By Eliza Yachimowicz
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Sarah Sutherland, 20, has had quite a whirlwind year. She first transferred from the University of Maryland, College Park to Anne Arundel Community College for the fall 2017 semester. Then, Sutherland found her place at Towson University. She is one of 1,237 students who transferred to Towson for the 2018 spring semester.
“[Towson] is an overall good school,” Sutherland said. “Liberal arts-wise, it has pretty much every range you can think of. It’s like every aspect: sports, clubs, student life, housing — it all works so well together.”
Each year, Towson has seen a steady increase in the number of students transferring from other institutions around the country as well as Maryland community colleges. An analysis of institutional data found that since fall 2007, Towson has welcomed 34,211 transfer students.
Due to the fall semester being the typical time for many students to start school, there are usually significantly more transfers then than in the spring. However, both semesters have seen growth over the past decade. Transfer enrollment rates are up 50.4 percent since fall 2007, while spring transfer enrollment has increased 49.6 percent since spring 2008.
[infogram id=”5500683c-8aff-4987-a602-57065e674fbd” prefix=”cSC” format=”interactive” title=”Transfer Student enrollment rate”]
Many students transfer from Maryland community colleges, which contribute to more than half of Towson’s overall transfer population. Students who have transferred from community colleges for the fall semester have accounted for 58.1 percent of the overall fall transfer population since 2007. That is a 49.9 percent increase over the past 10 years. Students who have transferred in the spring have accounted for 50.7 percent of the overall spring transfer population since 2008. That is a 24 percent growth over the last 10 years.
So what motivates some of these students to choose Maryland community colleges as the first step in their higher education path?
“The community colleges in Maryland have a program where two years with a 3.0 [grade point average] can automatically get you into some of these schools. So people are going to choose Maryland, Towson, and UMBC,” said Yakob Tirfe, 21, a Montgomery College transfer.
Jennifer Ziegenfus, the associate director for recruitment in the Towson Admissions Office, also mentioned these programs that Towson has established with Maryland’s community colleges. “We have a lot of transfer partnerships called 2 + 2’s where the student is advised on each course to take at the community college and is also prepared for the courses they will be taking at TU,” Ziegenfus said. “These partnerships continue to grow and allow students the ability to plan out their four years of college before stepping onto either college campus.”
[infogram id=”1add1891-2cbb-4dc1-b7e0-12e3176e4e8e” prefix=”ttp” format=”interactive” title=”Maryland CC students out of total”]
Location, cost and familiarity are a few of the factors these Maryland community college students would consider when applying to Towson.
“As a whole, we are seeing more students choosing to begin at their local community college and then transferring after one year or after completing an associate’s degree,” Ziegenfus said. “It’s an attractive option because this keeps the cost low for the student and they can receive advising at the community college on the classes that will transfer to institutions within the University System of Maryland.”
But Towson also has some competition within the state of Maryland — including other public institutions such as University of Maryland, College Park, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Salisbury University. According to Ziegenfus, Towson has some advantages over its peers.
“Geography, cost and name recognition certainly play a factor,” she said. “Many students have lived in Maryland a long time and are familiar with the school or know someone who has attended TU in the past. TU’s reputation is growing, both within the state and the Mid-Atlantic region. For that reason it’s no longer just a destination in Baltimore County, it’s a place to grow, live and learn.”
Transfer students have been particularly interested in learning math and science. Since fall 2007, these fields have seen a 131.6 percent increase in transfer student enrollment. This could be due in part to the American education system encouraging STEM-related activities in school and extracurriculars. Ziegenfus also mentioned that Towson has several strong STEM partnerships with some of Maryland’s community colleges.
“STEM isn’t just a nerdy thing now,” Sutherland said. “Kids are actually interested in it and there are so many fields that are opening with [STEM]. You could do so much, and kids are really jumping on that.”
[infogram id=”22813b4e-3251-4575-8a14-ac2e35eff5da” prefix=”nzg” format=”interactive” title=”Over the course of a ten year period, Towson Transfer Students are drawn to the Science & Mathematics Field”]
Since fall 2007, women accounted for 57.2 percent of the total transfer population. However, science and math remain underrepresented by the female transfer population. Since fall 2007, female transfer students entering into these STEM fields has increased by 110 percent. However, male transfer students has increased by 151 percent in this area. Spring does not fair any better in terms of the ratio.
[infogram id=”5ca1d58f-d2d7-4716-b492-68f4e2e330a8″ prefix=”4oJ” format=”interactive” title=”Female transfer students account for 57.2% of the transfer population in Fall 2017″]
”I want to say [it is] personality, obviously it depends on who you are, maybe more girls like the Liberal Arts,” said Sutherland. “But then again, it is also the gender roles playing into that, you know women are always kind of seen in the art aspect and men in business and science. So you definitely see the contrast there.”
“It could be lack of interest,” said Tirfe. “But it could also be discouragement, just not feeling like they could form up to standards. Or maybe [they’re] intimidated working in a male-dominated field. People underestimate [women], and maybe they take that to heart.”
“In general, the gender gap still exists in STEM fields across the country, not exclusive to TU,” said Ziegenfus.
[infogram id=”aa35cb92-38d3-47da-a7e8-140e8b80a8aa” prefix=”CfF” format=”interactive” title=”Female to Male Percent Ratio in Science and Mathematics”]