Institute for Higher Education Policy
“Higher education should be a pathway to a better living and life for all students, regardless of their background,” said Jennifer Pocai, a research and programs manager at IHEP and one of the playbook’s authors. “The gap in students with some credits but no degree falls along racial and socioeconomic lines, and the pandemic has only worsened it. It is even more urgent for colleges to focus on degree reclamation now.”
Pocai pointed out that institutions can use The Degree Reclamation Playbook step-by-step or, for colleges already doing this work, focus on a strategic assessment section. The guidelines center on two ways campus practitioners can bring individuals across that degree finish line: reverse transfer and adult reengagement.
Reverse transfer helps students who transfer from a two-year to a four-year institution apply the credits that they earned at a four-year institution back to the credits that they already had from their two-year institution to then receive an associate’s degree. Adult reengagement strategies in turn focus on helping colleges find and reconnect with students who stopped out of college without finishing their degree. Such strategies include reaching out to students close to completion to support their reenrollment.
Dr. Jason Taylor, an associate professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Utah, has researched reverse transfer. He noted that most incoming transfer students from a community college to a four-year institution have a lot of credit with no associate’s degree. Taylor added that equity is at stake.
“The research on transfer is so clear about racial equity gaps,” said Taylor. “Reverse transfer is an equity issue because we know that students of color and low-income students are less likely to get an associate’s degree and bachelor’s degree when they start their program.”
According to a 2020 report from the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit research organization focused on educational data reporting and exchange, Black and Hispanic students stop out at higher rates than their white and Asian counterparts at public two-year institutions as well as public four-year institutions. The IHEP playbook cited such figures as well.
