Overall, the intent of the MATRIX program was to improve the performance, retention, and graduaon rate for financially disadvantaged transfer (TR) students in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at UAH. One avenue was through financial support, available to MATRIX students for up to three consecuve years (fall/spring only). Another avenue was through community building, peer networks, undergraduate research, and professional development. The program began in January 2018 and end December 2023, with the first cohort of students starting in Fall 2018 semester.

A total of 28 students have matriculated through the program. The students all entered UAH at different stages in their education, from having only a handful of transfer classes, to over 60 credits. All had at least 2 years remaining in their engineeing degree. Of the 28 students, 12 idenfied their gender as female, 3 idenfied as Asian and the remaing as White. 22 students reported previously attending in a community or two-year college.

In total, 13 student graduated with a degree in mechanical or aerospace engineering, with one more on track to graduate by May 2024. 14 students left the program for various reasons including change in major, change in school, insufficient GPA (even after a prohbationary period), end of elligiblity (more than 3 years), lack of finanical need, or did not return to school. Four of 13 graduates idenfied as female.

One of the goals of the program was to improve the performance of TR students. In a comparison of average GPAs, it was found that the graduating MATRIX students had higher GPA than other TR students, and just slightly less than traditional first-time full-time students.

A second major goal was to provide the students hands-on experience via undergraduate research as this was believed to improve their ability to secure internships and jobs. 14 of the students participated in some amount of undergraduate research with faculty either as a volunteer or paid part-time. Those who did not participate generally indicated they did not have the available time to participate due to classwork and other obligations. The participating students were able to present their work at various local and national meetings and conferences.

At the conclusion of the program, it is difficult to draw definative conclusions based on the small sample size. A few key takeaways are:

1) Awareness of student support services such as tutors is insufficient to get students to use them.

2) TR students are very difficult to categorize as they have very different academic and life situations. As such, each students requires individual plans and assistance unique to their situation.

3) Student with other life obligations and hurdles such as family, a part time job, or living an hour away are less likley to participate in non-required activities, and will attend classes less often. The original requirement for full-time class registration hurt these students as they could only do so much and thus ended up spreading their effort too thin across too many classes.

4) Money is an issue for these non-traditional TR student. Not in the sense of tuition, but in the sense of paying bills and buying food. An interest free loan would serve them much better than a tuition scholarship. For these students, tuition is not real money, but a number to deal with later. Real money is what pays rent and gas.

Transfer students make up a significant portion of the student population, and it is growing. Thus, finding impactful ways to help these stuents who are difficult to lump into neat cohorts or categories, and thus are not scored by publications such as US News & World, is going to be vitally important for the future growth of the country.

Last Modified: 02/12/2024
Modified by: Kunning G Xu