2008 Woodie Awards
The invisible transfer
Our View: With no campus housing and a decimated commuters' affairs office, transfer students cannot integrate to the university.
Staff Editorial
Issue date: 3/6/07 Section: Opinion
Transfer students have been feeling a little blue, and it's no surprise. A recent survey done by the Campus Assessment Working Group reported that only 49 percent of transfer students felt as if they were part of the university community. This is concerning, especially considering these findings came two years after university officials introduced efforts to integrate transfer students more fully. We believe that, though well-intentioned, these university programs are failing to address the true problems.
All the outreach programs helping local community college students transfer to the university won't help with issues of integration. When it comes to the college experience, there is little substitute to living on the campus. With transfer students placed at the end of an already long housing waitlist, they are often out of luck.
We've spoken repeatedly on the miserable housing situation on and off the campus, but even if the university is content to accept the situation as is, there are implications to address. A lack of housing would inevitably push many transfer students to commuter status, and efforts to help transfer students should strongly include a push to connect commuters to the campus as well.
Efforts on this end are concerning. A once-vibrant commuters' affairs office fell victim to budget cuts in 2003, and a staff of about 15 became a one-person staff. No single person, no matter how qualified and dedicated, could even come close to addressing the needs of the tens of thousands of commuter students.
Transfer students are in a ridiculously unfortunate position. They can't live on the campus and they get little support as commuters. If the university wants to remain a vibrant institution that has students scrabbling to join even after they have been attending other universities, it has to anticipate and address the needs of these potential Terrapins more thoroughly. Otherwise, two years and even more outreach efforts later, administrators will once again be confronted by similar findings.
All the outreach programs helping local community college students transfer to the university won't help with issues of integration. When it comes to the college experience, there is little substitute to living on the campus. With transfer students placed at the end of an already long housing waitlist, they are often out of luck.
We've spoken repeatedly on the miserable housing situation on and off the campus, but even if the university is content to accept the situation as is, there are implications to address. A lack of housing would inevitably push many transfer students to commuter status, and efforts to help transfer students should strongly include a push to connect commuters to the campus as well.
Efforts on this end are concerning. A once-vibrant commuters' affairs office fell victim to budget cuts in 2003, and a staff of about 15 became a one-person staff. No single person, no matter how qualified and dedicated, could even come close to addressing the needs of the tens of thousands of commuter students.
Transfer students are in a ridiculously unfortunate position. They can't live on the campus and they get little support as commuters. If the university wants to remain a vibrant institution that has students scrabbling to join even after they have been attending other universities, it has to anticipate and address the needs of these potential Terrapins more thoroughly. Otherwise, two years and even more outreach efforts later, administrators will once again be confronted by similar findings.
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