For years, transfer student recruitment and enrollment has been pushed to the back burner, treated as a bonus to the entering class numbers for many four-year institutions. But as economic and demographic changes result in a smaller pool of first-year students, it will become increasingly important to refocus our efforts on transfer students—a segment largely untapped in the current recruitment paradigm.
Transfer student recruitment is, by its nature, an exercise in inclusive recruitment. Transfer students, especially those who began their college career at a two-year institution, are more likely to identify as first-generation students and are more likely than their peers at four-year colleges to come from a limited income background or identify as a student of color. Two-year institutions also serve a larger share of nontraditional students than their four-year counterparts. A focus on supporting transfer students and facilitating seamless pathways between two- and four-year institutions is a necessary component of any equity and social justice plan within an admission office.
While the two- to- four-year pathway is the traditional approach to transfer recruitment, it is vital to recognize the importance of the four-year to four-year opportunities, particularly considering the steady downward trend in community college enrollment nationally. To address increasing the transfer inquiry pool, we must acknowledge the recent changes to NACAC’s Code of Ethics and Professional Practices (CEPP). While the provision that prohibited poaching as a means of growing the inquiry pool has been removed from the CEPP, the following strategies can be used to grow transfer enrollments without utilizing this tactic.
Identify your target audience. Your admitted and enrolled transfer student profiles are a good starting point to identify the target audience that will become a reliable foundation for your inquiry pool. Identifying the students who choose to apply and enroll, while norming for ongoing recruitment and outreach initiatives, can provide valuable insights into what you are doing well. It also provides an opportunity to critically assess areas that need improvement, whether in your policies or practices. To expand your pool, study your National Student Clearinghouse data. You likely have former first-year inquiries and applicants who chose to enroll in two-year institutions. These campuses, particularly in secondary and tertiary markets, provide an opportunity to engage with an audience that has already developed institutional affinity and recognizes your brand, providing immediate momentum to grow your inquiry pool.
Allow students to easily opt into the transfer inquiry pool and easily reactivate their application. Opting out of the first-year pool should provide an opportunity to opt into the transfer pool, especially at the point of application withdrawal or declining an offer of first-year admission. This normalizes the transfer route and allows students to identify the path they intend to take.
Actively connect this population to the resources and opportunities available to them as a future transfer student. If your office has separate first-year and transfer recruitment staff, provide students who enter the transfer pool with a new point of contact and continue to send them transfer-specific messages. Develop a system of application reactivation for students who applied recently as either first-year or transfer students. Instead of asking students to formally defer their admission, allow them to simply reactivate their previous application/admission offer at any time within a year of that decision.
Create guided pathways. Provide wraparound support services to students that include both academic planning and transition support. This may take the form of structured bridge programs, articulation agreements, or simply robust student support by admission staff. In Colorado, where we work, institutions can sign on to a data-sharing and student support memorandum of understanding with the community college system. The initiative allows four-year colleges to build their inquiry pool while also ensuring students receive structured guidance and support from baccalaureate-granting institutions during their time in the community college system.
While signing on to a large, structured program like this may not be an option for your college, each institution can create clear academic, process-oriented, and student experience pathways for prospective transfer students. If possible, work with your college’s academic advisers to provide direct pre-transfer advising to prospective students. When students see a clear pathway to and through your institution, they become more likely to identify themselves as future students prior to submitting a transfer application.
Collect data at every turn. Though transfer students frequently enter the inquiry pool at the point of application, even with clear pathways, they often have previously spent time and energy indicating an interest in transferring. Simplifying the information request form on your website, adding a live chat feature to transfer admission webpages, or creating inquiry records when a student calls or emails to ask a question are easy ways to start collecting student data earlier in the process. Identify how your office’s customer relationship management (CRM) system can help detect a transfer student “raising their hand,” work with other departments to track additional indicators of student interest, and utilize that information in a meaningful and high-impact way.
Engage in collaborative partnerships. Transfer recruitment, like all recruitment, should be a shared responsibility. One of the most important relationships to cultivate in this partnership is the relationship between the admission staff assigned to support first-year applicants and those tasked with assisting transfer applicants. Identify students in the first-year recruitment or application review process who are highly engaged and have a desire to enroll in your institution, but want or need to take an indirect path to get there. And don’t stop at identifying these transfer inquiries—actively engage with them.
Continuously improve your policies and practices. A natural extension of growing your transfer inquiry pool is patching the cracks that inevitably develop within your enrollment process. If you have cultivated a strong pool of highly engaged and qualified inquiries, but have made the application unnecessarily cumbersome or are delaying course registration until after courses have reached capacity, the energy and resources you committed to the top of the funnel will fail to yield improved returns.
Once a transfer applicant is in your pool, demonstrate your commitment to that student by quickly connecting them to the resources and opportunities they seek. This includes meaningful financial aid, expeditious credit evaluation, and clear information outlining their path to degree completion. A strategic, thoughtful, and student-centered approach to building your transfer inquiry pool is only the beginning of your journey to increased enrollment.
NACAC members Josh Gabrielson, associate director of admissions at Metropolitan State University of Denver (CO); Jack Kroll, associate director at the University of Colorado-Boulder; and Brittany Pearce, associate director for transfer initiatives at Colorado State University, work with transfer students at their respective institutions.