ERIC Number: ED672429
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar-18
Pages: 98
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Switching Schools: Effects of College Transfers. EdWorkingPaper No. 25-1159
Lois Miller
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Over one-third of college students in the United States transfer between institutions, yet little is known about how transferring affects students' educational and labor market outcomes. Using administrative data from Texas and a regression discontinuity design, I study the effects of a student's transferring to a four-year college from either a two-year or four-year college. To do so, I leverage applications and admissions data to uncover unpublished GPA cutoffs used for transfer student admissions at each institution and then use these cutoffs as an instrument for transfer. In contrast to past work focused on first-time-in-college students, I do not find positive earnings returns for academically marginal students who transfer from two-year colleges to four-year colleges or from less-resourced four-year colleges to flagship colleges, and show suggestive evidence of negative returns. The mechanisms include transfer students' substitution out of high-paying majors into lower-paying majors, reduced employment and labor market experience, decreases in academic performance relative to college peers, and potential loss of support networks. [Additional funding provided by the Dorothy Rice Dissertation Fellowship and the Mary Claire Ashenbrenner Phipps Dissertator Fellowship.]
Descriptors: College Transfer Students, Outcomes of Education, Education Work Relationship, Majors (Students), Employment Level, Work Experience, Social Support Groups, Income
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Brown University Box 1985, Providence, RI 02912. Tel: 401-863-7990; Fax: 401-863-1290; e-mail: annenberg@brown.edu; Web site: https://annenberg.brown.edu/
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Spencer Foundation; Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF); University of South Carolina
Authoring Institution: Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Identifiers - Location: Texas
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A