The Virginia Tech Network for Engineering Transfer Students (VT-NETS)

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The Virginia Tech Network for Engineering Transfer Students (VT-NETS) is a collaborative effort between Virginia Tech, Virginia Western Community College, and Northern Virginia Community College. This S-STEM project will establish stronger networks between Virginia Tech and the Virginia Community College System to increase the success of engineering transfer students following the community college-to-bachelor's degree pathway. The total number of scholarships awarded across all three institutions is 336 over five years. Community colleges are cost-effective gateways to four-year universities for academically talented, low-income students. The creation of a strong partnership, including early and frequent interaction between the student and the four-year institution, will enhance the potential for successful student transfer and timely completion of a baccalaureate degree. VT-NETS creates this partnership and serves as a research-based model for future collaboration between community colleges and four-year institutions.The goal of this project is to design, implement, and empirically test curricular and co-curricular activities that support the transfer of students following the community college-to-bachelor's degree pathway to an engineering degree. Aligned with the mission of the NSF S-STEM program, the research team will use an embedded case study approach organized around the transfer student capital framework to advance understanding of how various factors affect the success, retention, transfer, and graduation in engineering for low-income students. The results of this project will help educators develop new interventions and fine-tune current efforts (e.g., making them more sustainable, efficient, and effective) to add value to existing strategies. Such integration with current student support practices will more broadly increase the success of transfer students in engineering nationwide. VT-NETS will illuminate and prioritize the human, financial, and physical resources dedicated towards these efforts and will enhance the infrastructure at the partner institutions for supporting all transfer students in engineering.