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Community-college transfer rates in Iowa

Community colleges in Iowa ranked by reported transfer rate — the share of full-time first-time entrants who continued at another institution within 150% of program length. For students using community college as a stepping stone toward a bachelor's degree, this is the single most predictive comparison metric.

  1. Ellsworth Community CollegeIowa Falls, IA29%
  2. Southwestern Community CollegeCreston, IA16%
  3. Eastern Iowa Community College DistrictDavenport, IA15%
  4. Iowa Lakes Community CollegeEstherville, IA14%
  5. Hawkeye Community CollegeWaterloo, IA13%
  6. North Iowa Area Community CollegeMason City, IA13%
  7. Indian Hills Community CollegeOttumwa, IA11%
  8. Kirkwood Community CollegeCedar Rapids, IA8%
  9. Northeast Iowa Community CollegeCalmar, IA7%

How transfer rates are calculated

The transfer rate reported by the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard is the share of full-time first-time degree-seeking students at a two-year institution who transferred to another postsecondary institution within 150% of the normal time to program completion. It does not distinguish between transfers to four-year institutions and transfers to other two-year colleges, and it does not measure whether the receiving institution accepted the credits. Treat the figure as a directional indicator of how often students leave the community college for further postsecondary work, not as a precise measure of bachelor's-degree pipeline strength.

For a complete transfer assessment of any Iowa community college on this list, ask three follow-up questions of the institution directly: (1) Which four-year institutions does the college maintain articulation agreements with, and on what fields of study? (2) For students who transferred to a public Iowa four-year university last year, what share of community-college credits were accepted on a course-for-course basis? (3) Does the institution participate in any statewide Iowa transfer guarantee or reverse-transfer program? Strong answers to all three questions matter more than the headline transfer rate.

If you are intending to transfer outside Iowa, you should also confirm that the receiving institution will accept the community college's regional accreditation. The accreditor for each college is listed on its full profile.