Short-Term Reward, Long-Term Harm: How Current Transfer Practices Hurt Learners and Institutions
Learn how to build better incentives and structures that support transfer and remove barriers for today’s learners.
Most colleges and universities aim to put students first, but many have baked-in financial disincentives that work against transfer and credit mobility. In a recent national poll of adult Americans by Public Agenda and Sova, 4 in 10 respondents report attempting to transfer credit. Of these, 16% abandoned their postsecondary plans because the process of transferring credit was too difficult.
While restrictive and rejective credit transfer policies may produce short-term financial returns for institutions, they hurt learners at scale and harm institutional bottom lines and reputations in the long run.
Join the first of a two-part webcast series on shifting away from a mindset against credit mobility toward one that supports credit applicability—and success for all learners.
Register for part two of this two-part webcast series, on Wednesday, May 28, at 2 p.m. E.T. See how adopting a credit applicability mindset—versus the more traditional, credit-rejective approach—makes sense not only from a student success perspective but also a financial one.
Additional resources:
- “Beyond Transfer: Insights from a Survey of American Adults” | Examines how adult Americans navigate credit transfer in higher ed and its related policies (Public Agenda Report)
- "New Public Agenda Survey Finds Broad Support to Improve Credit Transfer for Colleges & Universities” | Provides a synthesis of the survey and key findings (Public Agenda Press Release)
- “Unpacking Financial Disincentives: Why and How they Stymie Degree-Applicable Credit Mobility and Equitable Transfer Outcomes” | Focuses on the financial disincentives that impede transfer and credit mobility (Beyond Transfer White Paper)
- “Unpacking Financial Disincentives and Driving Beyond the Short-Term Reward Mind-Set” | Brief summary of the white paper (Inside Higher Ed Blog Post)
- “Affordability Disconnects: Understanding Student Affordability in the Transfer and Credit Mobility Era” | Outlines a set of “affordability disconnects”—clear drivers that increase time to credential and price for students (Beyond Transfer White Paper)
- "Raising the Bar: Leveraging Accreditation and Its Influence on Transfer and Credit Mobility" | Learn about Beyond Transfer's work to understand the role of accreditation in promoting credit transfer (Beyond Transfer White Paper)
- Read Inside Higher Ed pieces by panelist Lexa Logue
- Share your ideas with the Beyond Transfer Policy Advisory Board via a short survey
