TransferBOOST
TransferBOOST (Bachelor’s Opportunity Options that are Straightforward and Transparent) is a multi-year state-level initiative developed to provide students affordable, quality, well-supported two- to four-year pathways.
For every 100 students who enroll in community colleges, 31 students transfer to a four-year institution. Of those, only 15 complete a bachelor’s degree within six years. Too many students are derailed from their higher education goals by unexpected, unaffordable, and untenable—yet solvable—challenges along their transfer journey.
In 2021, recognizing that the need for clear supports and equitable pathways to complete a degree across multiple institutions has never been more urgent, IHEP partnered with HCM Strategists to ensure transfer policy and practice meet the needs of today’s students, to elevate transfer commitments, and to reach students with simple, clear messaging about affordable transfer pathways. The health and economic crises continue to disproportionately impact Black, Latinx and/or Hispanic, Indigenous, and underserved AANHPI students and students from low-income backgrounds – the very students who are most likely to start their higher education pathway at a community college.
TransferBOOST (Bachelor’s Opportunity Options that are Straightforward and Transparent) is a multi-year state-level initiative to provide students a four-part transfer affordability approach:
- Their credits earned at one institution will transfer and apply to bachelor’s degree completion;
- Their costs will be streamlined;
- Their time-to-degree will be minimized; and
- Their awareness of and participation in a degree pathway will be clearly communicated.
After a rigorous review process, Arizona, Virginia, and Illinois were selected to pilot this innovative approach in each state. States and partnerships are now using TransferBOOST to provide affordable, quality, well-supported two- to four-year pathways.
TransferBOOST Research
IHEP’s published a series of research briefs that share lessons learned from the initiative for policymakers and institutional leaders. Learn how to support affordable and equitable transfer pathways through partnerships, strategic finance, and policy change by reading our three research briefs here.
