ABSTRACT
As the pandemic was grinding through nearly every facet of higher education, it also was forcing higher education institutions to find the answer to a key question that had been rattling around among colleges and universities for decades. What would college admission be like without the requirement that students submit scores on big national standardized tests? Out of necessity, institutions quickly found some answers to that multifaceted concern amid the height of the COVID-19 crisis. This fall, as normalcy further returns, many in higher education are now sifting through the data and anecdotal information from that period as they decide how to finetune new testing policies or, in some cases, reinstate previous policies requiring testing. That's all taking place while admission professionals counsel students who may be pleased by the new policies and feel more fairly assessed and free to apply at schools more broadly, but also may feel confused--and perhaps even suspicious.
ABSTRACT
Transfers are often cumbersome for students, and the COVID-19 pandemic has presented more difficulties. However, progress has been made to ease the process, including policy shifts to make transferring to four-year institutions seamless for students. David Follick, assistant vice president of academic student services at Nassau Community College (NCC) on Long Island in New York, says that while it appears transfers may not have declined as much as expected during the pandemic, the crisis perhaps further highlighted the difficulties students like Maggie Vasquez confront. New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows that upward transfers, especially for more traditional student groups, dropped 1 percent in 2020-21 although they previously had been rising. Colleges for a variety of reasons are seeking ways to support transfer students who want to attend their institutions in the first leg of their higher education experience - or come to them by way of a transfer.