Making a Smooth Transition as a Transfer Student First-Year - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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 – Co-Supervisor for the Transfer Peer Mentors

How does your institution define a transfer student?

A little about UNL (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

• 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

• Population of Lincoln, NE: 260,000

UNL definition of a transfer student

• Student who is beginning at UNL for the

first time but previously attended a postsecondary institution.

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

(Normyle, 2014)

What are the needs of UNL transfers

• Orientation to campus resources
• Campus policies
• Campus events
• Student organizations
• Social connections
• Orientation to Lincoln

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

• The 4 S’s
• Situation
• Self
• Support
• Strategies

(Goodman et al., 2006)

Campus collaborations

• Admissions

– Visits to Southeast Community College

• Weekly-Admissions
• Once each semester-UNL Advisers

– How to Transfer Days

Campus collaborations

• General Studies

– Transferology – Credit Evaluation

Campus collaborations

• New Student Enrollment

– Transfer New Student Enrollment (2013)

Campus collaborations

• Housing

– Transfer Learning Community (Fall 2013)

Campus collaborations

• First-Year Experience & Transition

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

– Transfer Welcome (Fall 2013)

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

– Transfer Advantage Class (Fall 2013)

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 (Kuh, 2008)

• 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

• ffice for non-traditional, transfer, and

veteran students.

• Does anyone have this?
• What do you think of the idea?

Discussion Questions

• High tech vs. High touch transfer
• rientation
• Pros
• Cons
• Offer both?

Discussion Questions

• Scholarship opportunities for transfers

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

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.

Conclusion

First-Year Experience & Transition Programs

• Love South 127
• success.unl.edu

Heather Stalling Director

Heather.stalling@unl.edu

402-472-1880 Cheryl Pflueger Academic Success Coach cpflueger3@unl.edu 402-472-4826 Samantha Greenberg Student Outreach Coordinator Fye-sgreenberg@unl.edu 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

• f 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.

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