2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In the U.S., approximately 20% of graduating engineering students receive their university degree after transferring from a community college. Because the percentage of transfer students enrolled in California universities is higher than the national average, in 2016, the California State University (CSU) System launched the Graduation Initiative (GI) 2025 to raise graduation rates for transfer students. The CSU GI 2025 set goals to increase the two-year transfer graduation rate to 45% and the four-year transfer graduation rate to 85% by 2025 across all 23 CSU campuses. What has yet to be discussed extensively is which factors affect the transfer students’ success and its associated impact. This paper identified the critical success factors (CSFs) for transfer students’ success with the survey responses by transfer students in the Department of Civil Engineering at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona). Identifying the CSFs is essential as sociocultural, academic, and environmental factors significantly affect transfer students' academic performance. The author composed a series of questions that fall into sociocultural, academic, and environmental factors (this survey was approved by the CPP IRB 23-003). A total of 41 transfer students responded to the survey, and the author identified CSFs for transfer students as 1) a sense of belonging, 2) networking with faculty, staff, and peers, and 3) advising for career development and available resources from the university. The identified factors should be addressed when the university develops a new program for transfer students.