Minority students are not being motivated by their community college to continue their education at a four-year university, according to a national report.

The Academy for Educational Development report, “Bridges to Opportunity,” said a small percentage of community college students transfer to a four-year college, and even fewer earn bachelor degrees.

NIU, however, has not followed this decrease in transfer enrollment.

Nick Noe, NIU director of institutional research, said NIU admitted 1,635 community college transfer students this semester. Of those students, 1,514 are white, 44 are Hispanic, 41 are Asian, 22 are black, and nine are Native Americans.

Community college transfer student enrollment is following NIU’s trend, with the greatest increases in enrollment being asian and hispanic students.

“What you find if you look at overall undergraduate enrollment is that black enrollment is relatively stable, but asian and hispanic enrollment is growing over the years,” Noe said.

Comparing students who began their higher education at a community college to those who began at NIU is like “comparing apples to oranges,” Noe said.

Graduation rates for transfer students are higher than for native students because most students drop out of college during their freshman year, he said.

Jim Russell, community college relations coordinator, said the number of transfer students admitted to NIU this academic year increased over the past two years. He said the increase is a result of a later admissions deadline for transfer students.

Russell said the report might be “accurate for some (community college) institutions, but not ones that transfer here.”

In response to the report, Russell said “minority students need more awareness” of obtainable jobs with a baccalaureate degree. Community colleges “need a balance between vocational training and baccalaureate training,” Russell said.

The majority of students enrolled in community colleges “want an immediate return for their education,” Russell said.

According to Russell, community colleges serve three purposes: a transfer function for students who want to stay at home and save money, a vocational education function, and an economic development function within the community the colleges are located, such as providing English as a Second Language classes and high school equivalency classes.

Students who attend a community college for general education requirements compared to those who attended a four-year college all four years “do about the same in terms of their grades,” Russell said.

In some ways, attending community colleges might be better for students, considering the smaller class size, he said. “Some students respond better to a smaller class size than others,” Russell said.

One drawback for transfer students is that they traditionally suffer from “transfer shock,” a situation in which the students’ grade point average decreases their first semester at a four-year university. However, by the following semester, “it (the students’ GPA) goes back up to where it was before.”

To keep the number of transfer students under control, NIU can raise the transfer student GPA requirement, Russell said, but NIU “hasn’t had to do that yet.”

NIU accepts the most transfer applications from the College of DuPage, Harper Community College, and Rock Valley Community College, respectively.

In an attempt to attract more minority students from community colleges, the NIU Admissions Office is searching for a minority transfer counselor, said Admissions Counselor Robert Burk.

The new postion will be filled by Dec. 1 at the latest, Burk said. The new counselor will be expected to seek out minority students using “creative” techniques, such as working with community college student organizations.

“What you find if you look at overall undergraduate enrollment is that black enrollment is relatively stable, but asian and hispanic enrollment is growing over the years.”

Nick Noe, NIU director of institutional research