2 + 2 = 6? Making Community College Transfer Pathways Add Up for Accounting Students

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1 2 + 2 = 6? Making Community College Transfer Pathways Add Up for Accounting Students Darla Cooper, Kelley Karandjeff, Nathan Pellegrin, Rogéair Purnell, Eva Schiorring and Terrence Willett the Research & Planning Group for California Community Colleges Introduction With looming baby boomer retirements and an increased demand for financial accountability across all types of organizations, California is starving for accountants. Projections indicate a need to fill over 50,000 accounting positions between 2008 and i One way to prepare workers who can meet this demand includes supporting community college students pursuing transfer and completion of a The RP Group is a nonprofit organization working to build a community college culture that views planning, evidence-based decision-making and institutional effectiveness as key strategies for student success. bachelor s degree in this discipline. Nearly three quarters of California s students start their higher education journey in one of the state s 112 community colleges. ii Many of these learners aim to cash in on the promise of the 2+2 system put forth in the master plan for higher education, completing affordable general education and lower-division major courses before transitioning to one of the state s public universities to finish their degree. So, how does the transfer pathway add up for students pursuing a baccalaureate in accounting? How do students get on this path in the first place? How efficient and effective are our state s community colleges and four-year institutions at moving these learners to transfer and degree ultimately contributing to the closure of this workforce gap? Through the Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3), the RP Group has discovered that: The accounting transfer pathway is less efficient than hoped through a 2+2 system; for nearly half of transfers, 2+2 equals 6 achieving this degree after six or more years spent in the state s community colleges and universities; over one fifth take eight or more years Both structural and support challenges impact students transfer journey; for example: o Community college accounting coursework is often nontransferable; when examining how students use community colleges to prepare for transfer in this major, analysis showed that only 1% of their total The RP Group s Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) is funded by the James Irvine Foundation and the California Community Colleges State Chancellor s Office. The RP Group completed this work in collaboration with the California Partnership for Achieving Student Success (Cal-PASS). Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) Summer 2012 Page 1

2 community college units were transferable accounting units; however, when nontransferable coursework was included, this number rose to 23% of their total community college units earned o Many transfer students reported initially wandering through the community college system without focus or guidance, taking a range of courses before discovering this major and pursuing transfer in accounting This research brief is part of a series of reports that present discipline-specific information from the Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project. These findings represent just some of the many discoveries made through this multi-part study of transfer in professional majors. This research aims to better understand: (1) how students use the state s community colleges to prepare for transfer and pursue professional degrees in areas such as accounting, engineering and nursing; (2) what factors impact their journey; and (3) what opportunities exist for increasing and facilitating transfer to accounting programs. The RP Group designed this document for those engaged in building the accounting workforce in California, including community college and university educators and employers. We intend for this document to: Share information discovered about accounting transfer through this study Promote a dialog about what the findings mean and how they can be used to improve accounting transfer paths In turn, this brief starts with a short overview of the RP Group s current research on transfer in accounting. We then provide a summary of findings on ways community college transfer students work toward a bachelor degree in this discipline as well as factors that challenges and/or support their journey. We conclude with a series of discussion questions to stimulate reflection on and dialog about how educators and employers might respond to the research. How did we conduct this research? The RP Group studied students post-transfer, including those currently enrolled in accounting programs and those who successfully achieved a baccalaureate in this discipline. Six primary research questions drove this portion of our study: Question 1: Who are the transfer students? Question 2: How do students get on the accounting transfer path? Question 3: How do they use the community college system to prepare for transfer? Question 4: What challenges them along the way? Question 5: What supports them toward transfer and degree? Question 6: What happens to students post-transfer? We explored these questions through the research activities described below. Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) Summer 2012 Page 2

