Transferability of 

Postsecondary Credit Following 

Student Transfer or Coenrollment 

Statistical Analysis Report

NCES 2014-163 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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Transferability of 

Postsecondary Credit Following 

Student Transfer or Coenrollment

Statistical Analysis Report 

AUGUST 2014 

Sean Anthony Simone

National Center for Education Statistics

NCES 2014-163

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
U.S. Department of Education

Arne Duncan

Secretary

Institute of Education Sciences

John Q. Easton

Director

National Center for Education Statistics

John Q. Easton

Acting Commissioner

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Suggested Citation

Simone, S.A. (2014). Transferability of Postsecondary Credit Following Student Transfer or Coenrollment (NCES 2014-163).

U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved [date] from 

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch. 

Content Contact

National Center for Education Statistics

NCES.Info@ed.gov

(800) 677-6987
 

iii

Executive Summary

The purpose of this report is to examine how often, and under what conditions, 

postsecondary institutions accept the transfer of credits earned by students at other 

institutions. It addresses the following questions: 

• How often do members of a cohort of beginning college students transfer or 

coenroll1 between postsecondary education institutions during their 

undergraduate years? 

• How often, and in what amounts, do credits transfer when students move 

from one institution to another? 

• What characteristics of institutions (i.e., control, level, accreditation, and 

selectivity) and students (i.e., grade point average [GPA] and degree/award 

level of program) are related to credit transfer? 

Data Source and Sample

This report uses transcript data from the Postsecondary Education Transcript Study 

of 2009 (PETS:09), a component of the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students 

Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), to address these research questions. The BPS

followed a nationally representative sample of approximately 17,000 students who 

entered postsecondary education for the first time in the 2003–04 academic year for 

a period of 6 years. During those years, students in the BPS:04/09 cohort attended 

more than 3,000 postsecondary institutions. 

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) requested transcripts from 

every institution BPS:04/09 students attended between July 2003 and June 2009. 

Around 2,620 institutions (86 percent) provided transcripts. Across the institution 

types represented, participation in the transcript collection ranged from 93 percent 

among public 4-year doctorate-granting institutions to 71 percent among private forprofit less-than-4-year institutions. 

 

1 Coenrollment refers to overlapping periods of postsecondary enrollment at two or more institutions. 

It should not be confused with dual enrollment or overlapping dates of enrollment between a 

secondary school and postsecondary institution. See Wang and Wickersham (2014) for more 

information.
 

iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The study collected complete transcript histories for 16,110 students (87 percent)

and at least one transcript from 16,960 students (92 percent). The resulting data 

provide a detailed portrait of students’ enrollment, course-taking, credit 

accumulation, academic performance, and degree histories.

Selected Findings

Selected findings from this report include the following: 

• About one-third (35 percent) of first-time beginning undergraduate students 

transferred or coenrolled at least once during the 6-year period of the BPS 

study. Approximately 21 percent transferred/coenrolled once, and another 

11 percent transferred/coenrolled more than once.2 The remaining two-thirds

(65 percent) did not transfer or coenroll. 

• Most transfers or coenrollments (56 percent) originated from public 2-year

institutions. Because a transfer can be defined by either the movement of 

students or the movement of credits from one institution to another 

institution, this report used two measures to better characterize transfers: 

(1) opportunity for credit transfer,3 a student-focused measure, and (2) actual 

credit transfers,

4 a credit-focused measure. Public 2-year institutions yielded 

approximately 1.4 million of the 2.6 million opportunities for credit transfer 

and 19.1 million of the 30.0 million credits transferred. 

• Nearly 90 percent of all student credit transfer opportunities occurred

between institutions that were regionally, rather than nationally, accredited. 

 

2 For students with multi-institutional attendance, “student transfer” refers to the movement from 

one institution to another. If a student returns to the original institution of attendance and the 

enrollment spell at the second institution is less than 4 months, the student is not considered to have 

transferred. Credits need not transfer. The number of institutions attended could not be determined 

for 3 percent of the students, but it could be determined that these students transferred or coenrolled 

at least once.

3 A potential transfer credit opportunity is a potential opportunity for postsecondary credits to move 

from one institution to another as a result of multi-institutional attendance. Potential transfer 

opportunities are identified using the beginning and end dates of attendance at each institution to 

determine the sequential order of attendance. The more institutions a student attends, the greater the 

number of institution-institution relationships that can be established, resulting in a higher number of 

potential transfer credit opportunities.

4 For students with multi-institutional attendance, “credit transfer” refers to the recognition of credits 

earned at a prior institution by a second (or subsequent) institution of attendance. Unless explicitly 

stated, noncourse credits (e.g., Advanced Placement exams, credits awarded for experience in the 

workforce, credits awarded for examination) are not included in credit transfers.
 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY v 

• A multivariate analysis of actual credit transfer indicated that, after taking into 

account other student and institutional factors:

5

 a student’s GPA prior to a transfer was related positively to the number 

of credits accepted at the destination institution; 

 student transfer/coenrollment6 pathways were related to credit transfer, 

specifically when compared to students transferring from 2-year to 

4-year7

 institutions (i.e., vertical transfer): 

• transferring from 4-year to 2-year institutions (i.e., reverse transfer) was 

related negatively to the number of credits accepted following transfer; and 

• transferring from 2-year to 2-year institutions or 4-year to 4-year institutions 

(i.e., horizontal transfer) was related negatively to the number of credits 

accepted following transfer. 

 Institutional control was related to the number of credits transferred, 

with students moving to private for-profit and private nonprofit 

institutions transferring fewer credits than students moving to public 

institutions. 

 Accreditation status was unrelated to the number of credits transferred 

between institutions. 

These findings indicate that students who follow traditionally articulated pathways in 

postsecondary education—most notably from 2-year to 4-year institutions—are 

typically able to transfer credits successfully. 

Caveats for Readers

This report focuses on students’ first transfer experience because institutional 

transcripts make it difficult to identify the origin of a given credit after subsequent 

student transfers/coenrollments (i.e., not all institutions itemize transfer credits, 

making it difficult to identify the source institution). Because students who transfer 

 

5 These factors include control of the origin institution and destination institutions; transfer direction 

(i.e., vertical [2-year to 4-year], horizontal [4-year to 4-year or 2-year to 2-year], or reverse [4-year to 

2-year]); accreditation status of origin and destination institutions; academic performance (i.e., GPA); 

selectivity of the origin and destination institutions; and the months enrolled prior to transfer. 6 Because the focus of this report is credit transfer, student transfer and coenrollment were not 

disaggregated. For coenrolled students, potential transfer opportunities and the direction of credit 

transfer are identified using the beginning and end dates of attendance at each institution to determine 

the order of attendance.

7 Institutions that offer 4-year degrees but are predominantly associate’s-degree-granting institutions 

were reclassified as 2-year. Both institutional level and institutional sector were adjusted accordingly.
 

vi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

only once may differ from those who transfer more than once, appendix D compares 

these populations on a small set of student and institutional characteristics. While the 

results in appendix D show some differences between the two groups, multipletransfer students are not likely to contribute much bias to the analysis because they are 

not being excluded (only data related to their subsequent transfers/coenrollments are 

excluded) and represent only 9 percent of the weighted cases.

It is important to note three limitations associated with this analysis: 

• First, the analysis cannot determine if a student who intended to transfer was 

discouraged from doing so based on misinformation or other reasons and, 

therefore, made no attempt to do so. 

• Second, although this analysis can observe the movement of a student 

between institutions, it cannot discern the reasons credit may not transfer. 

The transfer of credit is driven by both student and institutional decisions. 

Students may elect to transfer only part of their prior coursework to a 

destination institution, or may choose not to navigate the destination 

institution’s transfer process at all. Similarly, institutions have the freedom to 

establish their own policies for the acceptance of credits earned at other 

institutions. According to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars 

and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), institutions should consider a variety of 

factors when awarding credit for prior learning, including quality and 

curricular applicability.8

 

• Third, sample sizes are low for some subgroups. Specifically, there was a 

lower volume of students transferring to and from less-than-2-year

institutions, which resulted in a low sample size for analysis. As a result, there 

are fewer opportunities to observe whether credits earned at one institution 

might be accepted by another for this group. 

 

8 AACRAO. (2001). Joint Statement on the Transfer and Award of Credit. Retrieved from 

http://tcp.aacrao.org/misc/joint_statement.php. 
 

vii

Acknowledgments

The author is greatly indebted to those who made the Postsecondary Education 

Transcript Studies possible. Although this report has one author, many 

individuals were consulted and made contributions. Without their talents and 

contributions on the research project, this report would not be possible. 

Specifically, the author is appreciative to the peer reviewers and to the following 

individuals, who provided external consultation on the project: Clifford Adelman, 

David Bergeron, Marc Booker, Kevin Carey, Bryan Cook, Theresa DiPaolo, 

Tammy Halligan, Cherie Hatlem, Andrew Kelly, Kent Phillippe, Michael Poliakoff, 

and Janet Sabri. 

Finally, the author is grateful to the students and postsecondary institution staff 

who participated in the transcript data collections in the Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09) and the Baccalaureate and Beyond 

Study (B&B:08).
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ix

Contents

PAGE

Executive Summary .............................................................................................................. iii

Acknowledgments................................................................................................................ vii

List of Tables ......................................................................................................................... xi

List of Figures..................................................................................................................... xvii

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1

Background ...................................................................................................................... 2

Data Sources .................................................................................................................... 5

Institution-Level Transcript Collection................................................................. 5

Student-Level Transcript Collection...................................................................... 6

Multi-Institutional Enrollment Patterns, Student Transfer, and 

Coenrollment ........................................................................................................... 8

Definition of Key Terms ................................................................................................ 8

Transfer and/or Coenrollment Definitions .......................................................... 8

Institution Definitions ........................................................................................... 11

Transfer Direction Definitions ............................................................................. 11

Statistical Comparisons................................................................................................. 11

Disproportionate Transfer/Coenrollment Rates and the Impact on Data 

Analysis................................................................................................................... 13

Limitations...................................................................................................................... 18

Chapter 1. Frequency of Student and Credit Transfer................................................. 21

Student Transfer/Coenrollment ................................................................................. 21

Credit Transfer............................................................................................................... 23

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 24

Chapter 2. Relationship Between Credit Transfer and Characteristics of 

Institutions and Students .............................................................................. 25

Transfer Activity by Type of Origin Institution ....................................................... 25

Characteristics of Origin Institutions and the Transfer of Credit.......................... 27

Institutional Control ............................................................................................... 27

Adjusted Institution Level ..................................................................................... 30

