The renewed emphasis on the community college transfer function has both positive and negative aspects. On one hand, the creation of articulation agreements, transfer centers, consortia, and national centers promises to reduce the barriers between two- and four-year colleges, enhance the mobility of minority students, and improve teaching and learning. On the other hand, raising the academic emphasis of the community college above all other purposes might weaken the comprehensive nature of these institutions and still fail to improve transfer rates. The decline in transfer rates is due to a host of causes, many of which not effectively addressed by articulation agreements or transfer centers. These factors include the rise of vocational programs relative to academic programs, nontraditional attendance patterns, declining achievement in high school, and declining federal financial aid. Efforts to enhance the transfer function should promote the other purposes of the comprehensive community college as well, including: (1) providing low-cost/low-risk options for "experimenters" and "undecided" students; (2) integrating academic and vocational education; (3) making developmental education more effective; and (4) minimizing the tracking of "low-ability" students into vocational programs and otherwise preserving educational equity. Community colleges will improve transfer rates and the college as a whole by focusing on: initial student assessment and counseling, remediation centers linked to both academic and vocational programs, coherent sequences of courses, the gathering of comprehensive information on student progress and follow-up statistics, improved instruction, placement and transfer centers, increased student financial aid, and better preparation of high school students for college-level work. (GFW)