North Carolina community colleges are being asked to look more closely at a basic but consequential question: how do students’ plans to transfer change after they enroll, and how should colleges respond? A new brief from the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research at North Carolina State University examines how colleges capture transfer intent and adapt when students’ goals shift.
Key facts
- The brief focuses on North Carolina community colleges and transfer planning.
- It was developed by Catherine Hartman for the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research at NC State.
- The work builds from questions raised by the North Carolina Community College System’s Transfer Advisory Committee.
- The committee identified the issue at its fall 2024 meeting.
- The brief offers recommendations for policy and practice related to transfer initiatives.
What does this mean for students planning to transfer?
For students in North Carolina community colleges, the practical issue is whether the college records their transfer goals early enough and updates that information if their plans change. The brief says colleges are examining how they capture students’ intentions to transfer to baccalaureate-granting institutions and how they respond when those intentions shift.
That matters because transfer planning affects advising, student records, and the support students receive as they move toward a four-year degree. The brief’s policy and practice recommendations are aimed at strengthening how colleges understand students’ goals and respond to changing ambitions.
- Affects: North Carolina community college students and transfer advising offices.
- Focus: Students’ intent to transfer to baccalaureate degree-granting institutions.
- Context: Questions raised by the system’s Transfer Advisory Committee.
What did the Transfer Advisory Committee want to understand?
The North Carolina Community College System’s Transfer Advisory Committee wanted to understand how students’ intentions to transfer may shift over time and how colleges respond to those changes. The brief uses that question as the starting point for a qualitative review of current college practice.
How are colleges using transfer-intent information?
The brief looks at how professionals at North Carolina community colleges capture information about students’ transfer intentions when students first enroll. It also examines what colleges do when those intentions change, making the issue not just one of recordkeeping but of ongoing student support and decision-making.
Why does this matter for transfer policy?
The review is intended to inform policy and practice that support transfer-related initiatives. By clarifying how institutions identify student goals and react to shifts in those goals, the work aims to strengthen understanding of transfer pathways in the state’s community college system.
When was this issue raised?
The need to study transfer-intent changes was identified at the NC Community College System’s fall 2024 Transfer Advisory Committee meeting. The brief itself is listed as a 2026 publication in ERIC.
