A comparative study of perceived barriers for college transfer students in a university center off-campus teacher education program and a university on-campus teacher education program

The objective of this study was to identify the perceived personal and institutional barriers encountered by students transferring to a university from other postsecondary institutions, predominantly community colleges. Specifically, the study examined perceptions of barriers of two different groups of transfer students: (a) those students who attended the junior and senior years of a teacher education program at a university center where the university offered the upper division course work on a community college campus, known as WPE off-campus students in this study; and (b) those students who attended the junior and senior years of a teacher education program on a university's main campus, known as on-campus students in this study.; Survey research methodology, descriptive statistics, and nonparametric statistical analyses were used to collect and analyze the data in this study. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from participants. The quantitative data were analyzed utilizing chi-square tests which were used to determine the number of responses that fell in two or more categories and to explore the relationship between the categorical variables. The survey instrument, known as the Transfer Student Survey (TSS), was developed by the researcher.; From the findings of this study, there were significant differences in the personal characteristics of the WPE off-campus students and the on-campus students enrolled the upper division course work of a baccalaureate program. Also, based on the data analyzed in this study, there were significant differences in the perceived personal and institutional barriers prior to transferring to a university between the WPE off-campus students and the on-campus students enrolled in the upper division course work of a baccalaureate program. In addition, there were significant differences found to exist in perceived personal and institutional barriers that had been eliminated or partially eliminated after transferring to the university between the WPE off-campus students and the on-campus students enrolled in the upper division course work.