2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Many students who begin higher education at community colleges desire to transfer to baccalaureate institutions yet, less than a quarter transfer and graduate within six years. Within the field of engineering, the challenges are even more pronounced, and the transfer students are fewer due to tight curriculum programs and prerequires. While research on engineering transfer students is emerging, most of the research focuses on post-transfer students and there is a gap in understanding of pre-transfer engineering students. In addition to this gap, there is little understanding of the geographic and demographic variance in transfer assets of pre-transfer engineering students. Transfer student capital (TSC), a framework which identifies various constructs designed to improve transfer student success, is the theoretical framework which guides this research study. This quantitative study sought to understand how pre-transfer engineering students perceived the extent to which they possessed the factors or attributes required to develop strong TSC. The instrument in this study combined questions from three previously research validated transfer student surveys (Penn State Preparing the Engineer 2020 Community and Two-Year College Survey, Engineering Student Transfer Survey and the Iowa State University Transfer Student Survey). 171 pretransfer students, with 61 usable full responses, responded to the Qualtrics survey distributed via email. Analysis of this study analyzed areas of TSC in five areas including: location (or institution), race, gender, traditional vs. non-traditional student, familial educational attainment, and first-generation versus not first-generation college students. Findings suggest that there were significant differences for transfer students which differed based on their gender, first-generation status, non-traditional student status, and location. Practical implications of this research provide faculty and staff working with engineering students with real world recommendations of how to best support specific geographic and demographic nuances of pre-transfer engineering students in areas of advising, support, and faculty-student interactions. The combination of these findings and implications provides new insights into engineering education which shift more focus to the importance of pre-transfer geographic and demographic variance. Success in this work will broaden participation in engineering education and provide important pathways and transfer student capital supports for all students desiring to earn a bachelor’s degree in engineering.