NACAC - Spring 2020 - 53

INCREASING THE TRANSFER
INQUIRY POOL
Three admission leaders share best practices
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 fouryear 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.

SPRING 2020

53
NACAC - Spring 2020

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