Practices and Research on Student Pathways in Education from Community College and Transfer Students to STEM (PROSPECT S-STEM) has been collaborating with multiple Scholarships for STEM students (S-STEM) programs that include partnerships to support transfer students. Each S-STEM project involves a partnership among one or more community colleges, technical institutes, and universities within the same state. The broad, shared goal of each S-STEM project is to support community college students in STEM fields, with a focus on helping students transfer to a university.
Transfer students often face challenges other students don’t encounter. For example, the course requirements between institutions may not correspond well, despite being the same subject. Consequently, the student might find that they have more remaining classes than originally anticipated. These S-STEM projects advocate for improving systems and assist students with the transfer process via info sessions, individual advising, and more.
The support extends much further than helping students with transferring institutions. A major component of these S-STEM projects is to provide resources to students while they are at their community college and university. The resources vary from site to site, but all provide scholarships which go directly to students and avenues for getting academic help, mentoring (by peers and faculty), and professional development (research or internships while at school and careers or further studies afterwards).
Sites PROSPECT has worked with include:
Michigan STEM Scholars
- Partnership between Michigan State University, Mott Community College, and Washtenaw Community College
- 12 personnel involved (6, 5, and 1 respectively)
- All institutions are within about 1 hour of each other
- 76 scholars between both community colleges as of 2022 with 22 having transferred to a four-year institution and a high retention rate of at least 90%
- Has received $10 million of funding between two National Science Foundation S-STEM grants
- Michigan transfer system: https://www.mitransfer.org/
Michigan Envision Green
- Partnership between Michigan State University (MSU) and Lansing Community College
- Institutions are located about 15 minutes from each other
- Not an S-STEM project, but has similar goals
- Has implemented on-site advising, a peer mentoring program, and regular info sessions about applying to transfer and for scholarships.
- 3 personnel involved (1 dedicated to program who works at both and 2 at MSU)
- Michigan transfer system: https://www.mitransfer.org/
Providing Innovative Residential and Transfer Engineering Support (PIRATES)
- Partnership between East Carolina University (ECU), Lenoir Community College (LCC), Pitt Community College (PCC), Wayne Community College (WCC) (no longer involved), and Cape Fear Community College (CFCC)
- 19 personnel involved (5 at ECU plus 11 faculty mentors, 1 each at PCC, LCC, and CFCC. Formerly, 2 additional personnel at WCC)
- All institutions are within about 2 hours of each other
- 71 scholars
- Received $4 million from NSF S-STEM fund
- Focus on students who are low income, first generation, and/or come from a rural community
- North Carolina transfer system for community colleges: http://www.northcarolina.edu/students/transfer/NCCCS
STEM Connect
- Partnership between University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Southeast Community College (SCC), and Western Nebraska Community College (WNCC)
- 18 personnel involved (12, 4, 2 respectively)
- UNL and SCC are located about 15 minutes from each other; WNCC is located about 6 hours away
- 124 students
- Received $3.6 million from NSF S-STEM fund
- $2.2 million has been allocated for scholarships that go directly to students
- Goals also include developing programs with partner institutions that will result in long term benefits that go beyond STEM Connect scholars
- Transfer Nebraska system: https://transfer.nebraska.edu/
Partner Relationships to Increase STEM Momentum through Transfer Transition (PRISM)
- Partnership among Augsburg University, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (research capacity only), Century College, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, and Normandale Community College
- 15 personnel involved (7, 1, 2, 3, 2 respectively)
- All institutions are within about 20 minutes of each other
- 195 students
- Received $3.1 million from NSF S-STEM fund
- Emphasizes implementing and encouraging early participation in high impact practices
- Augsburg University has its own transfer system which includes the participating community colleges and utilizes Transferology: https://www.augsburg.edu/transfer/how-to-transfer-credits/
KC Urban Renewal Engineering Fellow Program (KCURE)
- Partnership between University of Missouri-Kansas City and Metropolitan Community College at Blue River, Longview, Maple Woods, and Penn Valley (their four Kansas City locations)
- All institutions are within about 40 minutes of each other
- Works specifically with civil and mechanical engineering students
- Focuses on providing paid undergraduate research and internship opportunities to students
- Does not have a dedicated transfer system in place (transfer guides: https://sse.umkc.edu/admissions/transfer-guides.html)
Student Pathways for Engineering and Computing for Transfers (SPECTRA)
- Partnership between Clemson University (CU), Trident Technical College (TTC), and Spartanburg Community College (SCC) in South Carolina
- CU is located about 4 hours from TTC and 1.5 hours from SCC
- South Carolina Transfer and Articulation Center: https://www.sctrac.org/
- Guide for community college to four-year institution transfer from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education: https://che.sc.gov/vertical-transfer
PROSPECT S-STEM is also working with A Comprehensive System for Undergraduates to Reach Goals in Education (SURGE), a partnership between the University of Texas-Arlington, Dallas College, and Tarrant County College, but has not conducted a site visit yet.
For additional information:
Michigan STEM Scholars
https://www.wccnet.edu/afford/financial-aid/scholarships/stem.php
https://www.mcc.edu/stem/index.shtml
https://drewscholars.natsci.msu.edu/
Michigan Envision Green
https://www.lcc.edu/services/advising/lcc-to-msu/
https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2021/msu-lcc-formalize-partnership
PIRATES
https://cet.ecu.edu/2019/08/09/engineering-success/
https://newsroom.unl.edu/announce/pulse/16965/93189
STEM Connect
https://scimath.unl.edu/stem-connect
https://www.wncc.edu/admissions-aid/financial-aid/wncc-stem-connect
PRISM
https://www.augsburg.edu/stem/prism/
KCURE
https://sites.google.com/view/kcure/home
With thanks to Angela Vichitbandha (Graduate Research Assistant, UNL) for the original text; revised by Theresa Jorgensen (Professor, UTA), Chris Varney (Professor, UNL) and Wendy Smith (Project Director, UNL).