3 Backward Mapping the Journey of Baccalaureate Achievers (quantitative analysis). The RP Group collaborated with the California Partnership for Achieving Student Success (Cal-PASS) to analyze student records and backward map the path taken by 2,118 transfers who ultimately achieved a bachelor s degree in accounting between fall 1996 and spring Fifteen universities were part of this analysis including undergraduate programs at 10 California State Universities (CSUs), four The RP Group STP3 study includes: Analysis of the transfer path taken by over 2,100 students who ultimately completed a bachelor s in accounting Surveys and focus groups with more than 280 transfer students currently enrolled in accounting degree programs Universities of California (UCs) and one private, for-profit university. Readers should be advised that this analysis was limited to those institutions participating in Cal-PASS. iii Our sample targeted students who completed at least 12 transferable units at a California community college and who had at least two years of university course data available prior to degree completion. The cohort does not include students who already completed a baccalaureate and returned to use the community college system to work toward transfer and completion of an accounting baccalaureate. We performed analyses of completers demographics, time and units to transfer and degree, pre-transfer coursework including their first English and math class, number of community colleges attended, use of support services like financial aid and the impact of these and other factors on time to transfer and degree. Documenting the experience of students post-transfer (student surveys and focus groups). To expand on and complement these quantitative findings, the RP Group gathered the perspectives of recent transfer students now pursuing their baccalaureate degree in accounting. We targeted students enrolled at two California State Universities (CSUs) and one private, for-profit institution; these universities were selected because they were among the largest recipients of accounting transfer students found in the Cal-PASS database for Just over 250 students completed surveys and 30 participated in focus groups. These activities centered on factors that impacted their transfer experience and advice they would offer their peers, community colleges and four-year institutions about how to strengthen the preparation and transition of future accounting transfer students. The qualitative findings should not be used on their own to draw conclusions or make generalizations about accounting transfer paths beyond the students engaged. Rather, the perspectives harvested through these activities highlight themes, illustrate complex experiences and augment the quantitative evidence. Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) Summer 2012 Page 3

4 How does the accounting transfer pathway add up for students? The following section presents key findings related to the six research questions (see p. 2) explored through this portion of the RP Group s examination of accounting transfer paths. Where possible, we supply results from all three of the study s primary research activities (quantitative data analysis, student surveys and student focus groups) to answer these questions. At the same time, some questions are solely informed by findings from one or two research activities. Question 1: Who are the transfer students? Quantitative data analysis on the demographics of transfer students who achieved a baccalaureate degree in accounting found the largest percentage of completers were female (56%), white (37%) and Asian (34%). Post-transfer student survey findings found a similar gender distribution. Survey responses related to ethnicity and age varied by institution type. Results from the two CSU programs surveyed showed that both had significant percentages of Asian/Pacific Islander (42%) and white students (31%). Students from the private university were mostly white (59%), followed by Latino (21%) and only 5% Asian. CSU respondents tended to be younger, with nearly half of students in the 20 and 24 age category. Accounting students attending the private institution were more age-dispersed, having an equal percentage (28%) in the 25 to 29 and the 30 to 34 age categories. Question 2: How do students get on the accounting transfer path? Surveys and focus groups revealed that students do not usually start their higher education journey with a specific focus on accounting. Students chose this major later in their community college experience when compared to those pursuing the other disciplines studied through this research (e.g., engineering and nursing). Several transfer students reported lacking initial direction and experimenting with different courses and programs before settling on accounting. Other students indicated they started at a community college with the general notion that transferring to pursue a baccalaureate would position them well for employment and only later came to understand the specific opportunities afforded by completing an accounting degree. Top reasons for choosing this path included motivators such as achieving a personal goal, securing sustainable well-paid employment and meeting the expectations of family or friends. I just started to take classes. I knew you could get an AA in general studies so I tried a bunch of subjects bio, chem, math, English, administration of justice. At one point I got a certificate in dental assisting. I just wasn t sure where I wanted to go. Private University Transfer Student Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) Summer 2012 Page 4

