Transfer is widespread, but the process can prolong the length and cost of a student’s education if the receiving institution doesn’t accept all of their credits. Therefore, improving degree completion rates partly depends on policies that ease credit transfer, the report argues.
Fewer than a third of students who start at community colleges transfer to a four-year institution, according to the most recent data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Of those, only about half earn a bachelor’s degree within six years of starting college.