Increasing transfer rates for African American, Hispanic, adult, and first-generation learners.
With funding from the ECMC Foundation and Ascendium Education Group, the American Association of Community Colleges is leading an Equity Transfer Initiative (ETI) in partnership with American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).
The Equity Transfer Initiative is a partnership between community and four-year colleges to advance transfer pathways and align them to increase transfer and completion for underrepresented student populations. The goal of the ETI is to serve 6,000 students from the identified underrepresented groups over the two-year project period.
Sixteen partnerships from 13 states representing 17 community colleges and 19 universities were selected to participate.
| State | Lead Institution | Partner Institution(s) |
| CA | Moreno Valley College | Norco College |
| Riverside City College | ||
| California State University – Bernardino | ||
| CA | Sacramento City College | University of California – Davis |
| CO | University of Colorado – Denver | Arapahoe Community College |
| IL | City Colleges of Chicago (ALL) | Northeastern Illinois University |
| MA | MassBay Community College | Framingham State University |
| MA | Middlesex Community College | University of Massachusetts – Lowell |
| MI | Wayne State University | Jackson College |
| Oakland Community College | ||
| NC | Forsyth Technical Community College | Winston Salem University |
| NE | Central Community College | University of Nebraska-Kearney |
| NM | San Juan College | Fort Lewis College |
| OH | Cuyahoga Community College & Lorain Community College | Cleveland State University |
| OK | Oklahoma State University | Northern Oklahoma College |
| OK | Tulsa Community College | Oklahoma State University – Tulsa |
| Northeastern State University – Broken Arrow | ||
| TX | Austin Community College | Texas State University |
| VA | Northern Virginia Community College | George Mason University |
| WI | University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee | Milwaukee Area Technical College |
Participants will receive transfer coaching support to advance work plans that include:
- An assessment of the current and/or newly proposed relationship between two-year and four-year institutions to identify obstacles and develop response strategies that lead to a strong transfer relationship.
- A review of current and/or new transfer pathways through an equity lens, specifically identifying evidence-based equity strategies or new innovative equity strategies that allow students to matriculate without losing credit and time to degree.
Partnerships/consortia will also have access to technical assistance provided by subject matter experts, participate in convenings to teach and learn from each other, and inform the development of train-the-trainer tools that colleges interested in strengthening their transfer pathways can use. Additionally, participants will focus on strengthening student support services and ensuring that culturally competent counseling, among other interventions, are considered as viable ways to serve these students.