The Council of Independent Colleges, which represents more than 750 private nonprofit schools and higher education organizations, announced earlier this month it is launching a consortium of Ohio institutions aiming to improve transfer pathways into the liberal arts.

With the help of a $400,000 grant from the Teagle and Arthur Vining Davis foundations, 14 private colleges in the state will work with 10 community colleges to create three transfer pathways to bachelor's degrees in English, psychology, and biology.

It's one of several recent efforts from liberal arts colleges to recruit more transfer students amid challenging demographic trends. One Iowa college recently struck a transfer agreement with all 15 community colleges in the state, for example. And another four-year college in the state built its own two-year school.

CIC's effort also comes amid a growing push for community colleges to help students develop their plans early in their academic careers.

Transfer students along the consortium's three pathways will have their courses mapped out. This will allow them to transfer from a participating community college to one of the four-year colleges with junior standing and without losing credits, said Winnie Gerhardt, the project's director.

"That's really exciting for students," Gerhardt said. "They've heard so many stories of how you lose credit … and there's a lot of truth to those stories."

Higher Ed Dive spoke with Gerhardt to learn more about the project's objectives and how private institutions plan to compete with public colleges for transfer students.

Read the full article about community college transfers by Natalie Schwartz at Higher Education Dive.