ABSTRACT
Today, community colleges are the first and often the only point of college access for nearly 40% of the approximately 17.1 million undergraduate students in higher education. Inequities in transfer can be studied through the broader lens of historically underserved students who attend accessible institutions— namely our nation’s community colleges. The large majority of students who enroll in community colleges identify with one or more groups that continue to be marginalized and understudied, including women, African American students, Latinx students, Native American students, low-income students, LGTBQ students, adult students, and/or students with disabilities. This chapter examines transfer among first-generation students who begin college at a community college. It describes community college students, giving attention to those who are identified as first-generation, and provides an overview of the community colleges’ role in promoting transfer to colleges and universities that offer bachelor’s degrees.
