EDUCATIONAL BARRIERS AND FACTORS OF SUCCESS IN STEM FIELDS FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Abstract

Understanding community college transfer student success after they transfer to a four-year institution is essential to promoting success of future transfer students. Many of the studies that have looked at success have identified factors that impact student performance such as faculty interaction, advisor contact, transfer student capital, motivation, social support, effort, and experiences (Lopez & Jones, 2017; Moser, 2013). However, there is a lack of research in this field that focuses specifically on transfer students in STEM fields. Since transfer students are a large and growing population, it is especially important to address barriers and understand how success can be promoted in STEM fields students. To identify the influence of these factors, the L-TSQM was used to collect data on over 160 transfer students in STEM fields at the University of Arizona. Both quantitative qualitative analyses were used to understand the students’ data. Findings identified several factors related to student success such as faculty engagement, student learning and study skills, and individual effort. Additionally, advising and social inclusion were some of the student identified concerns that they judged to impact their success. Overall, this study presents the factors that can become barriers to Students’ successful education in STEM fields.