Making a Smooth Transition as a Transfer Student. First-Year Experience & Transition Programs

First-Year Experience & Transition Programs

Making a Smooth Transition

as a Transfer Student

Presenters

• Cheryl Pflueger

– Academic Success Coach

– Instructor for the Transfer Advantage Course – Staff Adviser for the Transfer Learning

Community

– Co-Supervisor for the Transfer Peer Mentors

• Samantha Greenberg

– Graduate Assistant

– Face behind Facebook

How does your institution define a

transfer student?

A little about UNL

• Student population: 25,006 • Number of colleges: 8

• Number of new transfers: 914 for Fall 2014 • Percentage of transfer students: about 17% • Most transfers come from Southeast

Community College in Lincoln

UNL definition of a transfer student

• Student who is beginning at UNL for the first time but previously attended a

Why the renewed interest in transfers

• Assumption that they have “already done college” and therefore do not need

assistance is flawed (Normyle, 2014).

• More than one-third of all undergraduates are transfers (Normyle, 2014).

• Transfer student population is projected to become even larger and more significant to American higher education (Teacher-Scholar, 2012).

Why the renewed interest at UNL

• Campus Blueprint (2012).

• Campus-wide efforts support recruitment, engagement, student success, retention, and graduation of transfer students.

What are the needs of transfer students

• Specific requests for assistance in – Academics

– Advising

– Career Planning – Finances

What are the needs of UNL transfers

• Orientation to campus resources • Campus policies

• Campus events

• Student organizations • Social connections

Schlossberg’s Transition Theory

• Defined: any event or non-event that

results in changed relationships, routines, assumptions and roles (Goodman et al., 2006).

Schlossberg’s Transition Theory

Campus collaborations

• Admissions

– Visits to Southeast Community College

• Weekly-Admissions

• Once each semester-UNL Advisers

Campus collaborations

• General Studies

– Transferology

Campus collaborations

• New Student Enrollment

Campus collaborations

• Housing

Campus collaborations

• First-Year Experience & Transition

Programs, General Studies, Library, Lied Center, and University Health Center

Campus collaborations

• First-Year Experience & Transition Programs

– Transfer Peer Mentors (January 2013)

• Academic Programming

• Social Programming (variety of days/times) • Email contacts

Campus collaborations

• First-Year Experience & Transition Programs

Colleges and Programs

• Engineering Transfer Class

• Arts & Sciences Transfer Assistance • College of Agricultural Sciences and

Natural Resources Transfer Support • William H. Thompson Scholars

Staying connected

• College involvement exerts significant and positive influence on student academic success (Pascarella and Terenzini, 2005).

– Transfer Student Services Facebook Page – Transfer Peer Mentors

– Transfer Connection – Email

Recognition

• Tau Sigma Chapter at UNL

Mission: “Tau Sigma is an academic honor society

designed specifically to recognize and promote the academic excellence and involvement of transfer students”

High Impact Practices

• First-Year Seminars/Experiences*

• Common Intellectual Experiences

• Learning Communities* • Writing-Intensive Courses • Collaborative Assignments/Projects* • Undergraduate Research* • Diversity/Global Learning* • Service Learning* • Internships* • Capstone Courses/Projects

Assessment

• Transfer Advantage

• Transfer Peer Mentor Program • Retention Data

Discussion Questions

• One article from Griffin, Schmitz, and

Phare (2014), suggested having a common

office for non-traditional, transfer, and veteran students.

• Does anyone have this?

Discussion Questions

• High tech vs. High touch transfer orientation

• Pros • Cons

Discussion Questions

• Scholarship opportunities for transfers

– Scholarships and Financial Aid – Colleges (Arts & Sciences)

Dreams

• What are some dreams you have for the

programs and services on your campus

as it relates to transfer students?

• It appears that students transferring to and between institutions is a trend that will

continue in the future.

• Creating and having programs that provide support and strategies for transfer

students is a win-win situation for both the student and the institution.

First-Year Experience

& Transition Programs

• Love South 127 • success.unl.edu

Heather Stalling Director

[email protected]

402-472-1880 Cheryl Pflueger

Academic Success Coach [email protected]

402-472-4826

Samantha Greenberg

Student Outreach Coordinator [email protected] 402-472-1832

References

Enhancing transfer student success: The transfer seminar (2012). Teacher-Scholar. Retrieved from:

http://www.fhsu.edu/teacher-scholar/current/volume4/enhancing_transfer/page1.html

Enrollment Management Council (2012) Campus Blueprint. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Retrieved from go.unl.edu/campusblueprint

Goodman, J., Schlossber, N. K., & Anderson, M. L. (2006). Counseling adults in transition (3rd _{ed.) New York: Springer.}

Griffin, C. A., Schmitz, D. & Phare, C. (2014, June 25) Consolidating services for transfer, adult, and veteran students – and doing it well. Academic Impressions. Retrieved from http://www.academic

impressions.com/news/consolidating-services-transfer-adult-and-veteran-students-and-doing-it-well

Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-Impact Educational Practices. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Normyle, M. (2014, April 24) What the latest research tells us about serving college transfer students. Retrieved from http://blog.noellevitz.com/2014/04/24/latest-research-tells-us-serving-college-transfer-students/

Pascarella, E. T & Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students (Vol 2). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.