Transfer Intensive
The Aspen-AASCU Transfer Student Success Intensive is a year-long program for leaders and teams from pairs of community colleges and four-year institutions to develop scaled plans to improve transfer student outcomes.
Introduction
Each year, 10 to 15 pairs of colleges—composed of one American Association of State College and Universities (AASCU) four-year institution and one community college—work together to build a Strategic Transfer Excellence Plan (STEP). The plan is designed to reform transfer practices so that many more students who begin in the community college can successfully transfer and attain a bachelor’s degree. Over 12 months of virtual sessions, participants learn from research presentations, examine customized data reports, and engage in facilitated conversations in order to create and revise plans to implement research-based strategies to improve transfer student success. The program is free for all participants, thanks to the generous support of Ascendium.
Applications Closing Soon
Now accepting applications for the 2025-26 Aspen-AASCU Transfer Student Intensive! The deadline to apply is midnight (PST) on Tuesday, October 15.
FAQs
Since its establishment in 2021, the Transfer Intensive has reached:
- 17 minority-serving institutions (15 HSIs, 1 PBI, 1 AANAPISI)
- 91 colleges and three state systems in 23 states, including 41 AASCU members
- Collectively, these colleges serve:
- 1,132,492 undergraduate students
- 16,000+ transfer students
Past participants have routinely expressed that the most helpful aspects of the Intensive included:
- "the rare opportunity, especially for presidents and cabinet-level leaders, to focus exclusively on transfer”,
- the large community and “expanded network and connection to others across the field”, and
- the “peer consultancy” provided during sessions and office hours.
2021-23: Cohort 1 and 2
Transfer Intensive reached:
- 20 states
- 71 institutions/3 systems
- 21 rural/town institutions
- 50 suburban/urban institutions
- 27 MSIs (9 HSIs, 1 PBI, 1 AANAPISI)
- 1,008,649+ undergrads served annually
- 13,000+ transfers between partners annually
- 6,482 (50%) of these students attain BA in 6 years
- 63 presidents
- ~500 administrators and practitioners
2024-25: Cohort 3
Transfer Intensive will reach:
- 9 states
- 20 institutions (10 CCs, 10 4-yrs)
- 13 suburban/urban institutions
- 7 rural/town institutions
- 6 MSIs
- 123,843 undergrads served annually
The Transfer Intensive provides participating institutions with:
- A year-long, 12-part, virtual series of strategy-focused workshops based on the @Aspen Institute and @Community College Research Center (CCRC) Transfer Playbook and other transfer research
- Four hours of free consulting to support your transfer efforts
- Support to identify, understand, collect, and utilize critical disaggregated transfer data
- A national community of practice focused on elevating excellence in transfer reform
- Elevation of your institution’s transfer success reforms, stories, and successful practices on Aspen and AASCU media and communication platforms
- Presidents of all participating institutions must attend the five presidential sessions (detailed in the session calendar here).
- Additional team members must attend each monthly session (detailed in the Cohort 4 session calendar here).
- For details on full roles and responsibilities of all team members, please see this document.
For a full list of application materials, please visit the application survey.
Interested AASCU four-year institutions and community colleges should jointly fill out our application survey and upload all required documents as a team by 11:59 pm (Pacific time) Monday, September 16, 2024.
- Selected teams will be notified no later than Monday, October 14, 2024.
- The virtual launch event is scheduled for February 6, 2025 from 2:00 - 4:30 pm EST.
Related Resources
Funders
Partners
Contact Us
For more information please contact: Kate Hamilton, Senior Program Manager