Hispanic Transfer in 2-year Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Community colleges offer Hispanic students a critical gateway to bachelor’s degrees, but these institutions also have low transfer rates to four-year institutions. Some research suggests that Hispanic-Serving community colleges have higher Hispanic transfer rates. This paper examines transfer patterns of a national sample of Hispanic community college students who began their postsecondary education in a Hispanic-Serving community college during the 2003-4 academic year. These students’ postsecondary experiences and outcomes were tracked six years later. In this white paper, we compare characteristics of Hispanic students’ who began in Hispanic-Serving community colleges with those of Hispanic students who successfully transferred to a 4-year institution within six years. In addition, we evaluate the characteristics of the Hispanic-Serving community colleges of the whole group of Hispanic students compared with those who transferred within six years.