Thriving or Simply Surviving? A Qualitative Exploration of STEM Community College Students’ Transition to a Four-Year University

Abstract

Community college transfer students will play a key role in increasing and diversifying the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce, but these students face unique barriers when transferring to a university. This study utilizes Schlossberg’s model for analyzing human adaptation to transition to understand how STEM transfer students adapted to a 4-year university.