Clearinghouse Celebrates National School Counseling Week
Transfer enrollment is making a comeback, surpassing 2020 figures. The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s fall 2024 Transfer Enrollment and Pathways report reveals that transfer enrollment, which comprises 13% of non-freshmen undergraduates, grew for the third straight year.
The ability to transfer between institutions provides students with greater flexibility in their postsecondary educational pathways. The Transfer Enrollment and Pathways report, which replaces the previous Transfer and Progress report series, finds that college transfer enrollment is now 7.9% greater than in the fall of 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.”
Nearly 500,000 students transferred from a two-year to a four-year institution this past fall, a number that is now comparable to fall 2020 (-2,300, -0.5%). Although this remains the most common pathway for transfer students, the share of all transfer students that move from a two-year to a four-year institution declined 3.5 percentage points from fall 2020 to fall 2024.
Additional report highlights include:
Community College Transfer Enrollment: This past fall, 390,000 students transferred into a community college, an increase of 13.5% from the fall of 2020. However, 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.
View the complete Transfer Enrollment and Pathways report.
"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. That’s good news, especially for those who are able to return from stopouts by finding colleges that better meet their needs."
Doug Shapiro
Executive Director, National Student Clearinghouse Research Center
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Clearinghouse Celebrates National School Counseling Week
School counselors are invaluable in guiding students through their academic journey and helping them navigate crucial secondary education choices. In recognition of their dedication during National School Counseling Week, the National Student Clearinghouse highlights some powerful tools that can provide counselors with actionable insights. Leveraging these resources can help counselors unlock student potential.
DiplomaVerify: Alleviating Administrative Burdens
Verifying diplomas for graduates seeking employment can take valuable time out of a busy counselor’s day. DiplomaVerify uses data that schools, districts, or consortiums already submit to the Clearinghouse to give employers 24/7 access to diploma verifications, eliminating this burden from school counselors who handle verifications. DiplomaVerify is free to schools that use StudentTracker and their students.
StudentTracker for High Schools: Measuring Student Success
StudentTracker provides academic leaders, including counselors, insights into their high school graduates’ college success. This comprehensive tool tracks U.S. postsecondary students across diverse institutions, offering data-driven insights into enrollment, persistence, and graduation rates that can be used to evaluate college preparation efforts.
The High School Benchmarks Report: Assessing School Performance
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s High School Benchmarks Report goes even deeper, providing counselors with a focused evaluation of postsecondary outcomes for specific student populations. Through an interactive dashboard, the report breaks down college enrollment data by various factors, such as the type of institution (2-year vs. 4-year, public vs. private), the location of the college (in-state vs. out-of-state), and enrollment timing (immediate or delayed entry), and high school characteristics (including poverty levels, income levels, minority levels, and urbanicity). High school administrators can use these insights to help them develop and provide targeted guidance.
By leveraging the Clearinghouse’s resources, school counselors can make informed choices that lead to better opportunities and brighter futures for their students. The Clearinghouse is proud to support and recognize school counselors during National School Counseling Week and throughout the year.
