October 15, 2016
CWID Data Note 4: Increasing Associate’s Degree Attainment
In October 2015, the Credit When It’s Due (CWID) research team summarized associate’s degree attainment outcomes during the first two years of the grant. Data Note 4 reports the aggregate number of degrees conferred via reverse transfer and estimates the potential of reverse transfer to increase state degree attainment.
CWID supported the development and implementation of reverse transfer programs and policies that confer associate’s degrees to transfer students when they complete the degree requirements while en route to the baccalaureate degree. As the CWID initiative name suggests, reverse transfer policies facilitate the conferral of associate’s degrees to transfer students who have earned the credits needed for the associate’s degree, even after they transferred to a 4-year college or university. Thus, students who receive reverse transfer associate’s degrees meet associate’s degree requirements similar to students who complete the associate’s degree prior to transfer.
The primary beneficiaries of reverse transfer policies are students who receive the associate’s degree, but the CWID initiative may have also contributed to state college completion efforts. The degree attainment outcomes and aggregate number of degrees reported in this Data Note were useful for understanding the extent to which CWID may have contributed to degree attainment numbers. The impetus for the brief was to update the field on the progress of associate’s degree conferral via reverse transfer as part of the CWID initiative. It addressed these research questions:
- How many students earned associate’s degrees via reverse transfer during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years?
- What is the potential of reverse transfer policies to increase state associate’s degree attainment?
Read the full data note 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.