5 Question 3: How do students use community colleges to prepare for transfer in accounting? Backward mapping the course-taking patterns of those who successfully achieved a bachelor s degree reveals that accounting transfers use the community college system to primarily complete general education (GE) requirements followed by discipline-specific courses. Students earned the most transferable units in GE coursework pre-transfer (54%) followed by major-related coursework in accounting, business and economics (30%). When asked about their community college preparation, private for-profit students often said they felt undirected in their enrollments and reported taking courses outside those necessary for transfer in their discipline. On the other hand, CSU students more frequently spoke about deliberately taking program-specific courses prior to transfer. This analysis also showed that a considerable number of learners started below transfer-level English and math, 35% and 43% respectively. These figures indicate that despite receiving an English or math placement below college level, students can still achieve success in both making it to transfer and securing a degree in this discipline. Almost equal numbers of students ultimately took statistics or calculus as their highest level of math pre-transfer (38% and 43% respectively). Roughly half of successful accounting degree completers achieved an associate s degree prior to their university enrollment. Survey and focus group [An associate s degree] seemed like a waste of time for me. I would have to participants indicated that these associate s degrees take a couple more classes for an AA often did not relate to accounting. Some students and it wouldn t count toward my perceived the associate s degree as a distraction bachelor s so I might as well just go for from their journey to a baccalaureate and thought it the BA. might be of low value to employers. Similarly, they CSU Transfer Student indicated the need for baccalaureate-level preparation to access employment in this occupation as a reason not to complete an associate s degree pre-transfer. Generally speaking, students time to transfer extended beyond the two-year window purported by the 2+2 system. Just under half of those who achieved an accounting bachelor s degree took two to four years to transfer from their first community college enrollment and over a third took four or more years. About a third of students earned 70 or more units before transitioning to the university level. Question 4: What challenges do accounting students encounter along the way? The findings on how accounting students used the community college system to prepare for transfer coupled with their survey and focus group feedback on the obstacles they experienced pre-transfer indicate insufficient guidance and advisement is a top challenge. Specifically, some students indicated they were unable to get help with selecting a major area of study. Some stated they received inaccurate advising on courses to take for this program and others received confusing guidance about what was necessary for an associate s degree versus transfer in Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) Summer 2012 Page 5

6 accounting. Survey and focus group participants recommended that future transfer students consult many sources to get accurate information. They encouraged community colleges to improve their capacity to counsel students toward this discipline and strengthen their relationships with industry advisors who can provide students real-world direction. They also suggested universities offer more opportunities for community college students to connect with their accounting programs pre-transfer. Faculty and staff need to get engaged in transfer guidance and take each student as an individual. My community college experience felt like the DMV. I felt like no one cared that I was behind that I had to take more time and money to take extra classes. CSU Transfer Student This research also reveals that students encounter a range of issues related to transferring community college credits to their baccalaureate-level accounting program. An earlier phase of this study determined that 81 California community colleges offer accounting programs, with some institutions delivering upwards of 20 accounting courses annually. However, analysis of course-taking patterns found that a significant number of the accounting units achieved by students pre-transfer were actually non-transferable. Transferable accounting units comprised only 1% of students total community college units. However, when including non-transferable accounting units, this percentage increased to 23%, indicating that many students took a considerable number of accounting courses that did not transfer. Not surprising, many students reported struggling to get some discipline-specific and GE units accepted post-transfer. Survey results indicated that students attending the private, for-profit university struggled more frequently than those attending the CSUs with getting units accepted. That said, students attending both types of institutions raised this concern in focus groups. I just got direction on GE courses to take, which kinda makes sense because I didn t know what I wanted to do but [the counselor] didn t give me support on the kind of program to pursue. Private University Transfer Student Additionally, conversations with students revealed that their challenges with course transferability often had less to do with the practices of their receiving institution and more to do with their own lack of understanding about the technicalities of unit transfer. Some participants were unaware of the differences between non-transferable, transferable and articulated courses and which units would specifically count toward a bachelor s degree in accounting. For example, some participants stated frustrations about the inability to get non-transferable courses (e.g., bookkeeping) and/or general business or economics classes accepted for credit toward their major. On a related note, CSU students particularly mentioned feeling challenged post-transfer to understand specific accounting program expectations and course requirements. Students suggested that their four-year program make information more readily available to students pretransfer through a variety of venues, including hosting program preview days, posting comprehensive information to their websites and developing cheat sheets that outline particular program requirements and how these requirements align with those of the broader institution. Some students also said they were inadequately prepared for the rigor of university classes generally and the skills required for success in accounting courses particularly. Some focus group participants referenced experiencing a culture of low expectations at the community Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) Summer 2012 Page 6