Adjusted Level and Control Combined: Adjusted Institutional Sector .......... 32
 

 x CONTENTS

PAGE

Accreditation Status................................................................................................ 33

Selectivity ................................................................................................................. 34

Student Enrollment Characteristics and Credit Transfer ........................................ 37

Degree/Award Level Program Change............................................................... 38

Academic Performance.......................................................................................... 39

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 41

Chapter 3. Joint Effects of Institutional and Student Characteristics on 

Credit Transfer ............................................................................................... 43

Credit Transfer and Traditional Student Transfer/Coenrollment Patterns .......... 43

Proportion of Students Who Transfer/Coenroll Without Credits................. 44

Number of Credits Not Transferred ................................................................... 45

Multivariate Analysis..................................................................................................... 47

Variables Used......................................................................................................... 47

Statistical Technique............................................................................................... 51

Listwise Deletion and Missing Case Analysis..................................................... 53

Multivariate Findings .................................................................................................... 54

Factors Predicting the Number of Credits That Transfer ................................ 54

Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 60

References .......................................................................................................................... 61

Appendix A. Glossary........................................................................................................ A-1

Appendix B. Technical Notes and Methodology .......................................................... B-1

Appendix C. Figure and Standard Error Tables............................................................ C-1

Appendix D. Multiple Transfer Students ...................................................................... D-1

Appendix E. Missing Case Analysis for Multivariate Model ....................................... E-1

Appendix F. Factors That Predict the Probability of Inflated Zero Credits 

Transferring................................................................................................... F-1
 

xi

List of Tables

TABLE PAGE

1. Eligible institution participation in the BPS:04/09 Postsecondary 

Education Transcript Study (PETS) collection, by institution

sector and degree level: 2009.......................................................................... 6

2. Student-level transcript collection results: 2009 .......................................... 7

3. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred/coenrolled, the percentage distribution and 

number of all potential transfer opportunities, by control, level, 

sector, and accreditation relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09.................... 13

4. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04, 

the percentage of students attending multiple institutions, by 

transfer status: 2003–04 to 2008–09............................................................ 22

5. Number and percentage distribution of first-time beginning 

undergraduate students in 2003–04, by transfer/coenrollment 

status within sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09 .................................................. 23

6. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred to/coenrolled in another institution, the mean 

number of credits earned at origin institution, transferred to 

destination, and the difference between credits earned and 

transferred during the first transfer, by volume of credits 

transferred ....................................................................................................... 24

7. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred or coenrolled: Number of credit transfer 

opportunities and credits, by sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09 ...................... 26

8. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred or coenrolled, the percentage distribution of 

transfer students and the percentage of students with no credits 

transferred, by control, level, and sector relationship: 2003–04 to 

2008–09 ........................................................................................................... 28
 

xii CONTENTS

PAGE

9. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred or coenrolled, the average credits earned at the 

origin institution, the average credits accepted at the first transfer 

destination institution, and the difference between the credits 

earned and transferred, by control, level, and sector: 2003–04 to 

2008–09 ........................................................................................................... 29

10. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred or coenrolled, the percentage distribution of 

transfer students and the percentage of transfer students with no 

credits transferring, by accreditation and selectivity relationship: 

2003–04 to 2008–09 ...................................................................................... 36

11. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred or coenrolled, the average credits earned at the 

origin institution, the average credits accepted at the first transfer 

destination institution, and the difference between the average 

percentage earned and the average percentage transferred, by 

accreditation and selectivity relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09 .............. 37

12. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred or coenrolled, the percentage distribution of 

transfer students, the percentage of students with no credits 

transferred, and the difference between credits transferred and 

earned, by award level change relationship, and grade point 

average at origin institution: 2003–04 to 2008–09 .................................... 40

13. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred/coenrolled, the percentage of students without 

transfer credits in the students’ first transfer institution within 

each transfer direction, by institution/academic characteristics: 

2003–04 to 2008–09 ...................................................................................... 44

14. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred credits, the average number of credits transferred 

in the student’s first transfer, by direction of transfer within 

control, accreditation, selectivity, grade point average at origin 

institution, and degree program change: 2003–04 to 2008–09................ 46

15. Descriptive statistics and variable coding for variables used for 

multivariate analyses of credit transfer among beginning first-time 

students: 2003–04 through 2008–09 ........................................................... 49
 

CONTENTS xiii

TABLE PAGE

16. Estimated coefficients and standard errors of the Zero-Inflated 

Negative Binomial regression of institutional and student 

enrollment characteristics on whether credits transfer for firsttime beginning undergraduate students in the 2003–04 academic 

year: 2003–04 to 2008–09 ............................................................................. 55

17. Predicted mean number of credits transferring and 95 percent 

confidence intervals for a student with a 3.0 grade point average 

enrolled for 12 months prior to transfer and transferring from a 

regionally to another regionally accredited institution with open 

admissions/minimum selectivity (derived from coefficients from 

the Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial regression), by statistically 

significant institutional and student enrollment characteristics: 

2003–04 to 2008–09 ...................................................................................... 58

B-1. Eligible institution participation, by institution type: 2009 .................... B-3

B-2. Unweighted and weighted NPSAS:04 institution response rates 

and BPS:04/09 student study, interview, panel, and transcript 

response rates, by type of institution: 2009.............................................. B-4

B-3. Item response rates and nonresponse rates for student-level 

derived variables from the BPS:04/09 transcript data collection: 

2003–04 to 2008–09 .................................................................................... B-7

B-4. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses 

to the ratio of credits transferred (QDTRRAT) variable, by select 

variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09........................................ B-9

B-5. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses 

to the difference between the credits earned at the origin 

institution and the credits transferred (QDCRDIFF) variable, by 

select variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09........................... B-13

B-6. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to 

the number of credits earned at the origin institution (QDTCRSS) 

variable, by select variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09...... B-17

C-1. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate 

students in 2003–04, the percentage of students attending 

multiple institutions, by transfer status: 2003–04 to 2008–09............... C-1

C-2. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred, the percentage distribution of all potential 

transfer opportunities, by control, level, sector, and accreditation 

relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09.............................................................. C-2
 

xiv CONTENTS

PAGE

C-3. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred to another institution: Number of credit transfer 

opportunities, by sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09......................................... C-3

C-4. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred to another institution: Volume of credit transfers, by 

sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09........................................................................ C-5

C-5. Standard errors: Number and percentage distribution of firsttime beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04, by transfer 

status within sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09 ................................................ C-7

C-6. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate students 

in 2003–04 who transferred to another institution, the number of 

credits earned at origin institution, transferred to destination, and the 

difference between credits earned and transferred during the first 

transfer, by amount of credits transferred................................................ C-7

C-7. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate 

students in 2003–04 who transferred, the percentage distribution 

of transfer students and the percentage of students with no 

credits transferred, by control, level, sector, accreditation, and 

selectivity relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09 ........................................... C-8

C-8. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate 

students in 2003–04 who transferred, the average credits earned 

at the origin institution, the average credits accepted at the first 

transfer destination institution, and the difference between the 

credits earned and transferred, by control, level, sector, 

accreditation, and selectivity relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09 ......... C-10

C-9. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate 

students who transferred in 2003–04, the percentage distribution 

of transfer students, the percentage of transfer students with no 

credits transferring, and the difference between credits earned 

and credits transferred, by degree program change relationship 

and grade point average at origin institution: 2003–04 to 2008–09.... C-12

C-10. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate 

students in 2003–04 who transferred, the percentage of students 

with no credits transferred in the student’s first transfer, by 

direction of transfer within control relationship, accreditation 

relationship, selectivity relationship, grade point average at origin 

institution, and degree program change: 2003–04 to 2008–09............ C-13
 

CONTENTS xv

TABLE PAGE

C-11. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate 

students in 2003–04 who transferred credits, the average number 

of credits transferred in the student’s first transfer, by direction of 

transfer within control relationship, accreditation relationship, 

selectivity relationship, grade point average at origin institution, 

and degree program change: 2003–04 to 2008–09................................ C-14

D-1. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred, the average postsecondary credits, grade point 

average, number of remedial courses, institutions attended, and 

proportion of level and control by number of times transferred: 

2003–04 to 2008–09 ................................................................................... D-2

D-2. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate 

students in 2003–04 who transferred, the average postsecondary 

credits, grade point average, number of remedial courses, 

institutions attended, and proportion of level and control, by 

number of times transferred: 2003–04 to 2008–09................................ D-2

E-1. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 

who transferred, the mean/percentage estimates for variables 

used in the multivariate analyses of credit transfer comparing 

cases in the full sample and the analytic sample: 2003–04 to 

2008–09 ......................................................................................................... E-3
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xvii

List of Figures

FIGURE PAGE

1. Overlap in BPS:04/09 respondent groups from the main study 

and the transcript collection ........................................................................... 7

2. Illustration of relationship between student transfer and credit 

transfer opportunities for a single student.................................................. 10

3. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred to/coenrolled in another institution: Number of 

credit transfer opportunities, by sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09................. 16

4. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred to/coenrolled in another institution: Volume of credit 

transfers, by sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09................................................... 17

5. Histogram of the total number of credits transferred to the 

destination institution in the first transfer .................................................. 52

6. Predicted mean number of credits transferred and 95 percent 

confidence intervals by grade point average for a student 

enrolled for 12 months prior to transfer and transferring from a 

regionally to another regionally accredited institution with open 

admissions/minimum selectivity (derived from coefficients from 

the Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial regression): 2003–04 to 

2008–09 ........................................................................................................... 59
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 1 

Introduction

The federal government invests billions of dollars in grants and loans to help students 

access and complete postsecondary education. Federal policymakers, therefore, have 

had a continuing interest in understanding the ability of students to transfer credits 

between postsecondary institutions. In 2005, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and 

Pensions Committee and the House Education and Workforce Committee requested 

that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examine factors that influence the 

transferability of postsecondary credit. The GAO considered 

• how postsecondary education institutions decide which credits to accept for 

transfer; 

• how states and accrediting agencies facilitate the credit transfer process; and 

• the implications for students and the federal government of students’ inability 

to transfer credits (GAO 2005). 

More recently, the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 required institutions 

participating in Title IV student aid programs to disclose additional information 

about their policies surrounding the transfer of credit. The Act states 

Each institution of higher education participating in any program under 

[Title IV] shall publicly disclose, in a readable and comprehensible manner, 

the transfer of credit policies established by the institution which shall 

include a statement of the institution’s current transfer of credit policies 

that includes, at a minimum—(A) any established criteria the institution 

uses regarding the transfer of credit earned at another institution of higher 

education; and (B) a list of institutions of higher education with which the 

institution has established an articulation agreement. 

