College students from N.J. transferring to in-state schools in record numbers
Posted Sunday, August 09, 2009 from The Star-Ledger

College students from N.J. transferring to in-state schools in record numbers

by Brian Whitley/The Star-Ledger

Sunday August 09, 2009, 8:48 PM

New Jersey residents who left the state for college are transferringto schools back home in record numbers, drawn by the chance to savethousands of dollars on tuition, housing or both.

And as students come home, the college landscape in New Jersey ischanging. Once an afterthought in the recruiting process, transfers arenow considered prize catches after having proven themselves atinstitutions across the country.

Colleges are searching for new ways to identifyand attract them, including dangling more scholarships and beefing upprograms to integrate them into campus life.

There are many out there to chase after.

Monmouth University officials report transfer applications fromfour-year schools climbed 40 percent this year. An official atFairleigh Dickinson University said these "free agents" helped hikeoverall transfer enrollments by 15 percent since 2007. Richard StocktonCollege reported a similar pattern.

Mike Goepp, who left Hackettstown and spent a year at Johnson andWales University in Rhode Island, is among those returning to the statethis fall. The difficult decision -- he soured on his marketing majorbut hated to leave friends from the soccer team -- was eased by theeconomy.

"I'm living at home this year. It saves maybe $5,000 or $6,000 for ayear," said Goepp, who will attend Centenary College. "Probably more."

Students like Goepp aren't the only ones transferring.

The state's 19 community colleges, which serve about 400,000students, are sending an ever larger number of them to four-yearschools. In 2008, about 61 percent of graduates moved on to abachelor's degree-granting institution, according to figures from theCouncil of County Colleges. That's 8 percentage points higher than in2006, and among the highest in the nation.

Although data is scarce, many school officials believe transfersgraduate at a higher rate than students who just finished 12th grade.Transfers have usually settled on a major, they say, and adjusted to amore independent lifestyle.

At Monmouth, the numbers paint a vivid picture: 85 percent oftransfer students graduate, compared with 60 percent of those who startas freshmen, said Robert McCaig, vice president for enrollment.

Responding to transfer students' success, lawmakers and schools have ramped up financial aid.

Participation in the NJ STARS II program, in which the state helpsfund scholarships for community college grads studying for abachelor's, is rapidly growing. Despite recently raised standards,officials said they expect 650 more students than last year to receiveawards -- an increase of 84 percent.

Two years ago, Richard Stockton, like several other area schools,started offering academic scholarships to transfers from otherfour-year schools. They range between $1,000 and $3,000 each year.

Transfer admissions are up 15 percent at the college this year, according to John Iacovelli, dean of enrollment.

"Very aggressive and lucrative merit-based aid has lured people," he said.

Though many colleges have boosted recruitment efforts, the change is especially notable among private schools.

Seton Hall University, for example, keeps track of which students itaccepts straight from high school, but who attend a community collegeinstead. The university sends them letters or e-mails after a year,hoping to coax a transfer. It also purchases lists of members of PhiBeta Kappa, an honors society for community college students.

Staff from Centenary, where between 30 percent and 40 percent ofstudents are transfers, visit every county college in the state, plussome in New York and Pennsylvania. They've recently started reachingout to more officials on those campuses, including department chairsand deans, said Donna Williams, director of graduate and transferenrollment.

"We work with students before they even come here," she said.

At many schools, that's meant more willingness to approve credits received elsewhere -- long a thorny proposition.

Many private colleges have "bent over backwards to make sure we'rerespecting the coursework our community college transfers have done,"McCaig said. "We're not so arrogant anymore in the private sector."

Eventually, heightened competition among transfers could mean a rise in admissions standards.

At Montclair State University, too full to accommodate many morestudents, the bar has been raised "ever so slightly," according toadmissions director Jason Langdon.

At one time, "if you had a 2.5, you were in. No discussion," he said.

Now, his office looks at transcripts more carefully.

Once transfers arrive, they find a far more concerted effort to helpthem integrate into campus life. Last year at William PatersonUniversity, officials launched Transfer Tuesdays, orientation programson academic support and other topics.

The 2-year-old Transfer Center at the School of Arts and Sciences atRutgers University in New Brunswick runs a required one-credit seminarto quickly show transfers everything from football games to artmuseums.

About 25 students are transfer mentors, encouraging their peers and teaching them tricks that freshmen have time to pick up.

Heather Jacobus, 22, a senior from Branchville, advised a studenthow to cobble together a convenient class schedule by waiting for upperclassmen to drop courses.