Once I left dwelling at 17, I knew I wished to go to school. I knew incomes a level would assist me discover a path to a safer future. And I knew that I used to be occupied with pursuing a profession targeted on social justice.
I additionally had no thought how I might afford school after I was already working a number of jobs simply to earn sufficient cash to make ends meet. I had by no means met my father, and I had a rocky relationship with my mom, so I used to be largely alone. Happily, I used to be in a position to make use of monetary support to enroll at Prairie State Faculty, a neighborhood school simply outdoors of Chicago. It stays the perfect choice I’ve ever made.
I thrived at Prairie State, the place I used to be surrounded by an unbelievable neighborhood of school, employees and different college students who had my again at each flip. The help I acquired ultimately allowed me to earn a scholarship and switch to a four-year school to start my pre-law journey.
I’m now a senior at Howard College, the place it stays all too apparent that the four-year school expertise is just not designed for switch college students like me — a realization that leaves us feeling remoted and neglected.
Like many switch college students, I felt stigmatized throughout the admissions course of and alienated by different college students; I didn’t get an orientation after I began, as first-year college students do; and lots of of my earlier credit didn’t switch with me.
That even an HBCU — generally identified for community-building efforts — struggles to successfully help switch college students underscores the gravity of this difficulty.
Associated: Excited about improvements within the subject of upper training? Subscribe to our free biweekly Increased Schooling publication.
Fixing such challenges would require four-year universities to reimagine how they help switch college students. Creating a way of belonging for learners is essential. Analysis reveals that college students who really feel as if they belong at their establishment usually tend to stay and persist. Growing that connection might be difficult for switch college students, particularly these coming from neighborhood faculties, as there are sometimes so few of us on a given campus.
Some 80 p.c of neighborhood school college students aspire to earn a bachelor’s diploma, but simply one-third switch to a four-year establishment. In complete, neighborhood school transfers account for simply 5 p.c of undergraduate college students at elite faculties and universities.
The obvious place to begin for establishments seeking to higher help switch college students from neighborhood faculties is to confess extra of us. This may be achieved by intensifying outreach efforts at native two-year faculties and extra successfully selling the message that transferring to a selective, four-year college is just not solely doable however inspired. Some faculties are already making an effort to confess extra switch college students.
Group school switch college students can discover themselves adrift of their new establishments because of an absence of correct steering and help. We’re sometimes not given the insider information required to navigate the complexities of a four-year college. For instance, I’ve been excluded from being part of student-led organizations that I might have wanted to hitch as a freshman — after I was nonetheless in neighborhood school. A historical past of belonging to those organizations is necessary when being thought-about for bigger and extra distinguished selective organizations, together with sororities and fraternities.
Associated: ‘Waste of time’: Group school transfers derail college students
The absence of a help system can remodel what initially felt like an thrilling step ahead into a frightening and solitary journey. I’m lucky to have benefited from the help of the Jack Kent Cooke Basis, which offers me with entry to a community of fellow switch college students and alumni who’ve efficiently navigated this path.
However many switch college students should not as fortunate.
Faculties might assist by connecting switch college students with each other — both by on-campus teams or exterior organizations — to make sure they’ve the help, neighborhood and assets they should thrive.
Colleges ought to make it clear that switch college students will probably be warmly welcomed and supported all through their tutorial journey. By doing so, these faculties can start to foster a extra inclusive setting, one which acknowledges and values the distinctive views neighborhood school college students convey.
Faculties must also work to dismantle obstacles that complicate the switch course of and function refined deterrents to college students. Each prohibitive utility charge, convoluted kind or arbitrary rule would possibly as nicely be an indication that claims, “Flip again now.”
For instance, college students lose an estimated 43 p.c of their credit once they switch, wiping out semesters of exhausting work, extending their time and growing their prices to a level. Establishments can proactively create clearer, extra constant switch agreements with area people faculties, guaranteeing that credit will switch.
The monetary support and utility processes for switch college students, who should not sometimes supplied monetary award packages upon admission, should additionally take note of their distinctive wants and circumstances.
Right here’s why this all issues: Knowledge is evident that college students who switch from a neighborhood school are simply as able to succeeding as college students who’re first-time freshmen or switch from four-year establishments.
We all know we are able to do that. We simply want alternatives and help.
Rebbie Davis is an English main, Philosophy minor who beforehand attended Prairie State Faculty earlier than transferring to Howard College. She is president of the Howard College Writers Guild and vice chair of HU’s Future Regulation Students’ board of administrators.
Contact the opinion editor at opinion@hechingerreport.org.
This story about neighborhood school switch college students was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, unbiased information group targeted on inequality and innovation in training. Join our greater training publication. Hearken to our greater training podcast.