Given that policymakers have identified the transfer of credit as an issue of interest, 

this report examines how often, and under what conditions, postsecondary 

institutions accept the transfer of credits earned by students at other institutions. 

Using transcript data from the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students 

Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), this report addresses the following questions: 

• How often do members of a cohort of beginning college students transfer or 

coenroll between postsecondary education institutions during their 

undergraduate years? 
 

 2 INTRODUCTION

• How often, and in what amounts, do credits transfer when students move 

from one institution to another? 

• What characteristics of institutions (i.e., control, level, accreditation, and 

selectivity) and students (i.e., grade point average [GPA] and degree/award 

level of program) are related to credit transfer?

This report addresses these questions in three chapters. Chapter 1 addresses the first 

two research questions, providing nationally representative estimates of the number of 

undergraduate students who transferred from their first institution and whether the 

credits they earned were transferred to destination institutions. Chapter 2 documents 

the relationship between selected student or institutional characteristics and credit 

transfer. Specifically, it provides tables on credit transfer by the following factors: 

• academic performance, as measured by GPA; 

• type of undergraduate credential sought (i.e., certificate, associate’s degree, 

bachelor’s degree); 

• the institutional control (i.e., public/private) of origin and destination 

institutions; 

• the predominant degree level awarded by origin and destination institutions; 

• the accreditation status of origin and destination institutions; and 

• the selectivity of origin and destination institutions. 

Definitions for each variable can be found in appendix A. 

Finally, because credit transfer may be associated with these student and institutional 

characteristics in combination, chapter 3 reports the results of a multivariate analysis 

designed to control for these variables’ joint associations with credit transfer.

Background

Approximately 32 percent of first-time students in the 2003–04 academic year 

transferred at some point within 6 years of their first enrollment (Staklis, 

Bersudskaya, and Horn 2011). Within this same cohort, approximately 9 percent of 

bachelor’s degree-seeking students starting at a public or private nonprofit 4-year 

institution, and 8 percent of students starting at a public 2-year institution were 

coenrolled (Wang and McCready 2013). While a sizeable minority of students 

transfer or coenroll between institutions, credits earned at one institution may not 

move with them to the other. To address this loss of credits, institutions, as well as 

state and federal governments, have created policies designed to facilitate the transfer 

of credit. Institutions, for example, have developed articulation agreements with 

other institutions to ensure the joint recognition of credits. The federal government 

has attempted to facilitate the transfer process by requiring institutions to post the 

criteria that are used for determining whether credits are transferred (GAO 2005). 
 

INTRODUCTION 3 

Finally, states have enacted a variety of laws and regulations to increase the ease and 

efficiency with which students can transfer credits from one institution to another. 

Examples include

• statewide common course numbering systems; 

• statewide articulation agreements between public institutions; 

• standardized general education requirements; 

• mandated acceptance of transfer credit for specific courses; and 

• policies or guidelines to improve the transfer of credit (GAO 2005, pp. 28–34).

Even with these interventions, when students transfer from one institution to 

another, credits earned at the first institution may not move with them. 

Limited information is available about why these initiatives are not successful. While 

the academic literature on student transfer has examined factors that may be related 

to moving from one institution to another or the persistence/attainment of transfer 

students, few studies are available that examine the transfer of credits (Roksa and 

Keith 2008). While not directly focused on credit transfer, research studies that focus 

on student transfer/coenrollment1 (rather than credit transfer) do provide enough 

information to develop hypotheses on factors that may be related to credit transfer. 

Direction of transfer or coenrollment. Many scholars (Bahr 2012; McCormick 

1997, 2003; Peter and Forrest-Cataldi 2005; Goldrick-Rab 2006; Goldrick-Rab and 

Pfeffer 2009; Wang 2012) provide evidence that the direction of transfer is related to 

student success. On average, students who follow traditional transfer pathways from 

2-year to 4-year institutions have better outcomes than other transfer students. Some

researchers (Goldrick-Rab 2006; Goldrick-Rab and Pfeffer 2009; Wang 2012)

observed that less advantaged students are more likely to use nontraditional 

pathways (e.g., from a 4-year institution to a 2-year institution), to their disadvantage. 

The results are similar for students who coenroll (Wang and Wickersham 2014). 

Credit transfer may be a contributing factor to these unfavorable outcomes because 

advanced courses from a 4-year institution may not be offered at the student’s new 

2-year institution. Transfer/coenrollment direction is examined in this report to 

understand if taking a nontraditional pathway is related to a higher loss of credits. 

Institutional characteristics. Other studies have examined the relationship between 

institutional characteristics and student or credit transfer, such as selectivity (Dowd 

and Melguizo 2008; Dowd, Cheslock, and Melguizo 2008), the control/governance of 

 

1 Coenrollment refers overlapping periods of postsecondary enrollment at two or more institutions. It 

should not be confused with dual enrollment or overlapping dates of enrollment between a secondary 

school and postsecondary institution. See Wang and Wickersham (2014) for more information.
 

 4 INTRODUCTION

the institution, or its accreditation (GAO 2005). Dowd and Melguizo (2008) and 

Dowd, Cheslock, and Melguizo (2008) examined the relationship between selectivity 

and student transfer. They found that selective institutions typically have a lower 

proportion of low-socioeconomic-status (SES) students compared to other 

institutions. The analysis in chapter 3 includes selectivity to understand if a similar

relationship exists between selectivity and the transfer of postsecondary credit. 

Additionally, in a report issued in 2005, the GAO postulated that institutions were 

using accreditation status as a factor in determining what credits may transfer. The 

GAO concluded that institutions are not accepting credit from national (rather than 

regional) accreditors and that it may disproportionately impact credits originating 

from for-profit institutions. The GAO findings, however, have not been examined in 

the academic literature. The analysis in this report includes institutional accreditation 

and institutional control to address questions raised by the GAO. 

Academic preparation. Academic preparation in high school (Melguizo 2009; 

Melguizo and Dowd 2009), academic performance in college (Graham and Dallam 

1986; Diaz 1992; Hills 1965; Hughes and Graham 1992), academic intensity (Doyle 

2009), and momentum (Doyle 2011) are also explored in the transfer literature.

Across most studies, earlier academic success predicts student persistence and 

attainment among transfer students. The analysis in this report includes 

postsecondary academic variables immediately prior to transfer. 

Risk factors for stopping or dropping out. Certain risk factors identified from 

previous BPS studies are indicators of leaving postsecondary education without attaining 

a degree or credential (Horn 1996; Berkner, He, and Cataldi 2002). Such factors include 

dependency status (dependent and independent), single parent status, responsibility for 

dependents, employment status, type of high school credential, and postsecondary 

attendance intensity in the first year. Such factors may predict transfer as well. 

Type of academic program. The vocational focus of a community college program 

has also been investigated in the transfer literature (Brint and Karabel 1989, 1991; 

Deng 2006; Dougherty 1987, 1994; Roksa 2006) with mixed results. An examination 

of the type of academic program is limited in this report due to the limited 

information reported on transcripts. 

The lack of availability of data on the transfer of academic credit has been a 

limitation of previous analyses (Roksa and Keith 2008). This statistical analysis report 

attempts to address this limitation in the literature by using nationally representative 

transcript data for first-time beginning students and examines the relationship 

between institutional and student characteristics and credit transfer to inform future 

policy discussions on this issue. 
 

INTRODUCTION 5 

Data Sources

The analyses in this report use transcript data from the Postsecondary Education 

Transcript Study of 2009 (PETS:09), which is a component of the 2004/09 

Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09). BPS:04/09 

followed a nationally representative sample of approximately 17,000 students who 

entered postsecondary education for the first time in the 2003–04 academic year for 

6 years. During that time, students in the BPS:04/09 cohort attended more than 

3,000 postsecondary institutions. The National Center for Education Statistics 

(NCES) collected transcripts through the 2008–09 academic year, creating a 6-year

record of academic enrollment, including course-taking, credit accumulation, 

academic performance, and degree attainment. 

The estimates presented in this report were generated using Stata/IC (version 13.1) 

with a restricted-use data file (publication numbers NCES 2012-243 [BPS:04/09

transcripts] and NCES 2011-244 [BPS:04/09 interview, derived variables, and 

administrative data]; see http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/licenses.asp for licensing 

information).2

 

BPS:04/09 sampling. The BPS:04/09 sample includes about 18,640 students 

representing the approximately 3.7 million students who began their postsecondary 

education in the 2003–04 academic year. BPS sample members were first identified 

in the 2004 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS), which employed a 

two-stage sampling design. In the first stage, NPSAS sampled institutions from the 

universe of all Title IV postsecondary education institutions. In the second stage, 

BPS sampled students from enrollment lists provided by sampled institutions. A total 

of 109,210 students were sampled from 1,630 postsecondary institutions. Of those, 

the study confirmed that 18,640 students were first-time beginners eligible for the 

BPS:04/09 sample. 

Institution-Level Transcript Collection 

NCES requested transcripts from all eligible postsecondary institutions attended by 

the BPS:04/09 sample members, including each sample member’s NPSAS institution 

and any additional institutions attended as reported in the BPS:04/06 and BPS:04/09 

interviews or noted on other transcripts collected during the study. The initial 

institution sample for the transcript collection included 3,100 separate institutions. 

Of those, 2 percent were ineligible because the institution had closed or because a 

 

2 The syntax used to generate the tables and statistics in this report can be found at 

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2014163. 
 

 6 INTRODUCTION

sample member had enrolled in but never actually attended the institution. Of the 

remaining 3,030 institutions, approximately 2,620 (87 percent) provided transcripts 

for the cohort. Across the institution types represented, participation in the 

transcript collection ranged from 71 percent among private for-profit less-than2-year institutions to 93 percent among public 4-year doctorate-granting institutions

(see table 1).3

Table 1. Eligible institution participation in the BPS:04/09 Postsecondary Education Transcript 

Study (PETS) collection, by institution sector and degree level: 2009

Institution sector and degree level

Total eligible 

institutions

Institution-level participation1

Number Percent

Total 3,030 2,620 86.6

Public

Less-than-2-year 70 50 77.9

2-year 920 810 88.9

4-year non-doctorate-granting 300 270 90.4

4-year doctorate-granting 260 240 93.4

Private nonprofit

2-year-or-less 90 80 85.9

4-year non-doctorate-granting 510 460 91.3

4-year doctorate granting 240 210 89.0

Private for-profit

Less-than-2-year 260 180 70.5

2 years or more 390 310 78.4

1 An institution was considered a participant if it provided a transcript for at least one student. 

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Sixteen of the participating institutions are not represented 

in the institution type rows due to unknown institution type.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004 National Postsecondary 

Student Aid Study (NPSAS:04) and 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09).

