Who Makes it in STEM? Transfer Pathways to Bachelor's and Graduate Education, National and State-Level Evidence

• In Event: Expanding Opportunity at Community Colleges: Credentials, Transfers, and Supports

Abstract

Community college students face significant barriers to bachelor's degree completion. Transfer rates to four-year institutions have stagnated at roughly one-third of entrants, and only half of those who transfer complete a bachelor's within six years (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2026). These challenges can be especially challenging for STEM-aspiring students: only 16% of community college students who completed a bachelor's within six years did so in a STEM field, with even lower rates among low-income and Black students (Velasco et al., 2024).

These gaps reflect deep structural barriers which are especially taxing for students pursuing STEM degrees. Community college transfers have to navigate stringent gateway and prerequisite sequences requiring early and precise planning (Park et al., 2021; Scott-Clayton & Rodriguez, 2015). While statewide articulation agreements between two-year and four-year institutions ease transfer, they do not guarantee that credits will be accepted for a bachelor’s degree in the student’s major field of interest, which may drive delays in on-time completion (Schudde et al., 2021). Students from disadvantaged backgrounds seeking a bachelor’s in STEM bear the greatest burden, often lacking the institutional support and advice needed to navigate these transfer barriers (Wang, 2020). Unsurprisingly, few students enrolling in STEM graduate programs come from community colleges. Of all the science and engineering master’s degree earners in 2016-17, 9% had enrolled at a community college (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2017).

This study examines the transfer trajectories of community college students completing bachelor's degrees in STEM, the student, transfer, and institutional characteristics associated with completing in STEM versus other fields, and the extent to which these students pursue graduate education. We use National Student Clearinghouse data tracking students who began at community colleges nationally in fall 2015, following them term-by-term through 2021–22. We map transfer and completion trajectories across STEM fields (including Biosciences, Computer and Information Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics and Statistics, and Science and Science Technology), comparing them with non-STEM completers and native four-year STEM completers. We then conduct regression analyses to identify the student, transfer, and institutional characteristics associated with STEM bachelor's completion and graduate enrollment among community college transfers.

Our preliminary findings indicate that STEM bachelor's completion is low among community college transfers overall, and even lower among women, Black, and Hispanic students. Biosciences stands out as the most racially diverse STEM field with the highest gender parity, while underrepresentation of these groups is most pronounced in Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering. Community college transfer STEM completers are broadly similar to native four-year STEM completers in student characteristics, though they are more likely to attend public and less selective institutions. Graduate enrollment varies across STEM fields, with community college transfers showing lower rates of graduate program participation than their non-transfer peers.

This research provides the first national and state-level evidence on STEM bachelor's completion and graduate enrollment among community college students, and on the role of transfer pathway characteristics in shaping these outcomes.

Authors

• Tatiana Velasco, Columbia University
  Presenting Author

• Lois Miller, University of South Carolina
  Non-Presenting Co-Author