College Transfer Enrollment Grew for Third Straight Year

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2025

College Transfer Enrollment Grew for Third Straight Year

Total Transfer Enrollment Is Now 7.9% Greater than in the Fall of 2020

HERNDON, VA – (March 5, 2025) – College transfer enrollment—that is, the number of students transferring into a new institution—grew by 4.4% (+50,600) in the fall of 2024, according to the new “Transfer Enrollment and Pathways” report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. In comparison, non-transfer enrollment — the number of undergraduate students who re-enrolled at the same institution this fall— increased by 2.6% (+204,200) over the prior year.

Transfer enrollment is ahead of fall 2020 levels by 7.9%, while non-transfer enrollment is still 3.5% below fall 2020 levels. As a result, transferring students made up about 13% of non-freshmen undergraduates in fall 2024, a share that is over one percentage point greater than in fall 2020.

“The growth in transfers this fall is a further indication that students are adjusting postsecondary goals in response to changing education and labor market conditions,” said Doug Shapiro, Executive Director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. “That’s good news, especially for those who are able to return from stopouts by finding colleges that better meet their needs.”

This report describes undergraduate students’ transfer enrollment and pathways. How many students transferred, where they transferred to and from, and transfer student demographics are reported for about 11 million students in a five-year fixed panel of institutions (fall 2020 to fall 2024), representing about 83% of institutions that participate in the Clearinghouse. New this year is an interactive data deep-dive figure allowing users to explore trends filtered on multiple parameters over five years.

Highlights of this report:

Community College Transfer Enrollment: Across institution sectors, transfer enrollment has increased the most at community colleges since fall 2020 (+46,500, +13.5%). While more students are transferring into community colleges, total community college enrollment still has not recovered from pandemic declines (-52,300, -1.5% from fall 2020).

Continuing Transfer Students: The fall of 2024 saw the second straight year of enrollment growth for continuing transfer students—those who were enrolled at a different institution in the spring or summer term immediately prior—and the largest one-year growth in continuing transfer enrollment since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Returning Transfer Students: Over the period covered in this report, returning transfer students became the majority of transfer students (52.0% in fall 2024 vs. 49.3% in fall 2020). This is due to higher growth rates for students transferring after returning from a stopout since fall 2022. Returning transfer students in any fall term are those who experienced a stopout of at least one semester and whose most recent prior enrollment was at a different institution.

Transfer Pathways: In the fall of 2024, nearly 500,000 students moved from a two-year to a four-year institution, a number that is now comparable to 2020 numbers (-2,300, -0.5%). However, its share of all transfer students declined 3.5 percentage points from fall 2020 to fall 2024. This was due to larger declines in two-to-four-year transfers at the start of the pandemic and a recovery that only started in fall 2023.

The Transfer Enrollment and Pathways report replaces the Transfer and Progress report series. It includes a revised methodology to identify freshmen more accurately and consistently. This corrects the methodological error that the Research Center previously identified with the Stay Informed report series that also affected continuing and returning transfer rates in the Transfer and Progress series. This initial Transfer Enrollment and Pathways release applies the updated methodology across all years previously reported in the Transfer and Progress series.

For the complete Transfer Enrollment and Pathways report, visit https://nscresearchcenter.org/transfer-enrollment-and-pathways/.

About the National Student Clearinghouse^® Research Center™

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the research arm of the National Student Clearinghouse. The Research Center collaborates with higher education institutions, states, school districts, high schools, and educational organizations as part of a national effort to better inform education leaders and policymakers. Through accurate longitudinal data outcomes reporting, the Research Center enables better educational policy decisions leading to improved student outcomes. To learn more, visit nscresearchcenter.org.

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National Student Clearinghouse Announces Daniel Hae-Dong Lee as President and Chief Executive Officer

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2025

National Student Clearinghouse Announces Daniel Hae-Dong Lee as President and Chief Executive Officer

Lee joins Clearinghouse on February 3

HERNDON, VA – (February 3, 2025) – The National Student Clearinghouse today announced that Dr. Daniel Hae-Dong Lee has been named the organization’s new President and Chief Executive Officer. Lee starts in the role on February 3, 2025.