Student-Level Transcript Collection 

This study includes a complete set of transcripts for 87 percent of the BPS:04/09 

sample, and at least one transcript for all but 8 percent of respondents (see table 2). 

Approximately 86 percent of the institutions that were originally sampled in the 

NPSAS study (from which the BPS cohort is derived) submitted transcripts. Data 

from nonresponding institutions were recovered using transcripts from responding 

institutions when a responding institution included information about a student’s 

prior academic experiences. Therefore, item-level response rates are sometimes 

3 In other chapters of this report, institutional levels (i.e., less-than-2-year, 2-year, 4-year) were 

changed to reflect the predominant degree offered rather than the highest degree offered. The 

sampling stratum sectors used for the BPS:04/09 study do not adjust for the level variable to reflect 

the predominant degree offered at the institution.

 
 

INTRODUCTION 7 

higher than student-level response rates. A list of item-level response rates can be 

found in appendix B. 

Table 2. Student-level transcript collection results: 2009

Student sample Number Percent

Total 18,640 100.0

Transcript respondents1 16,960 91.5

NPSAS transcript received 16,540 89.2

All student's transcripts received 16,110 86.9

Transcript nonrespondents 1,580 8.5

1 A student was considered a transcript respondent if a transcript was received from one or more institutions.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004 National Postsecondary 

Student Aid Study (NPSAS:04) and 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09).

As shown in figure 1, not all BPS:04/09 sample members responded to the BPS 

student interview—and transcripts for BPS:04/09 sample members were not 

available from all sample members’ institutions. Therefore, the subset of sample 

members who are considered BPS:04/09 study respondents does not overlap 

completely with the subset of sample members considered BPS:04/09 transcript 

respondents. This study uses all 16,960 students considered transcript respondents. 

Figure 1. Overlap in BPS:04/09 respondent groups from the main study and the transcript 

collection

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004 National Postsecondary 

Student Aid Study (NPSAS:04) and 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09).
 

 8 INTRODUCTION

Multi-Institutional Enrollment Patterns, Student Transfer, and 

Coenrollment

McCormick (2003) notes that student enrollment patterns can be very complicated. 

Many students do not attend postsecondary institutions sequentially and will enroll in 

multiple institutions at once. Students attend multiple institutions to test the 

feasibility of a future transfer, take courses not offered at their home institution, 

accelerate the time to degree completion, or enroll in two different degree programs 

at two institutions simultaneously. Enrollment can alternate between two institutions, 

overlap, or be sequential (McCormick 2003). These patterns are also embedded in 

the BPS transcript data (Wang and Wickersham 2014; Wang and McCready 2013). 

Wang and Wickersham (2014) observed overlapping dates of enrollment in the BPS 

transcript data for 8.7 percent of students starting at 4-year institutions (2.2 percent 

at another 4-year institution and 6.2 percent at a 2-year institution). Among 

baccalaureate-aspiring students starting at 2-year institutions, 7.7 percent were 

coenrolled (1.5 percent at other 2-year institutions and 6.2 percent at 4-year

institutions) (p. 9). While coenrollment does occur in the BPS transcript dataset, 

these enrollments were not entirely simultaneous (e.g., the enrollment start and end 

dates across coenrolled institutions were not identical). For the purposes of this 

report, coenrollment refers to overlapping periods of enrollment. 

While the type of multi-institutional enrollment pattern is important, credit transfer 

occurs regardless of the enrollment pattern. Because the focus of this report is credit 

transfer, the type of multi-institutional attendance was not disaggregated. Any 

reference to “student transfer” mentioned in this report includes students coenrolled 

at two or more institutions. For these coenrolled students, potential transfer 

opportunities and the direction of credit transfer are identified using the beginning 

and end dates of attendance at each institution to determine the order of attendance.

Definition of Key Terms

This report uses the following terms: 

Transfer and/or Coenrollment Definitions

Student transfer/coenrollment. For students who attended more than one 

institution, “student transfer” or “student transfer/coenrollment” refers to the 

movement from one institution to another (with or without overlapping dates of 

enrollment). If a student returns to the original institution of attendance, the student 

is not considered to have transferred if the enrollment spell at the second institution 
 

INTRODUCTION 9 

is less than 4 months (see incidental transfer). Credits need not transfer. This analysis 

does not disaggregate student transfer from coenrollment. 

Credit hour. Typically, a credit hour refers to the unit of measure representing the 

equivalent of an hour (50 minutes) of instruction per week over the entire term of a 

semester system. It is applied toward the total number of credit hours needed for 

completing the requirements of a degree, diploma, certificate, or other formal award. 

For this study, the credit hour is dependent on how institutions implemented the 

measure. All course units on transcripts were normalized to reflect semester credits. 

Values for clock-hour institutions were divided by 37.5, and quarter-hour institutions 

were multiplied by two-thirds, so that all respondents had credit values on the same 

scale. Institutions that had unusual course unit systems were evaluated on a case-bycase basis. 

Credit transfer. For students who attended more than one institution, “credit 

transfer” refers to the recognition of credits earned at a prior institution by a second 

(or subsequent) institution of attendance. Unless explicitly stated, noncourse credits, 

credits awarded for experience in the workforce, or credits awarded for examination 

are not included in credit transfers. Remedial courses are included in the calculation 

of credits transferred if credit was awarded by the origin institution.4

Incidental transfer/coenrollment. For students who attended more than one 

institution, “incidental transfer” refers to an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at 

a second (or subsequent) institution of attendance with a return to the origin 

institution. Unless noted in the table notes, incidental transfers are not included as 

transfer events. 

First student transfer/coenrollment or “first transfer.” Unless noted in the table 

notes, this refers to the first known time a student moves from one institution to 

another based on the first date of attendance. Most analyses in this report are based 

exclusively on students’ first transfer/coenrollment. 

Credit transfer opportunities. A potential transfer credit opportunity is a potential 

opportunity for credits to move between institutions as a result of a student 

attending multiple institutions. Potential transfer opportunities are identified using 

the beginning and end dates of attendance at each institution. The more institutions 

a student attends, the more institution-institution relationships can be established, 

 

4 There are differences across institutions in classifying remedial courses. It is possible for a remedial 

course to have credit associated with it if it is defined and coded as remedial in the College Course 

Map used in the transcript collection but not by the origin institution.
 

10 INTRODUCTION

thus leading to more potential transfer opportunities. For example, a student who 

transfers three times with no overlapping dates of attendance, as shown in figure 2, 

has six potential transfer opportunities.5

Figure 2. Illustration of relationship between student transfer and credit transfer 

opportunities for a single student

The first opportunity for credit transfer is from institution A to institution B; the 

second and third are A to C and B to C respectively. The three additional 

opportunities to transfer credit are from A to D, B to D, and C to D. With each 

additional student transfer, the number of credit transfer opportunities increases. 

For students who are coenrolled, potential transfer opportunities and the direction of 

credit transfer are identified using the beginning and end dates of attendance at each 

institution to determine the order of attendance. 

 

5 Credit transfer opportunities for students who are coenrolled are identified using the last date of 

attendance at each respective institution. For example, if a student was coenrolled at Institution A and 

Institution B from September through December of 2004, then continues enrollment at Institution B 

through May of 2005, this study would identify a credit transfer opportunity from Institution A to 

Institution B.
 

INTRODUCTION 11

Institution Definitions

Origin or sending institution. For each student/credit transfer, the origin or 

sending institution is the institution from which student and credits transfer.

Destination or receiving institution. For each student/credit transfer, the 

destination or receiving institution is the institution to which the student and credits 

transfer.

Transfer Direction Definitions

Vertical transfer. This is a student transfer or coenrollment from a lower 

institutional level to a higher institutional level, such as from a 2-year institution to a 

4-year institution (Bradburn and Hurst 2001). Townsend and Dever (1999) also refer 

to vertical transfer as a traditional transfer pattern. 

Horizontal or lateral transfer. This means a student transfer or coenrollment to the 

same institutional level as the origin institution, such as from a 2-year institution to 

another 2-year institution or from a 4-year to another 4-year institution. 

Reverse transfer. This means a student transfer or coenrollment from a higher 

institutional level to a lower institutional level, such as from a 4-year institution to a 

2-year institution (Townsend and Dever 1999).

Statistical Comparisons

The BPS:04/09 data used for the analyses in this report are from a sample survey 

with a complex sample design. In the case of the BPS study, a sample of 18,640 

students was selected to represent the 3.7 million first-time beginning undergraduate 

students in Title IV postsecondary institutions in academic year 2003–04. The 

practice of selecting a sample versus selecting all students introduces statistical 

uncertainty about how accurately the sample represents the population at large. Data 

from samples can provide only an approximation of the true or actual value. The 

uncertainty associated with the approximation must be considered when reporting 

estimates or making comparisons. This uncertainty surrounding the estimate, or 

range of potential true or actual values, depends on several factors: 

• the amount of variation in the responses; 

• the size of the sample; 

• the representativeness of the sample; and 

• the size of the subgroup for which the estimate is computed. 
 

12 INTRODUCTION

The magnitude of this uncertainty is measured by the “standard error” of an 

estimate. When statistics from surveys with complex sample designs are reported, the 

standard error may be calculated for each estimate using balanced repeated 

replication (BRR) weights.

6 The standard error of the estimate is used in statistical 

tests to determine the probability that differences between estimates (such as means 

and percentages) exist. Due to the large sample size in BPS and the large number of 

planned comparisons, a conservative threshold (p < .01) was established to 

determine statistical significance. This means the probability that the difference 

occurred by chance is less than 1 percent.

7

Statistical significance testing supports all statements about differences in this report. 

When estimates are from a sample, it is important to exercise caution in drawing 

conclusions about the differences between estimates. Although one estimate may 

appear to be larger than another, a statistical test may find that the apparent 

difference between them is not reliably measurable due to the uncertainty around the 

estimates. In this case, the estimates will be described as having no measurable difference,

meaning that the difference between them is not statistically significant. To 

determine whether differences are statistically significant, this report uses the Wald 

test at the .01 level when comparing means, and the chi-squared test at the .01 level 

when comparing proportions.8 

The appearance of a “!” symbol (meaning “interpret data with caution”) in a table or 

figure indicates that a data cell has a high ratio between the standard error and the 

point estimate (i.e., the coefficient of variation is greater than or equal to .30 but less 

than .50); the reader should use caution when interpreting such data. These estimates 

are still discussed, however, when statistically significant differences are found 

despite large standard errors. The appearance of a “‡” symbol (meaning “reporting 

standards not met”) indicates a data cell that is suppressed either due to a coefficient 

of variation that is greater than or equal to .50 or because there are too few 

respondents to meet reporting standards. The appearance of an asterisk (*) in a table 

indicates that a group is statistically different from the reference group in italics. 