7 college shared among students, faculty and staff versus the high demands they confronted upon arriving at the university. Transfer students recommended future students complete as many courses as possible at the community college level, build a strong foundation of accounting skills pretransfer and ensure those skills are current when beginning upper-division work at the university. Some students also suggested that community colleges need to demand more of learners who are on the accounting transfer path and proposed that universities need to improve their support to students transitioning into their programs. Finally, survey participants rated financial barriers as the top challenge to their overall transfer journey, including the cost of attending a four-year institution and the need to support self and/or family. Students attending the private, for-profit institution ranked these challenges particularly high. Question 5: What supports accounting students towards transfer and degree? If I had known better what was coming up, I would have prepared myself a lot better; not really understanding what a four-year college would require me to do, I struggled in my first couple of classes. Private University Transfer Student Survey and focus group results suggest that a detailed and focused education plan leading to transfer in accounting can serve as an antidote to the guidance and credit transferability challenges encountered by many students. Most successful transfers indicated in their survey responses that they had some sort of plan mapping their journey to transfer. Students attending the CSUs reported having more detailed plans than those enrolled at the private, for-profit university. Many transfers developed their own plans (39% CSU and 29% private students). Analysis of survey data across all disciplines included in this study indicated that students who reported having a detailed education plan: (1) more frequently rated that plan as useful, (2) took fewer lower-division major preparation courses post-transfer and (3) assessed their level of preparation for upper-division coursework higher. Many accounting transfers also said their personal networks were integral to their successful movement along this pathway. In some cases, support came from family members who offered financial assistance and encouragement and shared their own experiences with transfer. In other cases, peers and program alumni provided inspiration and a source for information. Relationships formed with individual counselors and teachers also led to students to feel supported and directed in their transfer journey. Other students specifically mentioned that introductory community college accounting coursework opened their eyes to the discipline, motivating them to pursue this path and connecting them with others who had similar goals. Unique to this discipline, accounting students highlighted the importance of clubs and networking to their successful transition and achievement post- When I took an [introductory] accounting class at [my community college], the teacher really opened my eyes to how much I liked accounting; this class definitely helped me decide to pursue this major. Private University Transfer Student Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) Summer 2012 Page 7

8 transfer. Participation in these activities allowed learners to connect with peers, link with employers and generally heightened their sense of motivation, if not competition, for grades and ultimately employment. Finally, a few students stated in their survey responses that transfer agreements between the community college and CSU they attended facilitated their movement through the accounting pathway. These students also reported having to take one to two lower-division major courses posttransfer compared to their peers who did not utilize these agreements and said they had to complete an average of four such courses. Some students suggested they chose a particular transfer destination because of the availability of these arrangements. At the same time, the number of students mentioning transfer agreements was extremely small. Question 6: What happens to students post-transfer? The quantitative analysis provided several insights about students journey between transferring and achieving an accounting baccalaureate degree, including how many units students had to fulfill at the university and how much time it took to secure their bachelor s degree. Not surprisingly, students course-taking patterns showed that transfer students who achieved more units at the community college level had to complete fewer units at the university (and vice versa), suggesting that the community college system can and does offer a viable way to work toward degree completion. Most students earned their degree between one and three years after transfer. Ultimately, approximately 40% of students took four or more (but less than six) years to earn a bachelor s degree from their first community college enrollment, while roughly another 30% took six years or more and nearly 20% took eight years or more to complete. A Focus on Private, For-Profit Universities Private, for-profit institutions offer students an alternative to the state s impacted public higher education systems, particularly in career-oriented disciplines like accounting. Students pursuing a bachelor s degree in accounting at the private, for-profit university engaged by the RP Group through this study tended to represent a broader age range and greater ethnic diversity than those enrolled in the CSUs studied. These students were also often balancing full-time work and/or family obligations with school. They frequently voiced their struggle to secure direction and support while enrolled in a community college. Despite encountering challenges posttransfer, these students also tended to express appreciation for the intensive guidance received from their university program. This support started from the moment they indicated an interest in that institution and continued throughout their experience. Transfer felt easy and options for engagement more in tune with the needs of adults with competing commitments (e.g., through online and hybrid coursework). Students usually said they felt a stronger sense of community at their university when compared to their experience at the community college, largely due to the use of a cohort model and a delivery method that engages learners in short, intensive courses emphasizing teamwork. Overall, students seemed particularly satisfied by the level of attention paid to their achievement. While generated from a relatively small group of accounting students, these themes also emerged among students pursing nursing degrees at the same university. These findings spotlight an area for further research and invoke the question: What can our public higher education systems possibly learn from what private institutions do well? Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) Summer 2012 Page 8

