Transfer, Accelerate, Complete, Engage (TrACE): Experimental Evidence on Transfer Student Success at Four-Year Universities

• In Event: Scaling and Adapting for Student Success: Findings from Three States Implementing a Proven Postsecondary Model

Abstract

Students who transfer from two-year to four-year institutions represent a substantial portion of the postsecondary student body. Approximately one in five students at four-year institutions have transferred from community college; however, less than half of such transfer students complete a bachelor’s degree within four years. We partnered with a public university system to study the effects of a multi-pronged program intended to boost transfer student success. The TrACE program targets students moving from two-year colleges to four-year universities in North Carolina, and is adapted from the successful ASAP program, which targeted community college students in New York. TrACE provides hands-on advising coupled with financial supports, links to career and academic services, and incentives to encourage meaningful integration into the social fabric of university life. Students eligible for TrACE at three four-year universities, entering in Fall 2023, were randomly offered the opportunity to participate in the program. A year after entry, we find mixed effects of TrACE across the three universities on short-run postsecondary outcomes. At Universities A and C, TrACE markedly increased the percentage of students persisting to their second year at the four-year institutions, and boosted cumulative credits earned by the end of Fall 2024. However, at University B, we find some evidence that TrACE depressed persistence rates, and accordingly credits accumulated, during the first year and into the second year. We discuss contextual features of each site that may have influenced the nature of program implementation, and thus played a role in the variation in short-run results across the three institutions.

Author

• Steven W. Hemelt, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author