 

6 The standard errors for all estimated totals, means, and percentages in this report can be found in 

appendix C.

7 Because all subgroup comparisons were planned a priori, statistical tests reported here are not adjusted for 

multiple comparisons. Instead, a more conservative probability threshold (p <.01) was used for all tests. 8 See the technical notes in appendix B.
 

INTRODUCTION 13

Disproportionate Transfer/Coenrollment Rates and the 

Impact on Data Analysis

The purpose of this section is to describe how the rate of credit and student 

movement between institutions can limit data analysis. Table 3 displays the descriptive 

statistics of all potential opportunities for credit transfer in the sample, including those 

beyond a student’s first transfer. The majority of credit transfer opportunities are from 

public institutions to other public institutions (64 percent). By adjusted level,

9 the 

largest transfer pattern is vertical, from 2-year to 4-year (37 percent). This is followed 

by two lateral patterns: (1) 4-year to 4-year (22 percent) and (2) 2-year to 2-year

(21 percent). By adjusted sector, most (55.6 percent) credit transfer opportunities 

come from public 2-year colleges, with 26 percent of all credit transfer opportunities 

going to public 4-year institutions, 17 percent going to other public 2-year institutions, 

8 percent to 4-year private nonprofit institutions, and 4 percent to other institutions 

(4 percent is not shown in table 3). 

Table 3. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred/coenrolled,

the percentage distribution and number of all potential transfer opportunities, by control, 

level, sector, and accreditation relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Percent of 

transfer 

opportunities

Number of 

transfer/coenrollment 

events (thousands)

Total 100.0 2,604

Control

Public to public 64.4 1,680

Public to private nonprofit 13.3 347

Public to private for-profit 4.3 113

Private nonprofit to public 9.4 245

Private nonprofit to private nonprofit 3.1 81

Private nonprofit to private for-profit 0.5 13

Private for-profit to public 3.0 78

Private for-profit to private nonprofit 0.4 11

Private for-profit to private for-profit 1.6 41

See notes at end of table.

 

9 Institutions that were classified as 4-year institutions in the Integrated Postsecondary Education 

Data System (IPEDS) but with a majority of degrees at the associate’s level were reclassified in the 

2-year sector equivalent using the institutional category (INSTCAT) variable in the IPEDS data 

center. Approximately 6 percent of institutions were reclassified. This report uses the terms “adjusted 

level” and “adjusted sector” so that users can distinguish the INSTCAT adjusted level or sector from 

the LEVEL and SECTOR variables in IPEDS.
 

14 INTRODUCTION

Table 3. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred/coenrolled,

the percentage distribution and number of all potential transfer opportunities, by control, 

level, sector, and accreditation relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Institution relationship

Percent of 

transfer 

opportunities

Number of 

transfer/coenrollment 

events (thousands)

Adjusted level

4-year to 4-year 22.4 584

4-year to 2-year 16.7 436

2-year to 4-year 37.2 969

2-year to 2-year 21.1 550

All others to/from less-than-2-year 2.7 70

Adjusted sector

4-year public to 4-year public 10.1 263

4-year public to 2-year public 11.0 287

4-year public to 4-year private nonprofit 4.0 105

4-year private nonprofit to 4-year public 4.3 112

4-year private nonprofit to 2-year public 4.2 110

4-year private nonprofit to 4-year private nonprofit 2.8 74

4-year private for-profit to other institution 1.3 34

2-year public to 4-year public 25.8 674

2-year public to 2-year public 17.1 446

2-year public to 4-year private nonprofit 8.4 220

2-year private for-profit to other institution 2.4 63

Other institution combination 8.4 220

Adjusted sector (origin institutions)

4-year public to all others 26.2 683

4-year private nonprofit to all others 11.9 310

4-year private for-profit to all others 1.3 34

2-year public to all others 55.6 1,450

Less-than-4-year private nonprofit all others 1.1 29

2-year private for-profit all others 2.4 63

Less-than-2-year public to all others 0.3 8

Less-than-2-year private for-profit to all others 1.3 33

Accreditation

Regional to regional 92.5 2,333

Regional to national 3.1 79

National to regional 3.3 82

National to national 1.0 25

Other accreditation relationship ‡ ‡

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50 

percent or greater.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. This table includes all transfer events and may include 

multiple transfer opportunities per student. Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of 

less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Institutions that offer 4-year

degrees but are predominantly associate’s degree-granting institutions were classified as 2-year. The term “adjusted 

level" is used so that users can distinguish the INSTCAT adjusted level from the LEVEL variable in the Integrated 

Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The term “adjusted sector” is used to note differences by the sector 

variable as well.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
 

INTRODUCTION 15

By accreditation status,10 93 percent of the potential transfer opportunities occurred 

from regionally accredited institutions to other regionally accredited institutions, 

while the remaining 6 percent occurred from regionally to nationally accredited 

institutions or in reverse. Incidental transfers (that is, transfers of less than 4 months) 

are not included in this analysis. 

Figure 3 displays a heat map of the potential opportunities for credit transfer by 

sector. A heat map is a visual representation of the frequencies in the data. As shown

in figure 3 and table 3, public 2-year institutions produce the most opportunities for 

credit transfer to other institutions, with the highest volume of transfers to public 

4-year institutions (674,000 potential opportunities for credit transfer) and other public 

2-year institutions (446,000 potential transfer opportunities). Altogether, public 2-year 

institutions make up more than 1.4 million of the 2.6 million potential transfer 

opportunities to other institutions. Private for-profit institutions constitute a small 

share of transfer opportunities, with less than 150,000 transfer events. Public 4-year 

and private nonprofit 4-year institutions make up a large share of credit transfer 

opportunities to other institutions (683,000 and 310,000, respectively) than the other 

sector relationships, but they do not approach the volume of public 2-year institutions.

10 “Accredited” postsecondary institutions are approved by an organization that establishes operating 

standards for educational or professional institutions and programs. The accreditation relationship 

distinguishes between whether institutions have recognition from a regional accrediting body or 

national accrediting body. Regional accrediting organizations include: Middle States Association of 

Colleges and Schools (Middle States Commission on Higher Education); New England Association of 

Schools and Colleges (Commission on Institutions of Higher Education); North Central Association 

of Colleges and Schools (The Higher Learning Commission); Southern Association of Colleges and 

Schools (Commission on Colleges); and Western Association of Schools and Colleges (Accrediting 

Commission for Community and Junior Colleges and Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges 

and Universities). Postsecondary education institutions that are both regionally and nationally 

accredited are classified as regionally accredited.

 
 

16 INTRODUCTION

Figure 3. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred to/coenrolled in another 

institution: Number of credit transfer opportunities, by sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Sector of destination institution

Sector of institution of origin Public 2-year

Public 4-year

Private nonprofit 4-year

Private nonprofit 2-yearPrivate for-profit 4-year

Private for-profit 2-yearPublic less-than-2-year

Private nonprofit less-than-2-year

Private for-profit less-than-2-year

Public 2-year (comparison group)

Public 4-year *

Private nonprofit 4-year *

Private nonprofit 2-year * Over 400,000

Private for-profit 4-year * 150,001-400,000

Private for-profit 2-year * 50,001-150,000

Public less-than-2-year * Less than 50,000

Private nonprofit less-than-2-year *

Private for-profit less-than-2-year *

* Estimate is significantly different from the comparison group shown in italics (p < .01).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal 

Study (BPS:04/09) Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

The count of actual credits transferred shows a pattern similar to credit transfer 

opportunities. Figure 4 shows that the volume of credits transferred from public 2-year 

institutions (19.1 million)11 exceeds that of all other sectors combined. Even when all 

other sector relationships are combined (10.9 million credits transferring), the combined 

transfer credit volume is less than that from public 2-year institutions. The greatest 

movement of credits, 13.6 million from public 2-year to public 4-year, is statistically 

different from the other sector combinations. For-profit institutions account for fewer 

credit transfers than public 2-year institutions, with 126,000 credits transferring out of 

for-profit 4-year institutions and 175,000 transferring out of profit 2-year institutions. 

Regardless of control, less-than-2-year institutions had the lowest transfer credit volume. 

11 See table C-4 in appendix C for the values that were used to populate the heat map in figure 3.

 
 

INTRODUCTION 17

Figure 4. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred to/coenrolled in another

institution: Volume of credit transfers, by sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Sector of destination institution

Sector of institution of origin Public 2-year

Public 4-yearPrivate nonprofit 4-yearPrivate nonprofit 2-yearPrivate for-profit 4-yearPrivate for-profit 2-yearPublic less-than-2-yearPrivate nonprofit less-than-2-yearPrivate for-profit less-than-2-year

Public 2-year (comparison group) #

Public 4-year *

Private nonprofit 4-year * Over 12 million credits

Private nonprofit 2-year * 5 million to 11.99 million credits

Private for-profit 4-year * 1 million to 4.99 million credits

Private for-profit 2-year * 400,000 to 999,999 credits

Public less-than-2-year ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ Less than 400,000

Private nonprofit less-than-2-year *

Private for-profit less-than-2-year *

Unknown due to bulk credit transfer *

# Estimate averages to zero. 

‡ Does not meet reporting standards. 

* Estimate is significantly different from the comparison group shown in italics (p < .01).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal 

Study (BPS:04/09) Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

The uneven distribution across sectors of transfer events and of credits transferred 

presents some challenges when attempting to better understand the relationship 

between credit transfer and institutional characteristics. This limitation, and others of 

note, is described in detail below. 
 

18 INTRODUCTION

Limitations

Readers should keep in mind the following limitations when considering the results 

of this analysis:

• Low sample sizes for some subgroups lead to loss of precision in 

estimation: Because of the relatively small number of student 

transfers/coenrollments from certain types of institutions (e.g., for-profit 

institutions), this analysis cannot examine credit transfer from these types of 

institutions in as much detail as it does for types of institutions where student 

transfers are more numerous (e.g., public 2-year institutions). 

