Navigating Transfer Through Networks: How Community College Students Seek Support From Social Ties Throughout the Transfer Process

Student networks play important roles in navigating vertical transfer. This article takes a qualitative approach to ego-network analysis to explore how transfer-intending community college students leverage networks during the transfer process. We use longitudinal data to analyze both the composition of student networks over time and the types of support students seek from network actors to achieve their transfer goals. We found that the size and composition of student networks changed over time, depending on where the students were in the transfer process, and that their perceptions of trust and expertise further influenced to whom they turned for support, and for which types of support they sought. Our findings have implications for practitioners who work to strengthen transfer student support, both pre-and post-transfer services.