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Bolstering transfer pathways to a 4-year degree can help fill the country's increasing need for innovative, diverse, skilled workers within engineering. Drawing on survey data from a sample comprised of a disproportionately large percentage of Hispanic/Latino students, this study focuses on understanding engineering transfer students' reasons for starting at a different institution. Financial/Affordability, Nonacademic Commitments, and Academic Flexibility were top reasons for starting at a different institution with multiple differences across subpopulations like Hispanic/Latino status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Transfer student capital (TSC) helps community college students realize the potential for the transfer pathway to serve as a lower-cost option to a bachelor's degree. However, students' accrual of TSC depends on the quality and quantity of information networks and infrastructure; information asymmetry in these networks can impede students' transfer progress. Methods: Using interview data from stakeholders who support engineering transfer students at one research university and two community college partners, we apply a methodology that combines qualitative coding techniques (i.e., descriptive, process, and evaluative coding) with network and pathway analyses to explore an information network for coursework transfer in engineering. Results: Our findings illustrate the disjointed and complex web of information sources that transfer students may use to accrue TSC. We highlight pathways fraught with information asymmetry as well as information sources and processes that give promise to students' ability to accrue TSC and successfully navigate transfer of coursework vertically. Conclusions: An abundance of information sources and paths does not equate to a better transfer system. Utilizing network analysis to visualize and evaluate information sources and processes provides an additional method for evaluating information systems for transfer. Consolidating information sources or improving processes linking information sources could improve inefficiencies in transfer students' transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]