• Inability to determine why credits do not transfer: Data from this study 

cannot identify why credits do not transfer. Specifically, transcript data do not 

show whether credits did not transfer because an institution determined the 

credits to be irrelevant to the program of study or of unsatisfactory quality, or 

because a student never informed the institution of previous attendance. The 

statistical model used in this paper is specifically designed to address this 

limitation.

• Inability to comprehensively determine which credits come from which 

institutions: A number of institutions do not itemize credits transferred into 

the institution, and it is therefore not always possible to identify which credits 

come from which institutions. This limitation is mitigated because the 

majority of student who transfer or coenroll do so only once. For students 

who transfer or coenroll in multiple institutions, this analysis includes only the 

student’s first transfer/coenrollment. Because student transcripts do not 

consistently identify the origin of transfer credits for students with multiple 

transfer records, all analyses focus on students’ first transfer experiences 

unless otherwise noted.12 This restriction allows for the examination of the 

relationship between credit transfer and the institutional characteristics of the 

origin and destination institutions.

13

12 Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a 

destination institution are not considered to have transferred (defined as an “incidental transfer” in 

this report). Incidental transfer is not counted when determining the student’s “first transfer.” 13 For about 67 percent of the students who transferred, the first transfer is the only time they 

transferred between institutions. For 33 percent of the students who transferred, this analysis does not 

take into account their subsequent institutional movements. Appendix D includes information 

comparing students who transferred once to students who transferred multiple times given the 

information that is lost from subsequent transfer activity. Because the analysis is using the first known 

transfer activity, students who transferred multiple times are still included in the analysis. 

 
 

INTRODUCTION 19

• Key information not consistently included on transcripts, and therefore 

unavailable for analysis: Transcripts inconsistently report information that 

may be of high analytic interest to researchers. Examples include academic 

factors (e.g., change in major, number of credits earned in high school, etc.), 

relationship between institutions (e.g., institutional enrollment agreements, 

articulation agreements, etc.), course attributes/classifications (e.g., honors, 

capstone, co-op, field work, independent study, internship, research, 

independent study, vocational, etc.), and academic actions (e.g., academic 

warning, academic probation, dean’s list, honor roll, President’s list, 

Chancellor’s list, etc.). See chapter 3 for more information on how this 

limitation impacts the multivariate analysis.

• Information on student intent to transfer: The analysis cannot determine 

whether a student who intended to transfer was discouraged from doing so 

based on misinformation or other reasons and, therefore, made no attempt to 

do so. 

• Transcript data are not imputed: Transcript data are not imputed for item 

nonresponse as was done for the BPS:04/09 student interview. A missing case 

analysis was conducted to ensure that cases dropped from the regression 

analysis are representative of the population. 

Despite these limitations, this report is able to yield reliable estimates about credit 

movement for most of the transfer/coenrollment events of first-time beginning 

undergraduate students. Additionally, this analysis is able to examine many policyrelevant factors that are of high interest to researchers and policymakers related to 

the transfer of credits between postsecondary institutions. Finally, multivariate 

statistical techniques are used to account for a student’s intent to transfer even 

though that information was never collected in the student interview. 

The following sections of this report examine the volume of student and credit 

transfer, bivariate relationships between student and institutional characteristics on 

credit transfer, and the joint effects of these characteristics on credit transfer. 
This page intentionally left blank.
 

21

Chapter 1. Frequency of Student and 

Credit Transfer

How often do members of a cohort of beginning college students transfer or coenroll

between postsecondary education institutions during their undergraduate years? 

How often, and in what amounts, do credits transfer when students move from one 

institution to another?

This chapter provides descriptive statistics on the frequencies of student transfer/ 

coenrollment (i.e., multi-institutional postsecondary attendance) and credit transfer 

(i.e., the recognition of credits by a postsecondary institution that are applied toward 

a degree or certificate as a result of postsecondary coursework taken prior to 

enrollment). Due to limitations in determining the transfer of credits to multiple 

institutions of attendance, this chapter focuses primarily on students’ first transfer or 

coenrollment. 

Student Transfer/Coenrollment

While 65 percent of first-time beginning students in 2003–04 attended only one 

institution, the remaining 35 percent transferred or simultaneously enrolled at 

multiple institutions at some point within 6 years of entering postsecondary 

education (table 4). Among those students who transferred, the majority of students 

transferred or coenrolled just once (68 percent). Only 9 percent of students who 

transferred or coenrolled attended four or more institutions (9 percent calculated 

from table 4). 
 

22 CHAPTER 1. FREQUENCY OF STUDENT AND CREDIT TRANSFER

Table 4. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04, the percentage of 

students attending multiple institutions, by transfer status: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Number of known institutions attended All students Students who transferred or coenrolled

One 65.4 †

Two 23.4 67.5

Three 8.2 23.7

Four 2.3 6.6

Five or more 0.8 2.2

† Not applicable.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Students who returned to their origin institution after an 

enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. These 

students are classified as having attended one institution.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

As shown in table 5, students transferring from public 2-year institutions made up a 

higher percentage of transfer students than those transferring from all other sectors 

except private, nonprofit less-than-4-year. The highest percentages of students 

transferring or coenrolling were students who began in

• public 2-year institutions (42 percent of students transferring/coenrolling 

[42 percent is derived from table 5]); 

• private nonprofit less-than-4-year institutions (41 percent of students 

transferring/coenrolling [41 percent is derived from table 5]); and

• private nonprofit 4-year and public 4-year institutions (33 percent of students 

transferring/coenrolling [33 percent is derived from table 5]).

The lowest percentages of students transferring or coenrolling were students who 

began in

• public less-than-2-year institutions (16 percent of students 

transferring/coenrolling [16 percent is derived from table 5]); 

• private for-profit less-than-4-year institutions (16 percent of students 

transferring/coenrolling [16 percent is derived from table 5]); and

• private for-profit 4-year institutions (11 percent of students 

transferring/coenrolling [11 percent is derived from table 5]).

Differences in transfer rates by control and level are explored later in this report. 
 

CHAPTER 1. FREQUENCY OF STUDENT AND CREDIT TRANSFER 23

Table 5. Number and percentage distribution of first-time beginning undergraduate students in 

2003–04, by transfer/coenrollment status within sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Adjusted sector of first 

institution of attendance

Total 

students 

(thousands)

Attended one 

institution or 

returned to origin in 

less than 4 months Attended multiple institutions

No student transfer 

or coenrollment

One 

transfer/coenrollment

Two or more 

transfers/coenrollments

Unable to 

determine 

number

Total 3,614.0 65.4 21.4 10.5 2.7

Public 4-year 864.4 66.7 * 18.4 12.7 2.3

Public 2-year (comparison 

group) 1,686.3 58.2 26.9 11.8 3.1

Public less-than-2-year 34.4 84.0 * 11.4! ‡ ‡ 

Private nonprofit 4-year 407.6 67.3 * 18.0 11.2 3.5

Private nonprofit lessthan-4-year 30.7 59.2 28.6 9.9! ‡ 

Private for-profit 4-year 132.9 88.8 * 8.2! ‡ ‡ 

Private for-profit less-than4-year 359.9 83.8 * 11.9 2.4 ‡ 

! Unstable estimate (relative standard error for estimate exceeds 30 percent). 

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50 percent

or greater.

* Estimate is significantly different from the students at public 2-year institutions, shown in italics (p < .01). 

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Students who returned to their origin institution after an 

enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Institutions that

offer 4-year degrees but are predominantly associate’s institutions were classified as 2-year. The term “adjusted level” is 

used so that users can distinguish the INSTCAT adjusted level from the LEVEL variable in the Integrated Postsecondary 

Education Data System (IPEDS). The term “adjusted sector” is used to note differences by the sector variable as well.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

Credit Transfer

For the subset of students who elected to move from one postsecondary institution 

to another, credit transfer was not guaranteed. As shown in table 6, on average 

students lost 13 credits as a result of their first transfer or coenrollment. For about 

39 percent of students, no credits transferred between the origin and first destination 

institution, with an average loss of 27 earned credits. Almost a third of students 

transferred all the credits they had earned at their origin institution to their first 

destination institution, retaining an average of 24 credits. 
 

24 CHAPTER 1. FREQUENCY OF STUDENT AND CREDIT TRANSFER

Table 6. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred to/

coenrolled in another institution, the mean number of credits earned at origin institution, 

transferred to destination, and the difference between credits earned and transferred 

during the first transfer, by volume of credits transferred

Credits transferred

Total 

students 

percent1

Total credits per student

Earned at 

origin 

institution

Transferred to 

destination 

institution

Difference between 

credits earned and 

transferred

Total 100.0 29.6 16.9 12.7

No credits transferred 39.4 26.6 # 26.6

Some credits transferred 28.2 46.3 33.4 12.9

All credits transferred 32.4 24.2 24.2 # 

# Estimate rounds to zero. 1 Percentages in this table do not match other similar estimates in this publication due to the removal of cases with 

missing values for either credits earned at the origin institution and/or credits transferred to the destination institution 

(both were used to compute the difference between credits earned and transferred). See appendix B and table B-3 for 

more information.

NOTE: Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination 

institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours have been normalized so that they are comparable 

across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit unit.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Postsecondary Education 

Transcript Study (PETS): 2008–09 (Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study 2004/09 Component).

As noted earlier, at least some credit loss may be due to students’ failure to advise 

their destination institution of prior academic work. While the magnitude of this 

effect is difficult to quantify, there was at least some evidence to suggest it was not 

trivial. For example, Cominole et al. (2006) reported that almost 31 percent of 

students identified by institutions as first-time beginners during sampling for the base 

year of BPS:04/09 actually had prior postsecondary enrollment. Either these 

students never informed the sampled NPSAS institution of prior enrollment or these 

institutions did not have mechanisms in place to capture such information.

Conclusion

Here are key findings from this chapter: 

• A large minority of students attended more than one institution. 

Approximately 65 percent of all postsecondary students attended only one 

institution, 21 percent transferred once, and an additional 11 percent 

transferred more than once.

• Of the students who did transfer, approximately 39 percent transferred no 

credits, 28 percent transferred some credits, and 32 percent transferred all 

previously earned credits in the first transfer. On average, students lost 

approximately 13 credits following the first transfer. 
 

25

Chapter 2. Relationship Between Credit 

Transfer and Characteristics of 

Institutions and Students 

What characteristics of institutions (i.e., control, level, accreditation, and selectivity) and 

students (i.e., GPA and degree/award level of program) are related to credit transfer?

This chapter examines institutional and student factors related to the transfer of 

credit. The first part of the chapter examines credit transfer by select institutional 

characteristics including control, level, sector, and accreditation status. The second 

part focuses on the relationship between student enrollment characteristics and 

credit transfer, including academic performance and degree program. Because 

student and institutional characteristics may jointly impact credit transfer, the final

chapter of the report describes the results of a multivariate analysis on the joint 

effects of the comparisons made in this chapter. 

