The National Student Clearinghouse has published their August 2021 update on transfer students. With COVID-19’s resurgence in late 2020 and the disproportionate economic and health impacts that the pandemic has had on marginalized communities in the United States, traditional transfer options became increasingly difficult for students. Overall, student transfers declined across all institution types, and notably among Black and Latinx students. Among the findings:
- During the 2020-21 academic year, all sectors of higher education experienced a loss in transfer students. Cumulatively, they lost approximately 191,500 transfer students, nearly three times the loss of the prior year (-69,300).
- During the beginning of the pandemic, only highly competitive colleges expanded their upward transfer enrollment with an increase of 10.3% across all student groups irrespective of gender, race and ethnicity.
- Women made notable gains in upward transfer enrollment this spring (3.3%) compared to their male counterparts who continued a path of decline (-2.9%) from the previous academic year.
- Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) had substantial transfer student losses this year (-70,400 students, -11.8%), while Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) remained largely unaffected. Declines in mobility at these institutions were largely driven by men.
- Students that moved from two-year to four-year colleges only lost 1.3% of their transfer students.
