Practices from the Field Exploring the Needs/Impact of Non-traditional Transfer Students Participating in a Discipline-Based Learning Community
Charisse T. M. Coston, Anita N. Blowers, Douglas A. Baals

Abstract
The landscape for higher education has never been more challenging. In the last four decades higher education in the United States has been transformed through a dramatic increase in the number and types of colleges and universities and with that comes a student body that is increasingly more diverse (Lord et al. 2012; Smith, et. al. 2004). For example, today’s typical college student is no longer an 18-year-old recent high-school graduate who enrolls full-time and has limited work and family obligations. Students today are older, more diverse and have more work and family obligations to balance (National Center for Education Statistics 2012; Choy 2002). Further, the lines between community colleges and universities are becoming more blurred as more and more students move back and forth between two year and four-year institutions. This research explores the impact of a disciplinary specific learning community that was designed to meet the needs of transfer students. Specifically, the research focuses attention on the stressors faced by traditional and nontraditional transfer students.

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