Students with a full academic/transfer plan in their first academic year
The number and percentage of students who have in place a full workforce academic or transfer plan within the first 30 credit hours, reflecting a full academic plan to completion for workforce/CTE programs or a specific pre-major program of study and transfer destination for transfer students.
Research shows that students who select a program within their first year of study are more likely to complete. 8 Similarly, research shows that community colleges achieving strong transfer outcomes create clear transfer program maps and provide transfer-specific advising to help students develop a plan to complete a bachelor’s degree. 9 Assessing the number of students, disaggregated, who have complete plans in place can provide a valuable early indicator of whether they are likely to complete in a timely, efficient manner and, for those on transfer pathways, complete a bachelor’s degree. For liberal arts/transfer students, this metric should be used in conjunction with transfer-out and 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.