Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
6-2021
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Dr. Irma Harper
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Dr. Glenda Ballard
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Dr. C. Dean Campbell
Abstract
There is a plethora of research available on students and the barriers they face in transferring to a university, such as transfer processes, articulations, pathways, 2+2 plans, institutional agents, and financial issues. However, in rural areas of Texas, little research is available on the barriers students endure in transferring from community colleges to four-year universities. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to determine the transfer barriers faced by a community college student population and the support services needed for their successful transfers to four-year universities. The framework that guided this study was transfer student capital and transfer shock. Transfer shock is when a student transfers from community college to university and experiences culture shock in the university culture. Transfer student capital is the support needed for transfer students. The researcher gathered the data through one-on-one interviews with 15 community college students who transferred to a four-year university. Prior to the interviews, each participant completed a presurvey consisting of questions about their community college experiences, including support received on transferring and how it impacted their decisions to transfer to a university. Participants shared in interviews that their major barriers for transferring from the community college to a university were academic advising, personal issues, and inadequate collegiate services for transfer students, such as enrollment services, financial services, and university support programs.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Coke, Kelly Leigh, "Understanding the Barriers East Texas Community College Students Experience in Transferring to a Regional University" (2021). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 380.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/380
Included in
Academic Advising Commons, Adult and Continuing Education Commons, Community College Leadership Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, Higher Education Commons