A study released earlier this week by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center titled "Transfer and Mobility: A National View of Pre-Degree Student Movement in Postsecondary Institutions" reported increased transfer rates within institutions of higher education.
The report, which was published in partnership with Indiana University's Project on Academic Success, examined the transfer patterns of more than 2.8 million full- and part-time students from 2006 to 2011.
Curry School Associate Prof. Heather Wathington said students transfer because of the costs of attending particular institutions, changes in fields of study, or the geographic proximity of colleges to their homes.
"Some of these issues are not readily solved," Wathington said in an email. She also highlighted other problems such as an institution's lack of classes for certain majors, which can be moderated by pairing with other institutions to increase course offerings.
University spokesperson Marian Anderfuren said the University has been steadily accepting more transfer students while simultaneously increasing first-year enrollment. She said the University received 624 new transfer students during the 2011-2012 academic year, and 3,434 new first-year students. The University's high transfer rates can be connected to the state's policy which supports in-state transfers who are moving from community colleges to four-year institutions, she added.
"Our undergraduate student body is made up of approximately 15 percent students who transferred in," Anderfuren said. "About half of the transfers came from the Virginia Community College System, [as] U.Va. offers guaranteed transfer from the state's community colleges for students who meet certain requirements."
Donald Hossler, the Center's executive director, said in an email that institutions of higher learning should develop policies which accommodate student mobility.
"I think [the] real task for public and institutional policy makers [is] to craft policies that support student mobility and transfer in a way that fits students needs," Hossler said in the email. "Many states have enacted transfer and matriculation policies for transfers between two and four year schools predicated on the assumption that students do not transfer until they earn their [associate's] degrees"
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