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The college-going population continues to become more diverse racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically. Yet traditionally underrepresented students, who are more likely than others to begin at a community college, are the least likely to experience transfer success. Higher-income students entering community college transfer and complete bachelor’s degrees at higher rates than lower-income students (19.6 percent versus 9 percent), and White students transfer and complete bachelor’s degrees at higher rates than Hispanic and Black students (19 percent versus 11 and 9 percent, respectively).
Nationally representative surveys reveal that the vast majority of students who begin community college aim to earn a bachelor’s degree, but fewer than 15 percent achieve that goal within six years of community college entry. As the bachelor’s degree becomes a prerequisite for an increasing number of jobs that pay a family-sustaining wage, students will continue to aspire to attain a bachelor’s degree. For the more than one million degree-seeking students who start their education in community college each year, successful transfer is an indispensable means to achieve that goal.