Establishing an Inter-institutional San Fernando Valley Collaborative to Improve STEM Transfer Student Support, Retention, and Graduation

The University Corporation, Northridge, Northridge CA

Investigators

Abstract

This planning project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and three regional community colleges in the San Fernando Valley (SFV), Los Angeles Mission College, Los Angeles Pierce College, and Los Angeles Valley College. All four institutions are Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). At CSUN, 56% of undergraduate students are Pell Grant recipients and over 50% of incoming students transferred from a community college. The collaborative team will determine strategic partnerships, barriers to student success, and equity-minded initiatives to support low-income, historically underserved college students during a critical period in the transfer from community college to 4-year institution. This project will advance knowledge in enhancing infrastructure for STEM research and education between 2-year and 4-year institutions of higher education in the SFV, home to over a third of the Latinx population in Los Angeles. The overall goal of this project is to increase STEM degree completion of low-income, high-achieving undergraduates with demonstrated financial need. Objectives include building a leadership team of stakeholders across the SFV to broaden pathways to STEM for low-income, historically underserved students. The team will assess needs and barriers to STEM transfer, retention, and graduation. Ultimately, the team will develop a future Track 3 S-STEM proposal with equity-minded strategies and rigorous evaluation plan. Students experience financial and sociocultural barriers in relocating from a community college to 4-year institution having to adapt to new expectations and financial needs. Transfer students make up the majority of incoming students at CSUN and this transfer shock is reflected in STEM academic performance and persistence in complex ways that bear disentangling. The knowledge transfer proposed between interdisciplinary and inter-institutional partners in the current project will facilitate the development of targeted tools and approaches to support community college and 4-year undergraduate students alike. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.