Lateral Transfer Students

Many challenges arise for students who transfer from community colleges to four-year universities as well as for lateral transfer students. Lateral transfer students encompasses transfers between institutions of the same type: two-year to two-year and four-year to four-year.
Transitioning into a new environment can be a very daunting task for transfer students that come with many unforeseen challenges and barriers. Social integration as well as academic under preparedness are some of the challenges that most transfer students are faced with. And, securing housing is another challenge that this population faces. Therefore, their characteristics lead to a qualitatively different student experience. Furthermore as the cost of a college education continues to rise, more students are beginning their college education at a local community college before transferring to a baccalaureate granting institution (American
Additionally, they may discover incompatibility between themselves and the transfer institution, and struggle to manage the demands of multiple roles such as student, parent, and employee (Laanan, 1996; Townsend & Wilson, 2006; Zamani, 2001). Moreover, transfer students are typically less socially engaged with the university than students who entered in their freshmen years (Ishitami & McKitrick, 2010). These challenges have certainly have had a negative impact on this population such as decrease in their academic performance. Another concern for community college students transferring to four-year institutions is something commonly referred to as "transfer shock". According to a report at the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) website, transfer shock refers to the dip in grade point average that is experienced during the first or second semester at a new