5 charts breaking down demographic trends in college transfer enrollment

Higher Ed Dive

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

March 16, 2023

The pandemic’s effects continue to scramble college enrollments — particularly on the transfer side. Between fall 2020 and 2022, transfer enrollments fell nearly 7%, according to the latest data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Some of the dropoff can be attributed to shrinking enrollment at community colleges. Four-year institutions are concerned with what’s known as upward transfers, a move to one of those campuses from a community college.

And upward transfers have experienced a steep decline since the onset of the pandemic, plunging 14.5%, translating to 78,500 fewer students.

Other types of transfers, like lateral moves between two- and four-year institutions, are rising, however.

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