Running head: LATINX STUDENTS AND EXPERIENCES WITH VERTICAL TRANSFERS

Latinx Students and Experiences with Vertical Transfers

Edgar M. Rodriguez
SDAD 5590
Dr. Thai-Huy Nguyen
Running head: LATINX STUDENTS AND EXPERIENCES WITH VERTICAL TRANSFERS

Introduction
Community colleges, according to the Department of Homeland Security, are post-
secondary, two-year undergraduate institutions that provide affordable postsecondary education
to a four-year degree (“What is community college,” 2016). While this is true, community
colleges do much more than just that. Community colleges provide accessible adult/continuing
education, technical degrees, workforce development, and skill training. Before looking into the
topic, I acknowledged that I had very little knowledge and awareness around transferring
because I, myself, had never experienced transferring. My first thought as I chose the topic was
that there would be very little resources for Latinx students experiencing vertical transfers and
that they would have somewhat negative experiences with transferring from a two-year to a four-
year institution. My initial through process was that cultural differences and understanding, lack
of knowledge of the four-year institution, and different capital would lead to Latinx students to
have negative experiences with vertical transfers. This paper aims to look at the resources and
effectiveness of resources for Latinx students and their experiences with vertical transfers. I
argue that community colleges lack and should aim to provide better resources in assisting
Latinx students in vertical transfers to four-year institutions.

Background
Roughly 31% of all 20,224,069 students that attend Title IV institutions attend a two-year
institution, community college (Ginder, Kelly-Reid, & Mann, 2017). According to Ginder,
Kelly-Reid & Mann (2017), Latinxs make up about 24% of all two-year institutions, community
colleges. Latinx students are about ¼ of the community college population, which is a large
portion of the student population. Nunez, Crisp, and Elizondo (2014) documented that 54% of all
Hispanic Serving Institutions are community colleges. Over half of the institutions that Latinx
students are attending and have access to are community colleges. Historically, there has been a
trend of inequitable access to elite and four-year institutions. Bensimon and Dowd (2009) found
that those who attend highly selective institutions are much more likely to graduate than their
peers at less selective institutions, which leads to substantially higher earnings and greater access
to professional and graduate studies. This is crucial as we think about the significance of Latinx
students transferring from two-year institutions to four-year institutions.

Themes
When looking at the literature and research surround Latinx students and transferring
from a two-year to a four-year institution there was a theme of lack of resources aiding Latinx
students to persist to the four-year institution. In Tovar’s (2015) work, it was found that
counseling and advising programs at community colleges must do a better job at addressing
Latinx students’ psychosocial needs in an effort to better assist them to degree completion
through a vertical transfer. Often times, these counseling and advising programs are trained to
become aware of the barriers Latinx students experience, yet they lack multicultural competence
and skills to adequately address and assist Latinx students through these barriers. Bensimon and
Dowd (2009) state that institutions lack resources to provide a full complement of services to
assist Latinx students from the moment they enroll until they’re ready and eligible to transfer.
The study shows that there was a lack of connection from the students to institutional agents that
would and could assist in the transfer process. Additionally, Crisp and Nora (2009) found that
Latinx students coming into community college placed in developmental education courses
lacked academic preparation which negatively impacted the likelihood of transferring to a four-
Running head: LATINX STUDENTS AND EXPERIENCES WITH VERTICAL TRANSFERS

year institution. In all of these studies, we can see the lack of resources in both academic and
student affairs to aid in the transfer experience of Latinx students from a two-year to a four-year
institution.
Another major theme was lack of financial resources to succeed and transfer to an “elite”
or four-year institution. “Students come to depend more on work if those costs cannot be met
more effectively through financial aid. The sad fact is that students work more and more hours to
meet their educational expenses, the increase in the number of hours that they work pulls them
away from accomplishing their educational goals (Crisp & Nora, 2009).” Latinx students were
found to work more to pay off educational expenses, which ended up negatively impacting their
transfer eligibility through academic completion and their transfer experience. In another study
by Harris (2017), he found that three out of the eight students from the study had jobs to save to
attend the four-year institution. “Financial constraints were a concern (Harris, 2017).” One
student in the study stated, “[Tier 1 University] was out of our family’s budget. I was looking at
[a state school] but then I got into Fortitude County College. Money was an issue.” Overall,
findings found that socioeconomic and financial conditions, constraints, and circumstances act as
a barrier to successfully transferring and persisting to a four-year institution (Crisp & Nora,
2009).
The last theme I found in the articles was a lack on navigational and social capital to
persist and transfer to a four-year institution. Harris (2017), found that the lack of navigational
capital surrounding transferring lead to transfer shock. “The literature on community colleges
documented a transfer shock that students experienced when moving from their native two-year
school to a more intense four-year experience (Harris, 2017). Tovar (2015) and Dowd, Pak, &
Bensimon (2013) found that establishing a good relationship with leaders and program directors
aid in intention to persist to degree completion, but studies showed that Latinx students did not
have those connections established. “Given the finding presented in this article, it would appear
that Latin(x) students participating in this study did not draw the same social networking or
academic benefits other have reported for university students (Tovar, 2015). Having social
capital is crucial in feeling connected and supported, especially during the transfer process.
Latinx students lack connection to Latinx faculty on campus to aid in persistence and support.
“Overall, results from this research indicate that, as the number of Latin(x) students and faculty
on campus increase to a critical mass, academic success increases as well (Hagedorn, Chi,
Cepeda, & McLain, 2007). Latinx students overwhelming showed a lack of social capital from
institutional agents to help them persist and navigate four-year institutions for additional
resources.

