January 10, 2016
CWID Data Note 1: Cumulative and Reverse Transfer Credit Policies
This first in a data note series that draws upon student-level data collected to answer key questions of interest in the CWID community related to reverse transfer and transfer more broadly. Originally published in 2015, the series reported emerging results from the CWID initiative and still informs ongoing development and implementation of reverse transfer policies.
Data for CWID was collected by the Office of Community College Research and Leadership. In Data Note 1, researchers asked how different cumulative college credit transfer requirements influence the proportion of students that are potentially impacted by reverse transfer. To answer this question and all questions in the subsequent data notes, researchers used the CWID Baseline Study Dataset. The information in the dataset is from a single cohort of students who transferred to a university in one of the 12 CWID states in Fall 2008, and tracks the university persistence and degree completion outcomes for these students through Spring 2012. The dataset covers 12 states and includes the records of over 50,000 students. We encourage readers to review the CWID Baseline Report released in October 2013 for a full description of the purpose of the Baseline Study and aggregate results across the 12 states.
The results of Data Note 1 underscore the potential benefit of reverse transfer, as well as revealing some areas for improvement. Read the full report below.
Credit When It’s Due (CWID) is a multi-foundation funded, multi-state initiative designed to facilitate the implementation of reverse transfer policies and processes that benefit college students who have transferred from the community college to the bachelor’s level and have not secured an associate’s degree at the time of transfer. CCRI is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research this initiative. Learn more about the full initiative here.