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.

###