Transfer Activity by Type of Origin Institution 

As shown in the previous chapter, student transfers/coenrollments were not 

proportionally distributed across institutional types. The majority of transfer 

activity observed in the BPS:04/09 sample was for students transferring from 

public 2-year institutions. Table 7 summarizes the transfer activity (both potential 

transfer opportunities and number of credits transferred) and is not limited to the 

student’s first transfer (i.e., it includes all recorded potential transfer opportunities 

and credit transfers). The 1.4 million potential transfer opportunities and 19.1 

million credits transferred from public 2-year institutions were (a) almost triple the 

volume of student and credit transfers from public 4-year institutions (683,000

transfer opportunities 7.0 million credits transferred); (b) more than five times 

greater than private nonprofit 4-year (310,000 transfer opportunities; 3.1 million 

credits transferred); and (c) greater than 10 times all remaining sectors, including 

for-profit institutions. 

Because of these disproportionate transfer rates, factors that may influence the 

transfer of credit (such as the characteristics covered in this chapter) may affect some 
 

26 CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS

groups of students more than others. The analysis of institutional sector, for 

example, should be viewed in light of the relatively high number of student 

transfers/coenrollments from public 2-year institutions and the low number of 

student transfers/coenrollments out of for-profit institutions. In tables 8 through 12, 

a column indicates the percentage of students in each group to provide context to 

the estimates. 

Table 7. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred or coenrolled: 

Number of credit transfer opportunities and credits, by sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship Number (thousands)

Number of credit transfer opportunities

Public 4-year to all others 682.8*

Private nonprofit 4-year to all others 310.2*

Private for-profit 4-year to all others 34.0*

Public 2-year to all others (comparison group) 1,449.8

Private nonprofit less-than-4-year to all others 28.5*

Private for-profit 2-year to all others 63.5*

Public less-than-2-year to all others 7.5*

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to all others 32.9*

Number of credits transferred

Public 4-year to all others 6,980.5*

Private nonprofit 4-year to all others 3,113.5*

Private for-profit 4-year to all others 125.7!*

Public 2-year to all others (comparison group) 19,079.3

Private nonprofit less-than-4-year to all others 337.8!*

Private for-profit 2-year to all others 175.1*

Public less-than-2-year to all others ‡

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to all others 0.3!*

Unknown origin due to bulk credit transfer 164.9*

! Unstable estimate (relative standard error for estimate exceeds 30 percent).

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50 

percent or greater. 

* Estimate is significantly different from the comparison group shown in italics (p < .01). 

NOTE: This table includes all transfer events and may include multiple transfer events per student. Students who 

returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not 

considered to have transferred. Institutions that offer 4-year degrees but are predominantly associate’s institutions 

were classified as 2-year. The term “adjusted level” is used so users can distinguish the INSTCAT adjusted level from 

the LEVEL variable in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The term “adjusted sector” is 

used to note differences by the sector variable as well.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
 

CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS 27

Characteristics of Origin Institutions and the Transfer of Credit

As noted in table 6, two-thirds of students experienced some credit loss during their 

first transfer. This chapter explores the relationship between credit transfer and 

characteristics of students’ origin and destination institutions. Specifically, the 

analysis focuses on the relationship between institutional characteristics and (a) the 

proportion of students for whom no credits transferred from their institution of 

origin to their destination institution, and (b) the number of credits lost during the 

first transfer or coenrollment. The variables selected for this analysis are consistent 

with the literature on student transfer.14 A priori, the analysis is based on the 

hypothesis that institutional characteristics were unrelated to both outcomes. 

Institutional Control

To begin exploring the relationship between the loss of credits and institutional 

characteristics, tables 8 and 9 separate students into groups representing the 

relationship between the control15 of students’ origin and destination institutions. 

Seven groups were formed: 

• public institutions to (1) other public institutions, (2) nonprofit institutions, 

and (3) for-profit institutions; 

• nonprofit institutions to (4) public institutions, (5) other nonprofit

institutions, and (6) for-profit institutions; and

• because of the small number of students transferring from for-profit 

institutions, (7) for-profit institutions to any other types of institutions.

Two statistical tests were used in this (and subsequent) chapters to explore the 

relationship between student or institutional characteristics and transfer of credit 

outcomes. One test examined differences in the percentages of students for whom 

no credits transferred between their origin and destination institutions, and another

test was used to determine if there were differences in the number of credits lost 

during the first transfer or coenrollment. 

14 These variables are consistent with the literature on student transfer, especially about the effect of 

institutional level on transfer (Bradburn and Hurst 2001; Townsend and Dever 1999; de los Santos and 

Wright 1990). Institutional characteristics are also explored in other studies when examining other 

factors such as socioeconomic status, academic preparation, and curricula in the context of institutional 

characteristics (Cabrera, Burkum, and La Nasa 2005; Freeman, Conley, and Brooks 2006; Goldrick-Rab 

2006; Goldrick-Rab and Pfeffer 2009; Li 2010). In addition to the literature, the inclusion of control, 

selectivity, and accreditation status in this analysis is a result of federal policymakers seeking to identify 

efficiencies in the credit transfer process regardless of different institutional contexts (GAO 2005).

15 Institutional control is the classification of whether an institution is operated by publicly elected or 

appointed officials and derives its major source of funds from public sources (public control) or by 

privately elected or appointed officials and derives its major source of funds from private sources 

(private control). 

 
28 CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS

Table 8. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred or 

coenrolled, the percentage distribution of transfer students and the percentage of

students with no credits transferred, by control, level, and sector relationship: 2003–04 

to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Total transfer or 

coenrolled 

students (percent)

Transfer/coenrolled 

students with no credits 

transferring (percent)

Total 100.0 41.4

Control relationship

Public to public (comparison group) 62.0 38.1

Public to private nonprofit 14.3 25.7* 

Public to private for-profit 5.4 68.5*

Private nonprofit to public 8.2 46.6

Private nonprofit to private nonprofit 3.4 30.6

Private nonprofit to private for-profit 0.4 ‡

Private for-profit to all other control groups 6.3 83.0*

Adjusted level relationship

4-year to 4-year 21.4 27.5*

4-year to 2-year 14.0 65.5*

2-year to 4-year (comparison group) 40.1 20.9

2-year to 2-year 20.4 67.6*

All others to/from less-than-2-year 4.1 96.5*

Adjusted sector relationship

2-year public to 4-year public (comparison group) 27.9 19.3

2-year public to 2-year public 15.0 63.8*

4-year public to 4-year public 9.4 24.7

4-year public to 2-year public 8.9 63.6* 

2-year public to 4-year private nonprofit 9.0 21.2*

4-year private nonprofit to 4-year public 3.9 22.5

4-year public to a 4-year private nonprofit 4.0 31.6

4-year private nonprofit to 2-year public 3.6 68.6

4-year private nonprofit to 4-year private nonprofit 3.0 31.2

Other institution to 4-year private for-profit 3.1 40.3

Other institution to 2-year private for-profit 3.4 88.9

Other institution combination 8.7 75.1

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50 

percent or greater.

* Estimate is significantly different from the comparison group shown in italics (p < .01).

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Students who returned to their origin institution after an 

enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours 

have been normalized so that they are comparable across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit 

unit. Institutions that offer 4-year degrees but are predominantly associate’s institutions were classified as 2-year. 

Institutions that offer 4-year degrees but are predominantly associate’s institutions were classified as 2-year. The term 

“adjusted level” is used so that users can distinguish the INSTCAT adjusted level from the LEVEL variable in the 

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The term “adjusted sector” is used to note differences by 

the sector variable as well.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS 29

Table 9. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred or 

coenrolled, the average credits earned at the origin institution, the average credits 

accepted at the first transfer destination institution, and the difference between the 

credits earned and transferred, by control, level, and sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Total credits Difference 

between 

credits earned 

and transferred

Earned at 

origin 

institution

Transferred 

to destination 

institution

Total 29.6 16.9 12.7

Control relationship

Public to public (comparison group) 31.3 19.6 11.7

Public to private nonprofit 25.6 17.1 8.5

Public to private for-profit 19.6 5.2 14.4

Private nonprofit to public 32.8 15.3 17.6* 

Private nonprofit to private nonprofit 34.0 16.2 17.8

Private nonprofit to private for-profit 24.5 6.9! 17.6

Private for-profit to public 27.0 1.9! 25.1

Private for-profit to private nonprofit ‡ ‡ ‡ 

Private for-profit to private for-profit 20.9 3.7! 17.2

Adjusted level relationship

4-year to 4-year 32.0 21.4 10.6

4-year to 2-year 28.1 6.1 22.1* 

2-year to 4-year (comparison group) 34.7 26.5 8.2

2-year to 2-year 20.8 5.7 15.1* 

All others to/from less-than-2-year 18.8 ‡ 17.2

Adjusted sector relationship

2-year public to 4-year public (comparison group) 37.7 30.1 7.6

2-year public to 2-year public 20.7 6.7 14.0* 

4-year public to a 4-year public 35.5 26.2 9.3

4-year public to a 2-year public 27.2 6.3 21.0* 

2-year public to a 4-year private nonprofit 28.0 20.0 8.0

4-year private nonprofit to a 4-year public 35.7 25.0 10.7

4-year public to a 4-year private nonprofit 20.4 13.0 7.4

4-year private nonprofit to a 2-year public 31.3 6.8 24.5* 

4-year private nonprofit to a 4-year private nonprofit 34.0 15.9 18.1

Other institution to 4-year private for-profit 24.5 11.9 12.6

Other institution to 2-year private for-profit 19.4 1.4! 18.0* 

Other institution combination 24.1 5.4 18.7

! Unstable estimate (relative standard error for estimate exceeds 30 percent). 

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50

percent or greater.

* Estimate is significantly different from the comparison group shown in italics (p < .01).

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Students who returned to their origin institution after an 

enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours 

have been normalized so that they are comparable across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit 

unit. Institutions that offer 4-year degrees but are predominantly associate’s institutions were classified as 2-year. The 

term “adjusted level” is used so that users can distinguish the INSTCAT adjusted level from the LEVEL variable in the 

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The term “adjusted sector” is used to note differences by 

the sector variable as well.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
30 CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS

As shown in tables 8 and 9, differences exist by institutional control relationship and 

both (a) the possibility of credit transfer and (b) the number of credits lost among 

those transferring credits. 

