GPA after transfer
The GPA of students after transferring from the community college to a specific four-year institution in their first year and at graduation compared to the GPA of students who started at the four-year institution. We recommend that community colleges aim to track this measure for all four-year partners that receive at least 10% of their transfer students. Sharing these data with leaders, faculty, and administrators at four-year partners can be used to strengthen learning, credit mobility, and other outcomes for transfer students.
Because most community college students aim to earn a bachelor’s degree (which are required for most good jobs nationally), it is important for leaders to understand the extent to which students are succeeding in attaining a bachelor’s. Alongside transfer-out and bachelor’s attainment rates, comparative GPAs can help colleges assess the extent to which students are succeeding or struggling after transfer and use that information to investigate the reasons and make changes at the institutional, program, or classroom level. Note: If students transfer to four-year colleges or universities with low graduation rates, this metric will have limited value and should give way to an examination of bachelor’s attainment rates.
While college leaders will find value in collecting data on all students, consistently disaggregating data whenever possible can reveal outcome disparities. This information is essential for colleges developing strong reform plans to improve and close disparities in student success.
- Race/ethnicity
- Gender
- Family/Personal Income
- Age
- Parent/Dependent status
- Attendance intensity
- First-generation status
- Veteran status
Students may identify with one or many of the above identities. College leaders should consider how these different identities intersect and pay close attention to these relationships and how they may influence each student’s experience.