Lee is a seasoned leader with over 25 years of experience in management consulting, corporate leadership, and the education technology sector. He joins the Clearinghouse after serving as Senior Vice President of Business Operations and Transformation at Smithbucklin, an association management and professional services company. Previously, Lee served as Vice President of Business Strategy and Operations at Ellucian, a private equity-backed EdTech company specializing in the higher education sector. At Ellucian, he helped drive cloud acceleration and modernization for higher education institutions. Lee also held management roles at McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Accenture, and served as interim CIO/COO at the Common Application. He also served on Common App’s board of directors as the chair of the audit and finance committees. Today, Lee serves on the board of trustees for Scholarship America, the nation’s largest nonprofit, private scholarship organization.

“On behalf of the entire Board, I am thrilled to welcome Lee to the National Student Clearinghouse,” said Board Chair Dr. Debra Chromy. “Lee is a skilled leader who believes in the transformative power of education and is excited to build upon the Clearinghouse’s critical role in supporting student success. Lee’s leadership will be instrumental in driving innovation to meet the needs of our nation’s learners, building value for our customers, and expanding our services.”

As CEO of the Clearinghouse, Lee takes the reins of an organization that serves nearly 3,600 higher education institutions, nearly 25,000 K-12 schools, and 43 states with verification, data exchange, learner insights, and compliance services. The organization also provides education data insights through the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

“I have long admired the Clearinghouse’s mission to support learners and workforce communities with trusted data and insights,” Lee shared. “I believe the Clearinghouse has a pivotal role to play in changing higher education environments and skills-based learning. I am truly honored to have the opportunity to work with all stakeholders and excited about enabling students, educators, and business leaders with reliable services and actionable insights.”

Lee takes over leadership of the Clearinghouse from Rick Torres, who, as announced in August, is retiring after nearly two decades as CEO. Torres oversaw the remarkable expansion of the organization, which now processes more than 12 billion transactions annually and 11 billion research records, saving the education community hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

“Torres has shown unwavering support for the Clearinghouse’s mission in transforming the education and workforce communities with trusted data,” said Dr. Debra Chromy, Chair of the Board of Directors. “Under Torres’s leadership, the Clearinghouse has become a backbone of the higher education community — helping nearly every college and university support learner success.”

Lee holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia, an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas at Austin. His broad experience across operations, strategy, and digital transformation, combined with his deep commitment to education, positions him as a forward-thinking leader capable of driving change and innovation in education and beyond.

About the National Student Clearinghouse^®

The National Student Clearinghouse, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed in 1993, is the trusted source for and the leading provider of higher education verifications and electronic education record exchanges. Besides working with nearly 3,600 postsecondary institutions in meeting their compliance needs, the Clearinghouse also provides thousands of high schools and districts with continuing collegiate enrollment, progression, and completion statistics on their alumni. For more details, visit  studentclearinghouse.org.

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Fall Postsecondary Enrollment Grows 4.5%, Rebounds Above Pre-Covid Levels

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Fall Postsecondary Enrollment Grows 4.5%, Rebounds Above Pre-Covid Levels

Undergraduate Enrollment Up Nearly 5%, Slightly Below 2019 Levels; Freshman Enrollment Up 5.5%

HERNDON, VA – (JANUARY 23, 2025) – This past fall, total postsecondary enrollment rebounded above pre-Covid levels, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Freshman enrollment grew 5.5 percent this fall (130,000), particularly at community colleges, which added 63,000 freshmen (+7.1%).

“It is encouraging to see the total number of postsecondary students rising above the pre-pandemic level for the first time this fall,” said Doug Shapiro, Executive Director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. “It is also promising that freshman enrollment increased this fall — the growth is driven by older first-year students, as 18-year-olds are still below their 2019 numbers.”

Shapiro released a statement last week announcing that the preliminary freshman enrollment research released by the Research Center in October contained a methodological error. You can read that statement here.

The Current Term Enrollment Estimates (CTEE) report showed that total postsecondary enrollment is up 4.5% this fall (+817,000); undergraduate enrollment neared 16 million, just 1.0% below 2019 levels (+4.7%, +716,000 this fall), and graduate enrollment grew to 3.2 million (+3.3%, +100,000).

