College Transfer Enrollment Grew by 5.3% in the Fall of 2023

Transfer enrollment, which represents 13.2% of non-freshman undergraduates, grew 5.3% in fall 2023 compared to the previous year, according to the most recent Transfer and Progress report. Upward transfers drove the increase, with students who transferred from two-year to four-year institutions increasing by 7.7%, while lateral transfers grew by 4.3%. 

“Students are on the move again, and this is good news,” said Doug Shapiro, Executive Director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. “More community college students entering bachelor’s programs this fall means greater access to four-year degrees, especially for those from lower-income backgrounds.”

The Research Center’s Transfer and Progress report provides data on undergraduate transfer enrollment and pathways and the mobility and progress of pandemic-impacted community college starters. The report describes the enrollment, demographic characteristics, and transfer behaviors of 11.7 million undergraduate students in fall 2023 from a three-year fixed panel of institutions that consistently reported data from fall 2021 to 2023. Highlights include:

• Disadvantaged students, including those from lower-income backgrounds, Black and Hispanic groups, and from rural community colleges, saw larger increases in transfer enrollment.
• Returning students are increasingly attending a different institution from where they last enrolled (51.2% of returning students are transfers this year, up from 44.4% in 2021). The most frequent destinations for these students were community colleges (+6.0%), primarily online institutions (+12.6%), and private for-profit four-year institutions (+20.7%).
• Upward transfers increased the most at very competitive and highly selective institutions (+13.1% and +7.8%, respectively). Lateral four-year transfers made the largest gains among less selective institutions (+10.8%).

For the complete Transfer and Progress report, including change of majors and breakdown by state, and a deeper dive into annual transfer-out rates and six-year outcomes for community college entering cohorts over time, visit nscresearchcenter.org/transfer-and-progress. 

“Students are on the move again, and this is good news. More community college students entering bachelor’s programs this fall means greater access to four-year degrees, especially for those from lower-income backgrounds.”

Doug Shapiro
Executive Director, National Student Clearinghouse Research Center

Additional Resources:

• Read the Fall 2023 Transfer and Progress Report

• Visit the Clearinghouse’s Research Center