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Summary

Transfer students bring strong academic experience but often face unique challenges when moving from college to university. How can institutions better support the transition, persistence and success of transfer students?

In this Connect + Learn session, Student Affairs and the Trent Teaching Commons at Trent University shared insights from The Bridge: Transfer Credit Expansion, an ONCAT-supported project designed to address persistent barriers faced by college-to-university transfer students. The project responds to documented gaps in retention, confidence and academic adjustment by introducing structured, credit-bearing transition supports tailored specifically to transfer students.

Through The Bridge, Trent focused on mitigating “transfer shock,” improving alignment between prior learning and university expectations and providing early, intentional academic and social integration for incoming transfer students. The initiative reflects a growing recognition that transfer pathways must extend beyond credit recognition to include sustained, learner-centred supports that promote equity and persistence.

What you will learn from this presentation:

• key transition challenges faced by college-to-university transfer students
• how the team at Trent converted research and student voice into a scalable, credit-bearing intervention
• how bridging supports can strengthen retention, confidence and academic readiness
• lessons learned from implementing structured transition programming for transfer students

View the recording of this Connect and Learn. You can also view the presentation deck below.