The most visible aspects of the recommendations being advanced by the Transfer Task Force focus on the additive and enhanced resources we recommend implementing for students, faculty and staff. Recommendations thus far have demonstrated several structural, policy and technical needs. Key to successful change, will be the provision of additional assistance to all campuses in the form of tools, technologies, training, community-building, leadership and monetary support. The following recommendations focus on System-led strategies and actions recommended by the Transfer Task Force.
A critical outcome of SUNY System Administration’s efforts will be setting the stage and defining the tenor for future transfer service and policy development. Starting at the top of the organization, SUNY will build a positive service culture through training, networking and community-building. In addressing transfer needs and systemic shortfalls, leaders will readily promote and demonstrate - through action and communication - that the System is seeking to create an enduring structure of support and a set of sustainable practices, while building a transfer-forward culture. Recruitment, admissions, advising, teaching, and all other areas of the institution will be infused with the understanding that transfer students and the support offered to them is critical to institutional success and sustainability. Providing development, training and ongoing engagement with faculty and staff who support transfer students is an extraordinarily critical part of creating a transfer-forward culture.
The Transfer Task Force Advisement and Transfer Student Support working group conducted surveys and held a series of listening sessions that included academic advisors and transfer support specialists from throughout SUNY. Their outreach established that support stakeholders and staff were seeking additional guidance, training, and support. Of key interest was creating a common set of practices that would help advance the advising and support mission. The working group proposed and began developing a pilot program for a Center for Professional Development (CPD) Advising Certificate Program. The program will be designed around developing and extending core critical practices in advising proven to support transfer students. Programming includes transfer onboarding programs used in other popular programs and is strongly based on the tenets of the CCRC’s Transfer Playbook.
Develop an engaged, sustainable transfer network which provides access to training and professional development. Often transfer advising faculty and staff have a wide range of backgrounds and academic credentials, and few have had formal academic and professional preparation for the specific role. Given that personal relationships are important in advising, working group members suggested the need to connect and build stronger connections with one another to both build competency and provide a platform for collaboration and problem solving.
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Recommendation |
Details and Information |
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Create a SUNY Academic Advising Network Structure |
Create a standing SUNY Academic Advising Network using the contacts and groups previously associated with the Student Success conference and presentations, NYSTAA SUNY constituents, and campus advising leads. |
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Create an Advising Certificate Program |
In concert with the Center for Professional Development (CPD), develop a certificate or curriculum and structured training program designed to provide training and for academic advisors across the SUNY system. |
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Create a Transfer Advising Certificate Program or Additive Module |
Create modules or added certification and training programs aimed directly at transfer advising best practices, common transfer steps, and ways to collaborate across campus borders. |
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Establish a Transfer Advisor Community of Practice |
Establish a community of practice that meets regularly and maintains resources, standing meetings, subgroups and working groups devoted to support transfer training, development and best practices. |
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Establish Regional Meetings |
Hold regional meetings that are inclusive of all campus sectors and types to foster cross-institutional collaboration, shared experiences, and to develop shared approaches to assisting students in the region. |
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Perform Routine Community-Led Training |
Showcase and highlight novel and innovative work, practices and technologies developed or implemented at the campus level that can inform SUNY-wide policy and practice or provide support to regional partners. |
Improving cross-institutional collaboration can be achieved by greater resource and personnel sharing across two-year and four-year institutions. As introduced earlier, many of the above recommendations focus on connections that would need to be established across campus borders. Complex chargebacks, state and local regulations, and other policies can impede the sharing of space, resources, instructional personnel, tools and technologies. Added cost and complexity is routinely present when creating cross-institutional arrangements, which can limit innovation and confine our ability to address student concerns.
In addition to community and coalition building, the Transfer Task Force recommends that SUNY and associated agencies be engaged in reducing or eliminating material operational, policy and regulatory barriers that can often stand in the way of campus collaborations.
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Recommendation |
Details and Information |
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Create SUNY-Wide MOU Templates and Guidance for Space and Resource Sharing |
Create standardized MOUs and agreement templates that can permit for the of advising and student support services across partner campuses. |
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Provide Clear Guidance Regarding Satellite or Extension Sites or Campuses |
Accreditors and Federal Student Aid have notable implications for multi-campus courses and instructional offerings. Additional guidance and protocols should be made available to campuses. |
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Support and Enhance “Associate First” Programming |
There is significant evidence that students who complete the associate degree prior to transferring have better outcomes. Recognizing the evidence that this benefits students, two-year and four-year partnerships should support associate degree completion prior to transfer. |
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Encourage Joint Recruitment Initiatives on Campuses |
Develop joint recruitment and promotion programs between institutions, with a continued focus on associate degree completion. |
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Create a System-Wide Center for Cross-Institutional Engagement |
Create a group or center that is focused on supporting and guiding campus collaborations, especially where regional partners seek to establish new cooperatives. |
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Eliminate Campus-to-Campus Charges for Reciprocal Space / Access |
To the extent possible under NYS and county law and regulations, SUNY should seek to eliminate campus-to-campus charges to allow for more regular, uninhibited cooperation. |
Many models within SUNY and throughout the nation have shown notable benefits of having advisors from four-year campuses present on two-year partner campuses. Within SUNY, Cortland maintained a multi-year advising cooperative between Tompkins-Cortland and Broome where Cortland advisors held office hours at Tompkins-Cortland and Broome campuses. This resulted in direct advising and support to students, who benefited from specialized Transfer Paths developed between the institutions. That relationship was so strong, in fact, that the three campuses continue to collaborate, most recently on a first-of-its-kind AI supported program planning research project. Plattsburgh has a branch campus at SUNY Adirondack in Queensbury, where students can take classes and be advised as part of the Plattsburgh-Adirondack dual admission program. Likewise, national experiments have also shown that sharing space and having advisors and faculty available has had notable benefits. For example, Salt Lake Community College and the University of Utah entered into an agreement to share a location, which serviced over 2,000 students in its first year of operation, with enrollment expected to reach 7,000 by 2025.1
Through the support and framework offered by the Advising Network and Community of Practice, SUNY will pursue more focused approaches where campuses will actively develop open communication lines between advisors and faculty members. Ready and open communication provides additional collegial support internally and has also been shown to translate into better collaborative efforts and more successful cross-campus programs. The CCRC and other researchers have found that faculty-to-faculty collaboratives between partner institutions to develop Transfer Paths and align courses has been a key differentiator among successful partnerships.2
Physical presence has been a key driving force – not only because it connects students with advisors and support from transfer institutions - but because it provides an environment for greater collaboration and communication between campus leaders, faculty, and staff. By reducing administrative and material barriers as recommended, SUNY System Administration will help to facilitate greater cross-campus collaboration and create greater space for partner campuses to engage at all levels.
1 Mowreader, “Positive Partnership: College and University Share Campus, Strengthen Transfer Pipeline.”
2 Fink and Jenkins, “Takes Two to Tango: Essential Practices of Highly Effective Transfer Partnerships.”