In most surveys, 80 percent of community college students report that they would like to eventually transfer to a four-year institution and earn a bachelor's degree. However, a new report released on January 19, 2016 by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University, the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, and the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, suggests that only 14 percent of the 720,000 community college students studied achieved that goal. As the report notes, the discrepancy between these numbers is problematic. In fact, even among those who managed to transfer to four-year programs, only 42 percent graduated. Moreover, the dropout rate among marginalized and low income students was especially high, leading David Jenkins, Senior Research Associate at CCRC, to conclude that "Too many students are failed by the current system of transfer between community colleges and universities." While the current report stops short of prescribing solutions, CCRC and the Aspen Institute plan to develop and release a "playbook" that will help institutions create effective transfer policies for community college and university leaders, to be released in spring 2016.
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