Trusteeship - November/December 2021 - 4

■NEWSIN BRIEF
Drastic Decline
in Transfer Students
New CDC Report Finds
Masks Lessen COVID-19
Spread on Campus
UNIVERSAL MASKING and fewer encounters
with individuals with COVID-19 reduces the spread
of COVID-19 on college campuses, according to
a new report by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC). On September 10, the CDC
published SARS-CoV-2 Transmission to Masked and
Unmasked Close Contacts of University Students with
COVID-19 - St. Louis, Missouri, January-May 2021.
The CDC partnered with St. Louis University (SLU),
a mid-size private university, to study the spread
of COVID-19 among roughly 12,000 students and
6,000 employees on campus during the spring 2021
semester. The report states 275 students tested
positive for COVID-19 who then in turn identified
378 close contacts. Researchers found that among
those close contacts, " 26 (7 percent) reported only
masked exposure, and 352 (93 percent) reported any
unmasked exposure " according to a CDC September
10 press release. The percentage of positive test
results " was substantially higher among contacts
with any unmasked exposure. "
The CDC believes " universities opening for
in-person instruction could consider taking mask use
into account. " The report concludes by recommending
universal masking in indoor spaces for everyone in
areas with substantial or high transmission rates
and masking indoors for unvaccinated individuals
regardless of transmission rates.
O
N AUGUST 13, the
National Student Clearinghouse
Research
Center (NSCRC) published COVID-19
Transfer, Mobility, and Progress: Academic
Year 2020-2021 Report. It is the
fifth in a series of reports aimed at
assessing the impact of the COVID19
pandemic on 2.1 million undergraduate
transfer students.
" Higher education lost about
191,500 transfer students,
nearly three times last
year's losses (-69,300), "
according to the final
report. Its key findings
focus on three
areas: upward transfers
moving from
two-year to four-year
institutions, persistence
post-transfer, and trends
at Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving
Institutions (HSIs).
Upward transfer patterns varied
along institutional selectivity as
well as race and ethnicity. In total,
upward transfers represent a small
portion of the total student enrollment
declines (11,900 total or -1.3
percent). Black and Native American
upward transfers declined (-6.1 percent
and -4.1 percent respectively)
and White upward transfer students
declined by 4.4 percent.
On the other hand, " Asian and
Latinx upward transfers grew (+5.9
percent and +1.4 percent respectively). "
While most colleges and
universities experienced pandemic-driven
losses regarding transfer
students, the report found highly
selective institutions increased their
total transfer enrollment (10.3 percent)
across all student groups.
NSCRC discovered subgroup
disparities within persistence
post-transfer data. At the beginning
of the pandemic, Native Americans
and Latinx students in community
colleges and Black
transfers into private
nonprofit four-year
institutions experienced
the largest
persistence rate
declines. Yet, as
the pandemic progressed,
researchers
found " almost equal levels
of persistence rate drops occurring
for most racial and ethnic groups in
public institutions. "
Lastly, COVID-19 Transfer, Mobility,
and Progress produced significant
data pertaining to HSI and HBCU
transfer students. The final report
stated HSIs lost approximately
70,400 students (-11.8 percent) while
HBCUs " remained largely unaffected. "
The post-transfer persistence
rates also declined at both types of
institutions, but HSIs made small
gains at the end of 2020. These patterns
align with national trends and
" declines in mobility at these institutions
were largely driven by men. "
4 TRUSTEESHIP NOV.DEC.2021
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Trusteeship - November/December 2021

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