TENNAIR 2026

Approximately 80% of students in Tennessee's community colleges enroll in transfer programs, yet fewer than 30% successfully transfer to a four-year institution. Students who complete transfer degrees but do not go on to earn a bachelor's degree often face weak labor market outcomes, earning less, on average, than peers with other community college credentials. Improving outcomes for these students requires a clearer understanding of their enrollment decisions, program choices, and the institutional factors that shape their paths.

This presentation would share initial findings from TBR's Transfer Student Success project, an ongoing policy research initiative examining enrollment patterns and outcomes across Tennessee's transfer pathways, transfer barriers, and opportunities to improve student supports to improve transfer success. Drawing on TBR end-of-term data, the project explores how students move through, and between, these pathways, and how outcomes differ across programs, institutions, student populations, and geographies.

Attendees will be introduced to key findings from a series of Research Spotlights currently in development. Topics include: how University Parallel (UP) enrollment trends and student populations compare to those in Tennessee Transfer Pathways (TTPs); how often students switch between transfer and applied technical programs, and when those switches tend to occur; how transfer and bachelor's degree attainment rates differ across pathway types; and how students in applied technical programs navigate the leap to four-year institutions, including patterns in credit transferability and bachelor's degree program selection. Together, these spotlights offer a statewide picture of where Tennessee's transfer ecosystem is working well and where there are opportunities to improve current policies and practices.