9 How can we make this research work for you and for students? The RP Group is eager for these findings on the accounting pathway to support the work of educators interested in increasing students transfer access and success and in engaging employer partners and policymakers in achieving this goal. To this end, the following section offers two sets of discussion questions to promote dialog about this research among accounting stakeholders. One set focuses on how the research reflects your own experience and the other explores how these findings can be used to help improve the accounting pathway. How does this research reflect on your own experience? The following questions are designed to help accounting educators facilitate discussions on your campuses and across institutions and segments about your own experience promoting transfer. Discussion Questions: How do the findings align with your experience supporting students in their effort to transfer and complete a baccalaureate degree in accounting? What findings are particularly useful? How might you use them? What issues seem unresolved? What additional research would be of value to your work? How can we use this research to improve the accounting pathway? This research suggests several possible opportunities for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the accounting transfer pathway, many of them coming from the experts successful transfer students. Educators at two- and four-year institutions might consider ways to work both independently and together, as well as with employer partners, to explore these points for improvement. Discussion Questions: Pathway access What can employers do in partnership with educators to raise student awareness of the opportunities available to accountants and stoke their interest in pursuing this occupation? How can educators help students select transfer and an accounting major early in their postsecondary career? Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) Summer 2012 Page 9

10 How can educators diversify the ethnic and socioeconomic composition of those who choose this path and structure opportunities for nontraditional learners returning to college? How can colleges provide students with a map for efficient transfer preparation in accounting through focused and detailed educational planning? Given budget constraints, how can educators think creatively about low-cost solutions for providing this kind of direction to students? What can employers do to provide first-hand perspectives to both students and faculty about what kinds of skills and knowledge are required for a successful career in accounting? Transfer readiness How can community colleges contextualize pre-collegiate math and English courses to both attract students interested in this pathway and help them prepare for upper-division course work? How can community colleges help students effectively complete lowerdivision coursework while preparing them for the pace and rigor of university-level programming? Student supports What venues can community colleges create to connect accounting pathway students with successful transfers, program alumni and employers? How can universities ease the transition of transfer students? How can employers provide graduated work-based learning opportunities (e.g., informational interviews, job shadows, short-term internships, extended paid work experience) helping community college students cultivate the skills and knowledge required for this occupation and developing a pool of future employees? System alignment How can community colleges and universities work together to ensure community college credits count post-transfer? How can community colleges and universities collaborate to stack degrees aligning the associate s degree with university-level programming and making earning an associate s degree valuable to students and employers? How can community college and four-year institutions partner to promote transfer agreements and increase students use of these arrangements? Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) Summer 2012 Page 10

11 For more information For more information on the Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project visit or contact Eva Schiorring, Project Director, Notes i California Employment Development Department. (2010). Occupations in Demand [data file]. Retrieved on August 4, 2011 from ii Moore, C. & Shulock, N. (2007). Beyond the open door: Increasing student success in the California community colleges. Sacramento, CA: California State University, Sacramento, Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy. iii Cal-PASS is a voluntary statewide data sharing system to track students transitioning among institutions and segments such as high school to college and community college to university. Student Transfer in Professional Pathways Project (STP3) Summer 2012 Page 11