US university systems are key to boosting access and completion

The US’ higher education delivery system is leaky at best. We are seeing record declines in enrolment due to a number of societal and economic factors, including rhetoric that questions the value proposition of higher education. Student debt is rising and there is a growing demand to demonstrate a return on investment.

I am biased, of course, but I have always believed that the investment is well worth it if students graduate with a meaningful credential that enables their long-term success. The problem is that too many students lose their way and leak out of the system without a credential to show for it. These leaks are most pronounced when students seek to transfer between colleges.

One of the key challenges is that many of our current transfer policies and practices are designed around institutions, not students. But we may finally be turning the corner.

A new report – the first from the newly launched Power of Systems initiative of the National Association of System Heads (NASH) – identifies key approaches being used by systems to bolster student mobility and the transfer of credit across the nation. These include policies that guarantee the transfer of courses and grades, align general education frameworks, create shared early learning outcomes in majors, and provide for transfer credit appeals by students and institutions. Some systems have even adopted reverse transfer initiatives that allow students to transfer credits from their four-year institution back to the two-year institution where they started, in order to “complete” their associates degree.

For many, the idea that a system of higher education has a role to play in student success may come as a surprise. Such entities have historically been viewed as state agencies that set budgets and policies. The reality, though, is that systems of higher education, which serve 75 per cent of all students in public four-year institutions, may be our best bet for expanding access and increasing degree completion. Systems have the data to track students, the leverage to facilitate collaboration, and the authority to create policies. In fact, as Jason Lane and Jonathan Gagliardi note in their new edited collection Higher Education Systems Redesigned, systems are increasingly “working to harness the collective power of multiple campuses in order to improve student success, strengthen communities and build state economies”.

Transfer is one of the best examples of the transformative effect of systems. Even after overcoming political and practical obstacles to transferring – which I know from personal experience to be a herculean feat – we have continued to fall short of providing what students need. Public higher education systems can be the solution.

For example, a five-year assessment of a system-wide transfer policy for the 64 campuses of the State University of New York system showed that, as a result of the policy, “student completion rates increased, time to degree decreased, and the number of credits at graduation decreased”. This came after decades of those numbers not moving.

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin and Maryland, intersystem transfer initiatives recognise that students may transfer between campuses as well as between systems. Much of this work remains nascent and outcomes still need to be tracked, but early indicators suggest that such efforts are making a difference. 

As the NASH report illustrates, systems can approach these problems from multiple angles. We can now track and analyse transfer analytics across multiple campuses – allowing administrators to see how students move between campuses, which majors are the most popular, where students lose credits, and how transfer affects degree completion rates. Systems are also able to leverage technological solutions that support students in comparing transfer options across campuses. They can even use AI to support faculty and advisers in making decisions about course comparability and transferability.

The future of transfer student success lies in the power of systems. With three out of four college students nationally enrolled in public higher education systems, there is no doubt about the potential for bold partnerships to expand opportunity and advance equity for all students. And that, in turn, will advance prosperity for the nation.

Nancy L. Zimpher is chancellor emeritus of the State University of New York system, co-chair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, and director of the Power of Systems, an effort by the National Association of System Heads to rethink how higher education can advance prosperity for the nation.