Ecosystem Thinking in Higher Education: The Future of Transfer

“Here is the reason to redesign the transfer ecosystem: Within the existing model are the students who have chosen a more affordable pathway, one that reduces the need for debt, and one that can provide the education and credential they require for economic and social mobility, but relatively few will achieve this goal in the system as designed.” – Dr. Sanford “Sandy” Shugart, President, Valencia College

In 2019, Dr. Sandy Shugart, then-president of Valencia College, called on community colleges to redesign the system for transferring to four-year colleges. He began by noting that the scale and importance of transfer has grown in step with the expansion of community colleges’ role in the higher education system.

He pointed out, however, that the higher education system has failed to deliver the social and economic opportunity and mobility it has long promised—especially to lower-income students and to people of color. He suggested that dramatic improvements in the structure of the transfer ecosystem are not only necessary, but may be the only way to meet these challenges.

Dr. Shugart proposed six design principles to make transfer ecosystems more effective:
— Taking students’ entire pathway through community college and four-year institutions into account
— Emphasizing the value proposition of transferring for students
— Enhancing policies for retaining and applying credit for four-year degrees
— Emphasizing the value of the associate’s degree prior to transfer
— Identifying and addressing financial barriers to transfer success
— Understanding that transfer is a career pathway.

As an example of a successful transfer program, Dr. Shugart pointed to the Direct Connect to UCF program, which guarantees admission to the University of Central Florida to any associate’s degree graduate of participating local community colleges. More than 50,000 students have earned bachelor’s degrees from UCF after transferring from community colleges since the program began in 2005.

Summary provided by Nation Hahn, Managing Director, John M. Belk Endowment, and Joshua Perrin, Founder, Sound and Sense Communications