Differences
There were differences from the claims and common findings across the board. Harris
(2017) found that institutional support was prevalent in supporting Latinx students during their
transfer process. “Support from the honors program faculty and staff was the most salient theme,
based on the participants’’ remarks. All of the participants commented that they received
academic support and were inspired to pursue transfer to Tier 1 institutions (Harris, 2017).” This
study showed how these Latinx students got institutional support to not settle for little schools
and encouraged them to dream big. The students were taught about how to transfer, their transfer
documents and essays were reviewed, and were given letters of recommendations for their
transfer process. This differs the narratives given in the other articles and counters my opinion.
Running head: LATINX STUDENTS AND EXPERIENCES WITH VERTICAL TRANSFERS

Additionally, there were findings surrounding family and community support. Through
doing the readings I came to realize that the resources I was thinking of were academic and
institutionally focused and lacked a familial capital lens/approach. Bensimon & Dowd (2009)
found that Latinx students found siblings and family members as role models and bridges to
additional resources. These family members act as peer social networks that reinforce high
aspirations (Bensimon & Dowd, 2009). Additionally, Harris (2017) found that family was a
major support and resource for all Latinx students in their study. “Even when parents did not
know the importance of the Tier 1 education, students felt loved and supported, although it
meant moving hours away from home (Harris, 2017). Latinx students rely heavily on these peer
and family networks in navigating and persisting in their transfer experience.

Recommendations
After reading the articles and reviewing themes and differences, I have come up with
some recommendations for assisting Latinx students during the transfer process. The first being
hiring more Latinx faculty. Hiring more Latinx faculty will help Latinx students feel connected,
seen, and understood by agents of the institution. Additionally, these Latinx faculty members can
connect with Latinx students through their aspirational, linguistic, familial, and navigational
capital. The second recommendation is four-year institutions designating more money to transfer
centers. If transfer centers at four-year institutions have more money, then they will be able to
provide more resources for Latinx students coming in from two-year institutions. Latinx students
lack navigational capital once they arrive to four-year institutions. Therefore, if four-year
institutions have additional funding to give resources, then Latinx students will be able to feel
supported and learn to navigate a new institution. Moreover, additional funding can lead to
having additional advisors and counselors to help Latinx students understand the differences
between two-year and four-year institutions. The third recommendation is having hearing
sessions for Latinx students to be able to say what they feel has been lacking in their transfer
experiences. Community colleges could give follow up surveys after a Latinx student transfers to
a four-year institution. The last recommendation is having additional multicultural competence
training for staff and faculty in both two-year and four-year institutions to be better equipped to
assist and support Latinx students during the transfer process. This should include family
training, which means knowing how to also support Latinx students’ parents. These
recommendations are not fully fleshed out and need more background knowledge based on the
institutions, but they serve as a base point to start addressing the inequity in the transfer process
for Latinx students.

Conclusion
Community colleges have systematically failed to aid and assist Latinx students in the
transfer process. Latinx students have high aspirational goals and capital but are lacking
institutional assistance and resources in attaining those goals. Two-year and four-year institutions
need to continue to work together to provide a holistically supportive experience for Latinx
students going through the transfer process. As practitioners, it is our duty to support these
students and their families in understanding how these institutions operate and how they can
assist throughout the transfer process. Lastly, we need to continue to push and support our
students to strive for success and help them financially to attain their goals and aspirations.
Student success is a collective effort from us as practitioners, family members, the students, and
the community. Latinx students are important and deserve our support an attention.
Running head: LATINX STUDENTS AND EXPERIENCES WITH VERTICAL TRANSFERS

References

Bensimon, E. M., & Dowd, A. (2009). Dimensions of the transfer choice gap: Experiences of
Latina and Latino students who navigated transfer pathways. Harvard Educational Review,
79(4), 632-658. doi:10.17763/haer.79.4.05w66u23662k1444

Crisp, G., & Nora, A. (2010). Hispanic Student Success: Factors Influencing the Persistence and
Transfer Decisions of Latino Community College Students Enrolled in Developmental
Education. Research In Higher Education, 51(2), 175-194. doi:10.1007/s11162-009-9151-x

Dowd, A., Pak, J., & Bensimon, E. (2013). The role of institutional agents in promoting transfer
access. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 21(15), 1-39.

Ginder, S. A., Kelly-Reid, J. E., Mann, F. B., (2017). Enrollment and employees in
postsecondary institutions, fall 2016; and financial statistics and academic libraries, fiscal year
2016. National Center for Education Statistics, 1-33.

Hagedorn, L. S., Chi, W., Cepeda, R. M., & McLain, M. (2007). AN INVESTIGATION OF
CRITICAL MASS: The Role of Latino Representation in the Success of Urban Community
College Students. Research In Higher Education, 48(1), 73-91. doi:10.1007/s11162-006-9024-5

Harris, L. N. (2017). Latino student persistence strategies in transferring from community

college to tier 1 universities: A phenomenological analysis. European Journal of Educational
Research, 6(2), 113-122. doi: 10.12973/eu-jer.6.2.113

Tovar, E. (2015). The Role of Faculty, Counselors, and Support Programs on Latino/a
Community College Students' Success and Intent to Persist. Community College Review, 43(1),
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What is Community College? (2016, August 31). Retrieved from

https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/2012/03/what-is-community-college