Meeting the Needs of Rural Students Through Distance Advising: The Role of Transfer Guides in Three Measures of Student Success
Articulation guides for students transferring between Northwest Community College in Powell, Wyoming and Montana State University-Billings are described. The articulation agreement between the two institutions includes course information and supportive advising for transfer students. We hypothesized that use of the guides would help students weather transfer shock better than those transfer students from community colleges where no guides had been available. The groups' declines in grade-point average (GPA) after transfer, recovery of GPA, and persistence were compared. It was found that the severity of transfer shock and the extent of recovery of GPA were not significantly related to the use of the transfer guides, but ability to persist to graduation was positively related. The format of the transfer guides and corresponding advising activities are detailed. Implications for students and administrators are also discussed.
Contributor Notes
The authors would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of Dr. Kathy Williams, Dr. Ernie Rose, and Dr. Mary Susan E. Fishbaugh in the writing of this article.
Erica Cantrell Dawson is the academic advisor for the College of Education and Human Services at Montana State University-Billings. She is interested in the experiences of transfer students and in the academic, social, and familial support systems that contribute to student success. She will enter the doctoral degree program in social psychology at Cornell University this fall.
Cindy Ann Dell is the Certification and Placement Officer at MSU-Billings. Her research interests include retention of Native American and nontraditional students and adult learning. She is pursuing a doctoral degree in adult education through MSU-Bozeman.
Interested readers may contact the authors at advise_ed@Vixen.emcmt.edu.
