Studying Transfer Students: Part II: Dimensions of Transfer Students' Adjustment

Abstract

The movement of students from community colleges to 4-year colleges or universities has been an area of inquiry that has received attention from researchers and policy makers. A plethora of research has focused on the academic outcomes of transfer students at senior institutions. Specifically, the concept of transfer shock has been used to explain transfer students' academic adjustment as measured by GPA. The intent of this study was to move beyond the transfer shock concept by building on previous works to establish new methods, concepts, and frameworks to better understand and characterize the complex transfer process of community college students. This cross-sectional study examined a cohort of 717 students at a multicultural university in Southern California who transferred from 64 California community colleges during 1994 and 1995. Utilizing the Laanan-Transfer Students' Questionnaire (L–TSQ),© the study employed the concepts of quality of effort, student involvement, and culture shock as guiding theoretical frameworks. The results of the study add to the research literature because they operationalize the complex adjustment process beyond academics to encompass the social and psychological aspects of this process. The findings from this study are important and can be useful to student affairs professionals, admissions officers, retention programs, students, and faculty.