inequities for students due to a transfer process that is convoluted and absent of meaningful supports. Transfer partnerships that effectively deal with student inequities in Delivering Promise center students’ needs from the outset and establish a holistic vision that addresses enduring inequities. They start with charting a roadmap of the transfer student journey that accounts for the distinct academic, financial, and social transitions they encounter. Such partnerships grab onto the big picture of these transitions in supporting students as they navigate unfamiliar environments, resources, and expectations. To create meaningful change, they critically contextualize existing practices through what I referred to as uncluttering and holisticizing: uncluttering the often-complicated transfer process to remove unnecessary obstacles; and holisticizing the support provided to address students’ entire academic and social journeys. As the ultimate so-what, these innovative partnership practices identify equity gaps and result in a streamlined, student-centered experience that effectively boosts transfer student success.
Cultivating Relational Spaces of Partnership
To realize equity goals in transfer partnerships, ongoing relationship-building is essential. This process involves constant negotiation, recalibration, and interaction among partners to process and challenge biases. Educators in Delivering Promise demonstrated ways to cultivate relational spaces by encouraging dialogue in shared places and events so that partners can get to know each other and the work they do. These personal interactions break down misassumptions and foster authentic relationships. But sustaining these relationships needs more than organic interactions; it requires stable institutional structures in place that facilitate enduring connection and engagement among faculty and staff. Identifying specific faculty and staff from various areas of an institution, like academic departments, academic and student services, enrollment management, and so on, helps create a systematic network of people in constant communication with one another. Partners can also connect through visits to one another’s institution to learn about their programs and courses. It’s especially critical to maintain these connections to ensure that the partnership is not solely driven by individual champions but is instead embedded within the institutional fabric.
Looking Ahead
As we envision the future of transfer partnerships, we must grapple with a central question: Do these partnerships ensure equitable access for all students, particularly those who have been historically marginalized? The opportunity to confront and tackle the aforementioned barriers is unprecedented. The glaring inequities that came to a head in recent years and amplified by COVID-19 opens avenues for policy reform and collaboration that prioritize complementarity over competition. Ultimately, the call for equity-centered transfer partnerships is not just about improving transfer rates. It is about committing to a broader vision that values students’ hopes and dreams, through equity-guided partnership as an act of support, collaboration, and reciprocity. As they reimagine these partnerships, many educators I interviewed for Delivering Promise reminded me that the time for change is now.
References
- Tatiana Melguizo et al., “Comparing the educational attainment of community college transfer students and four-year college rising juniors using propensity score matching methods.” The Journal of Higher Education 82, no. 3 (2011): 265-291; Di Xu et al., “Are community college transfer students “a good bet” for 4-year admissions? Comparing academic and labor-market outcomes between transfer and native 4-year college students.” The Journal of Higher Education 89, no. 4 (2018): 478-502.
About the Author
Xueli Wang is the Barbara and Glenn Thompson Endowed Professor in Educational Leadership at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She serves as president of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges during 2024–2025. She is the author of Delivering Promise and On My Own.