To make the transfer student pathway viable to meet workforce needs, it is essential to think beyond simply linking two institutions and getting students in the door—students need to be supported throughout the adjustment period. In this article, we address the “support” aspect of the problem by reporting findings from 306 engineering transfer students’ responses to open-ended survey items that focused on factors that helped students adjust and how their sending and receiving institutions could have helped ease the transition; our sample, which is largely Hispanic/Latino (88%), includes both vertical and lateral transfer students who proceeded to enroll in 4-year Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Six themes emerged related to elements that helped students make the adjustment: individual/self, personal network, familiarity with the environment, polite/helpful atmosphere, institutional resources, and student involvement. Student recommendations on how sending institutions could have helped ease their transition focused on information, academic curriculum, and institutional process, and recommendations for receiving institutions included students’ requests for more assistance with getting involved on campus, building personal networks, and understanding institutional resources. While themes were consistent across sub-groups within the sample, in this article we highlight some of the few observed differences based on type of transfer pathway and student status as Hispanic/Latino. Within the current system and operating structure of higher education, statewide and/or system wide efforts to collaborate and coordinate between institutions must occur at the college level, and more often at the department or program level, to properly address many of the long-standing issues that appear to be more acute for degree plans in engineering disciplines and for transfer students who pursue these pathways.
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