The transfer student population is on the rise. And the biggest group of transfer students are those that previously stopped out, according to the Transfer Enrollment and Pathways report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Transfers represented 13.1% of all continuing and returning undergraduates, up from 11.9% in fall 2020. A deeper dive into the data reveals that 52% of students that transferred to a new institution were returning from a stopout.
“The traditional, linear path to a degree is no longer the only dominant narrative,” said Matt Holsapple, the Senior Director of Research at the Clearinghouse. “We’re witnessing a significant shift towards more flexible, non-traditional pathways, with adult learners returning after a break driving much of this growth.”
Similarly, a majority of students returning to higher education after a stopout choose to transfer institutions. In fact, the report found that in fall 2024, 56% of returning students transferred institutions when they resumed their academic pursuits. Holsapple shared that this evolution in student pathways demands that institutions rethink their support systems and adapt to the diverse needs of today’s student population.
A separate report, Some College, No Credential (SCNC), released in June 2024, found that as of July 2022, the population of postsecondary students under 65 that had stopped out stood at more than 36.8 million. The SCNC report series seeks to understand the educational trajectories of the tens of millions of U.S. adults who left postsecondary education without receiving a postsecondary credential, and what happens when they return to postsecondary education. That report found that among the 36.8 million who stopped out, over 943,000 re-enrolled in the 2022-23 academic year. A re-enrollment increase of 9.1% compared to the number of re-enrollees in the 2021-22 academic year.
You can learn more about student transfer trends in the Transfer Enrollment and Pathways report, which allows users to explore trends on multiple parameters over five years.
