Metric Five

Metric 5: Transfer Admissibility and First-Term Grade Point Average at Receiving USG Institutions

Analysis and Evaluation of Transfers to USG Research, Comprehensive, and State Universities for Metric 5

Student transfer to USG senior institutions is an integral part of the mission of the state college sector institutions of the University System of Georgia. Transfer is also an important part of SGSC’s current Moving Forward: 2019-2024 Strategic Plan, Goal 3. Table 5 data below shows that for all academic years the vast majority of SGSC students who transfer out are enrolling at research, comprehensive, and state universities, rather than at another state college. This indicates that students are either transferring upon graduation from SGSC or transferring prior to graduation from SGSC in order to pursue a bachelor’s degree from a senior institution for which they believe themselves to be prepared. In either case, it is clear that students gaining admission to senior USG institutions and transferring from SGSC are considered to have been prepared at SGSC for admission to a USG institution with higher admissions requirements than those of SGSC. For each of the five years in the table below SGSC student transfers to senior USG institutions represent over 83% of total transfers, and for three of the years (2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2020-2021) the rates have been 86%, 87%, and 88%).

Source: USG ADC Census; USG Degrees Conferred Reports. https://www.usg.edu/research/usgbythenumbers

Analysis and Evaluation of SGSC Transfer-Out First-Term GPA at Receiving Institutions for Metric 5

In terms of academic performance, Table 6 below shows that the significant data point is the comparison between grade point averages in the last term at SGSC and the first term at the institution transferred to. For all but the most recent academic year (2020-2021) SGSC students transferring to other USG institutions achieved a higher first-term grade point average at receiving institutions than they did in their last term at SGSC. Clearly, SGSC is preparing students well for continuation of their academic endeavors. For the overall USG state college sector, higher grade point averages have been achieved in the first term at receiving USG institutions for every academic year, and the state college sector average GPAs for the past three academic years have been higher than those of students transferring from SGSC. SGSC has very active tutoring, STEM, writing, and student success centers on both of its campuses, as well as an expanding early-alert system and residential student achievement program in place to provide students with tools needed for academic success. SGSC’s goal is to raise the first-term GPA at receiving institutions to 2.8 by academic year 2022-2023. This goal has been achieved three times in the past five academic years; however, the sharp drop in GPA for the most recent academic year (2020-2021) is of concern. The five-year average SGSC transfer student first-term GPA at receiving institutions (2.68) is the minimal threshold of acceptability for 2022-2023. SGSC’s minimum acceptable threshold for first-term transfers-out at receiving SGSC institutions is 2.68, since that is the SGSC average for the past five academic years.

Source: USG ADC Census; USG Degrees Conferred Reports. https://www.usg.edu/research/usgbythenumbers