Additional highlights of the report include:

Undergraduate enrollment increased across sectors with community colleges (public 2-year and public PABs combined) in particular, seeing a 5.9% increase, or 325,000 additional students.
Undergraduate certificate program enrollment grew for the fourth consecutive year, up 9.9% in fall 2024 (+101,000) and enrollments are now 28.5% above 2019 levels. Enrollment in bachelor’s and associate degree programs also increased (+2.9% and +6.3%, respectively) but remain below 2019 levels.
Freshman enrollment grew 5.5 percent this fall (+130,000). Building on last fall’s increases, the growth was strongest at community colleges, which added 63,000 freshmen (+7.1%). Overall, 18-year-old freshmen also saw enrollment gains this fall (+3.4%, +59,000).
Public 2-year institutions with high vocational program focus saw double-digit growth for the second year in a row (+13.6%). These schools now encompass 19.5% of public 2-year enrollment, up from 15.3% in 2019.
Enrollment increased across all regions this fall. Institutions in the Northeast saw a 4.7% increase, the first gains since prior to the pandemic. The South (+4.7%) and West (+4.6%) saw similar gains, followed by the Midwest (+3.1%).

The Current Term Enrollment Estimates (CTEE) series is published every January and May. It provides national enrollment estimates by credential type, institutional sector, enrollment intensity, age group, gender, major field as well as state-level enrollment estimates. For the complete CTEE Fall 2025 report, visit https://nscresearchcenter.org/current-term-enrollment-estimates/.

About the National Student Clearinghouse^® Research Center™

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the research arm of the National Student Clearinghouse. The Research Center collaborates with higher education institutions, states, school districts, high schools, and educational organizations as part of a national effort to better inform education leaders and policymakers. Through accurate longitudinal data outcomes reporting, the Research Center enables better educational policy decisions leading to improved student outcomes. To learn more, visit nscresearchcenter.org.

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National Student Clearinghouse Research Center Finds a Methodological Error Affecting Preliminary Fall 2024 Higher Education Enrollment Reports

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2025

National Student Clearinghouse Research Center Finds a Methodological Error Affecting Preliminary Fall 2024 Higher Education Enrollment Reports

Subsequent Research Finds Freshman Enrollment Increased This Fall

HERNDON, VA – (JANUARY 13, 2025) – The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center today released a statement from Executive Director Doug Shapiro about an error affecting the freshman enrollment data in its October preliminary fall enrollment report:

“The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center has identified a methodological error affecting its calculation of freshman enrollment in the preliminary enrollment report released in October 2024. That report, called the Stay Informed Report, is based on data provided by 50 percent of higher education institutions. The error in research methodology caused the mislabeling of certain students as dual-enrolled rather than as freshmen and, as a result, the number of freshmen was undercounted, and the number of dual-enrolled was overcounted. The error also affected the Special Analysis of 18-year-old Freshmen report released in November.”

“Our subsequent research finds freshman enrollment increased this fall. The Research Center will release its Current Term Enrollment Estimates report on January 23 – this report is not based on preliminary data, encompasses nearly all institutions of higher education, and uses different methodologies to determine freshman enrollees.”

“The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center acknowledges the importance and significance of its role in providing accurate and reliable research to the higher education community. We deeply regret this error and are conducting a thorough review to understand the root cause and implement measures to prevent such occurrences in the future.”

The Research Center created the Stay Informed report in the summer of 2020 to provide early and real-time enrollment information to meet the acute information needs of the higher education community at the height of the COVID pandemic. The Research Center has continued to produce final and complete reporting on enrollment each winter in its Current Term Enrollment Estimates, released every January.

About the National Student Clearinghouse^® Research Center™

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the research arm of the National Student Clearinghouse. The Research Center collaborates with higher education institutions, states, school districts, high schools, and educational organizations as part of a national effort to better inform education leaders and policymakers. Through accurate longitudinal data outcomes reporting, the Research Center enables better educational policy decisions leading to improved student outcomes. To learn more, visit nscresearchcenter.org.

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