This study examines college choice decisions of students admitted to the University of California (UC) and the relationship between these choices and degree attainment. It does so using a dataset that combines UC administrative data with National Student Clearinghouse data on enrollment and degree attainment. It first discusses how academic and socioeconomic background characteristics are associated with initial enrollment choice following freshman admission. It then looks at how this choice is associated with attainment of a bachelor’s degree within four and six years, controlling for a rich set of background characteristics.Given policy discussions, this study is particularly interested in the viability of the California Community College to 4-year institution transfer pathway as a route to a bachelor’s degree. A novel feature of this study is the use of application and admission to a selective 4-year institution (the University of California, UC) as signals of transfer intent and readiness. By exploring the enrollment choices and outcomes of UC applicants, this study offers relevance to policymakers allocating resources, to students deciding where to attend college, and to institutions. The state can direct funds either to enrollment in 4-year institutions from high school or to increase support for the transfer pathway. These choices can be shaped both by an examination of priorities in access (which students end up in which pathways), and/or of efficiency (which pathway has better outcomes). For students, a better understanding of possible outcomes may help in the college choice process. For institutions, understanding factors around student success can help to highlight inequities in outcomes and to direct resources toward those issues.

LGBTQ+ individuals face numerous challenges while attending college, including bullying and harassment, a curriculum that does not reflect their identity, and faculty or peers who do not use their correct pronouns or preferred names. Furthermore, LGBTQ+ students often face significant marginalization that leads to some of the highest suicide rates among any student population (Trevor Project, 2020; di Giacomo et al., 2018). This study is framed according to Vincent Tinto’s 1975 Model of Student Integration and 1993 Interactionalist Theory of College Student Departure infused with Rendon’s (1994) Validation Theory to explore more fully why these students persist and succeed given the experiences related to their identities. The 7 participants in this study are a diverse group with many facets in their student identity including: gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity/culture, and experiences associated with their identity. From this study, 5 themes emerged: 1) Importance of Faculty Interactions and Support; 2) Importance of Student Services; 3) Sense of Safety—Policing and Restrooms; 4) Validation by Using Proper Pronouns and Preferred Names, and 5) Supporting Trans Outness. The importance of faculty interactions was explored along the outness continuum. At the core of many of these students’ community college experiences was the concept of validation and a sense of belonging. Validating experiences contributed to a campus climate where the students felt safe and accepted to be open about their LGBTQ+ identity. LGBTQ+ California Community College students experience college differently from their non-LGBTQ+ or heterosexual and gender conforming peers attributable in some part to the heteronormativity that permeates our society.