By Jonathan Bowles
Much of our work at the Center for an Urban Future (CUF) involves shining a light on policies and investments that will help a lot more New Yorkers climb into the middle class.
Our new report focuses on an opportunity to do just this: by ensuring that more of the mostly low-income students who enroll at a CUNY community college are able successfully transfer to a four-year CUNY college and earn a bachelor’s degree.
All of us at CUF are huge believers in CUNY, which is arguably the city’s most important elevator to the middle class. But too many students aren’t getting the full mobility boost from CUNY because they struggle to succeed in the transfer process.
Although eight of every nine new community college students at CUNY intend to transfer and complete at least a bachelor’s degree, only about one in nine does so within six years. Making even modest progress on these transfer outcomes could help thousands more New Yorkers from low-income communities to earn bachelor’s degrees, putting them on the path to higher-wage careers.
Our report, made possible with a grant from the Robin Hood Foundation and written by David Fischer, calls on city and state officials to help scale up CUNY initiatives that are succeeding in helping students transfer more of their credits from a two-year to a four-year program—and navigate successfully to a bachelor’s degree.
Click on the link to read the report, “Boosting Transfer Student Success at CUNY.”
Also, check out this NY1 story about our report, “New report highlights barriers facing CUNY community college students when they transfer.”
You might also be interested in these other CUF reports focused on supporting college and career success for CUNY students:
- Boosting Tech Career Success for CUNY Students: Doubling Down on CUNY 2X Tech
- Harnessing CUNY as a Launchpad into Tech Careers
- Re-engaging Adult Learners to Complete College Degrees: Learning from Tennessee
- Supporting CUNY’s 79,000 Part-Time Students
- Opportunity Costs: Affording the True Cost of College in NYC
Jonathan Bowles
The Center for an Urban Future (CUF) is a leading think tank focused on building a stronger and more equitable economy in New York City, and expanding economic opportunity for all New Yorkers. CUF receives general operating support from The Clark Foundation and the Altman Foundation. We are also grateful for support from Fisher Brothers Foundation for the Center for an Urban Future’s Middle-Class Jobs Project, and ongoing support from a number of other philanthropic funders. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-bowles-a843766/
Photo credit: Source.
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