One-half of the undergraduates who start at a public 2-year institution with the intention of obtaining a bachelor's degree and about one-fourth of those who start with an associate's degree goal transfer to a 4-year institution within 6 years.

Community colleges offer courses for credit that students can transfer to a 4-year institution, with or without first completing an associate's degree. Many states and institutions have developed articulation policies to facilitate such transfers (Wellman 2002).

Students who start their postsecondary education at community colleges have diverse degree goals. About one-fourth of the students who began at a public 2-year institution at some time during the 1995–96 academic year said that they intended to transfer to a 4-year institution and complete a bachelor's degree, and about one-half said that they were working on an associate's degree (see table 19-1).

The transfer rates of community college students are related to their initial degree goals. About one-half (51 percent) of the students who intended to obtain a bachelor's degree transferred to a 4-year college, compared with about one-fourth (26 percent) of those who initially sought an associate's degree. Among students with an initial associate's or bachelor's degree goal, characteristics associated with higher transfer rates include enrolling in a community college in the same year as high school graduation, always attending full time, or having a parent with a bachelor's or higher degree. Students who began with a bachelor's degree goal were less likely to complete an associate's degree before transferring than transfer students who started with an associate's degree goal (19 vs. 51 percent) (see table 19-1).

Among the students who started at a community college in 1995–96 and then transferred, about 80 percent had either completed a bachelor's degree or were still enrolled at a 4-year institution about 6 years later. Such transfer students were more likely to complete a bachelor's degree within 6 years if they initially had a bachelor's degree goal instead of an associate's degree goal (44 vs. 29 percent) and if they always attended full time (52 vs. 28 percent if not always full time). Compared with the transfers from public 2-year institutions, students with a bachelor's degree goal who started at 4-year institutions were more likely to complete a bachelor's degree in 6 years (63 vs. 44 percent) and were less likely to be still enrolled at a 4-year institution (12 vs. 38 percent) (see also indicator 20).