How and why students transfer between higher education institutions and how it helps or hurts their attainment of credentials is currently a major focus of education research and policy.
Recent research on transfer has produced the following set of data points:
- According to a National Student Clearinghouse snapshot, two of five students who earned an associate degree in 2008-2009 had gone on to earn a bachelor’s degree six years later. For certificate holders, one in four students who earned a certificate in 2008-2009 earned an associate or bachelor’s degree six years later. (The analysis did not consider student intention, so it is quite possible that earning a higher credential was not a goal for all these students).
- Just over one-third of the first-time college students who enrolled in fall 2008 transferred at least once within six years, including 51 percent who moved from a four-year school to a community college. A number of these students transferring to community colleges are known as “summer swirlers” who move from a four-year institution to a two-year college for the summer term and then move back in the fall. In an article for Diverse, Michelle Asha Cooper of the Institute for Higher Education Policy suggested that community colleges fill needs for these students that their four-year institutions may not be fulfilling.
In addition, state policies on reverse transfer, which helps students who have transferred before accruing an associate degree to gain that credential, are described in a new ECS brief.