Proportion of students who transferred without credits. Across all institutional 

control groups, approximately 41 percent of students who transferred had no 

credits transfer to their destination institution. As shown in table 8, thirty-one 

percent of students transferring from private nonprofit to other private nonprofit 

institutions experienced no transfer of credit, while 83 percent of students 

transferring from private for-profit to all other control groups experienced no 

transfer of credit. More students transferred or coenrolled without credits 

transferring when students moved from public to private for-profit institutions and

private for-profit to any other type of institution (69 percent and 83 percent 

respectively) when compared to students moving from public to other public 

institutions (38 percent). Finally, students moving from public institutions to 

private nonprofit institutions had a higher proportion of students transferring 

credits (74 percent; calculated from table 8) compared to students moving from 

public to public institutions.

Number of credits not transferred. On average, students lost 13 credits when 

transferring institutions. Students transferring from public to other public 

institutions lost just under one semester of coursework (12 credits), which is close 

to the average of 13 credits lost. This was fewer credits lost than for students 

transferring from private nonprofit to public institutions (18 credits). While credit 

loss for students transferring out of for-profit institutions ranged from 17 to 25 

credits, there was no measurable difference when compared with students 

transferring from public to other public institutions. This is likely due to the large 

standard errors in the for-profit group.16 On average, there was no detectable 

difference with the other institutional control groups and the public to public 

transfer students, with average credit loss ranging from 14 to 18 credits. 

Adjusted Institution Level

To explore the relationship between credit loss and level (i.e., 4-year, 2-year, and lessthan-2-year) of students’ origin and destination institutions, five groups representing 

specific levels of relationship were formed: (1) 4-year to 4-year, (2) 4-year to 2-year, 

16 When the for-profit to public, for-profit to private nonprofit, and for-profit to for-profit groups are 

aggregated, the mean credit loss is 22 credits, and it is statistically different from public to public 

student transfers.
 

CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS 31

(3) 2-year to 4-year, (4) 2-year to 2-year, and (5) all others (e.g., less-than 2-year to 

4-year).17 

As shown in tables 8 and 9, credit transfer varied by institution level in (a) the 

possibility of credit transfer and (b) the difference between the number of credits 

earned at the origin institution and those transferred to the destination institution. 

The transfer pattern from a 2-year to a 4-year institution, the most commonly 

occurring level relationship, was set as the reference category to which all other 

relationships were compared. 

Proportion of students who transferred without credits. All groups were 

statistically different from the 2-year to 4-year vertical transfer pattern in the 

proportion of students who transferred without any credits. As table 8 shows, 

21 percent of students who transferred from a 2-year institution to a 4-year 

institution experienced no transfer of credit, compared to 28 percent of students 

who transferred laterally from a 4-year to another 4-year institution. A larger 

proportion of students (66 percent) who transferred in the reverse direction (i.e., 

4-year to 2-year) lost all their credits in the transfer. Approximately 68 percent of 

students transferred laterally from one 2-year institution to another without any 

credits transferring from the first institution. Nearly all students (97 percent) moving 

to or from less-than-2-year institutions had no credits transferred. 

Number of credits not transferred. Overall, students transferring or coenrolling 

vertically from a 2-year to a 4-year institution lost a lower number of credits than all 

other level groups, except for lateral transfers between 4-year institutions (i.e., 8 and 

11 credits). As table 9 shows, eight credits were lost for students who transferred 

from a 2-year to a 4-year institution, compared with 22 credits for students 

transferring in the reverse and 15 credits for students transferring from a 2-year to 

another 2-year institution. There were no measurable differences in the number of 

credits lost between the students transferring from a 4-year to another 4-year 

institution with students moving from 2-year to 4-year. Students with a horizontal

4-year transfer lost approximately 11 credits. 

Evidence in the analysis by level suggests that deviating from a traditional vertical 

transfer pattern (i.e., 2-year to 4-year)) resulted in a higher likelihood of no credits 

transferring, and a higher number of credits lost for students who were able to 

transfer credit. This finding is consistent with a report from the U.S. Department 

17 Institutions that were classified as 4-year institutions in the Integrated Postsecondary Education 

Data System (IPEDS) but with a majority of degrees at the associate’s degree-granting level were 

reclassified as 2-year using the institutional category (INSTCAT) variable in the IPEDS data center.

 
 

32 CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS

of Education that asserts that purposeful transfers from a community college to a 

4-year college or from one 4-year college to another “were positively associated 

with degree completion, but wandering from one school to another was not” 

(Adelman 2006, p. xxi).

Adjusted Level and Control Combined: Adjusted Institutional Sector

The preceding chapter provided evidence that the control of students’ origin and 

destination institutions may be related to credit transfer. To determine whether the 

relationship between credit transfer and adjusted level is consistent across all types of 

institutional control groupings, students were placed into groups based on the 

relationship between the sectors of students’ origin and destination institutions. As 

shown in tables 8 and 9, a total of 12 groups were formed (representing adjusted18

institutional sector): 

• 2-year public to (1) 4-year public, (2) 2-year public, and (3) 4-year private 

nonprofit;

• 4-year public to (4) 4-year public, (5) 2-year public, and (6) 4-year private 

nonprofit;

• 4-year private nonprofit to (7) 4-year public, (8) 2-year public, and (9) 4-year 

private nonprofit;

• all institution types to (10) 4-year private for-profit, and (11) 2-year private 

for-profit; and

• all other combinations (12). 

As with level and control, table 8 shows that that the proportion of students with 

“no credits transferred” varied by sector relationship. Similarly, table 9 shows a 

possible relationship between sector and credits lost. 

Proportion of students who transferred without credits. Table 8 shows that

approximately 19 percent of students who transferred vertically from public 2-year to 

public 4-year experienced no transfer of credit to the destination institution. 

Consistent with the findings on transfer by adjusted level, the following groups had 

higher proportions of students without credits transferring compared to students 

moving vertically from public 2-year to public 4-year institutions: 

18 Institutions that were classified as 4-year institutions in IPEDS but with a majority of degrees at the 

associate’s level were reclassified in the 2-year sector equivalent using the INSTCAT variable in the 

IPEDS data center.

 
 

CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS 33

• reverse transfers from public 4-year to public 2-year (64 percent); 

• reverse transfers from private nonprofit 4-year to public 2-year (69 percent); 

and

• lateral transfers from public 2-year to public 2-year institutions (64 percent).

Students transferring horizontally (i.e., 2-year to 2-year or 4-year to 4-year), regardless 

of control, did not differ from students transferring from 2-year to 4-year 

institutions. A higher proportion of students transferring to for-profit institutions did 

so without credits compared to 19 percent in the public 2-year to public 4-year 

reference group (89 percent to for-profit 2-year and 40 percent to for-profit 4-year). 

These findings suggest that institutional level, and not control, may drive credit 

transfer. 

Number of credits not transferred. As shown in table 9, students who moved 

from public 2-year to public 2-year institutions had a higher number of credits not 

transferred (14 credits) compared with students who moved from a 2-year public to a 

4-year public (8 credits). For the other sector transfer patterns, students transferring 

from 2-year to 4-year institutions or 4-year to 4-year institutions lost fewer credits, 

regardless of institutional control. As shown in table 8, horizontal 4-year to 4-year 

sectors did not differ from public 2-year to public 4-year student transfers (ranging 

from 7 to 10 credits lost), but students transferring in reverse had a higher number of 

credits lost (ranging from 18 to 24 credits). 

Accreditation Status

Accreditation status refers to whether an institution is recognized by a regional 

accreditor or a national accreditor.19 Students were categorized based on the 

accreditation status of the origin and destination institutions in their first transfer or 

coenrollment. The categories include (1) regional to regional, (2) national to regional, 

(3) regional to national, (4) national to national, and (5) other accreditation 

relationship. 

19 Regional accrediting organizations include (1) Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools 

(Middle States Commission on Higher Education), (2) New England Association of Schools and 

Colleges (Commission on Institutions of Higher Education), (3) North Central Association of Colleges 

and Schools (The Higher Learning Commission), (4) Southern Association of Colleges and Schools 

(Commission on Colleges), and (5) Western Association of Schools and Colleges (Accrediting 

Commission for Community and Junior Colleges and Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and 

Universities). Historically each organization was responsible for recognizing organizations within their 

region. For a list of national accreditors, see http://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html. 

 
 

34 CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS

Proportion of students who transferred without credits. As table 10 shows, 

90 percent of students transferred between regionally accredited institutions. Among 

these students, approximately 37 percent had no credits transferring. All the other 

accreditation relationship groupings (i.e., national to regional, regional to national, 

and national to national) had a higher proportion of students without credits 

transferring (all above 80 percent). 

Number of credits not transferred. Table 11 displays the average number of 

credits not transferred to the destination institution. On average, students lost almost 

13 credits after their first transfer. Students transferring from regionally accredited 

institutions to other regionally accredited institutions lost an average of 12 credits, 

while those transferring from a nationally accredited institution to a nationally

accredited institution lost an average of 4 more credits, for 16 credits total. There 

were no measurable differences in the number of credits lost in transfers between 

nationally and regionally accredited institutions (in either direction) and other 

patterns of transfer, but the standard errors for these smaller groups were larger. 

Future research may be able to examine differences in credit transfer among specific 

regional accreditors. 

Selectivity 

To explore the relationship between institutional selectivity20,21 and transfer 

outcomes, nine categories were created to reflect the selectivity relationship between 

students’ origin and destination institutions. The resulting groups are

20 The selectivity measure was developed using data from IPEDS using the following criteria: (1) whether 

the institution was open admission (no minimal requirements), (2) the number of applicants, (3) the 

number of students admitted, (4) the 25th and 75th percentiles of ACT and/or SAT scores, and 

(5) whether test scores were required. Open admission institutions were formed into a separate category. 

For nonopen admission institutions, an index was created from two variables: (1) the centile distribution 

of the percentage of students who were admitted (of those who applied), and (2) the centile distribution 

of the midpoint between the 25th and 75th percentile SAT/ACT combined scores reported by each 

institution (ACT scores were converted into SAT equivalents). The two variables were given equal weight 

for those nonopen admission institutions that had data for both, and the combined centile variable was 

divided into selectivity categories: very selective, moderately selective, and minimally selective, based on 

breaks in the distribution. Institutions that did not have test score data were assigned to the selectivity 

categories using a combination of percentage admitted and whether they required test scores; institutions 

that did not require test scores were assigned to the minimally selective category, while the remainder 

were assigned according to the range of centiles of percentage admitted in which they fell. The method is 

similar to what is described in appendix E of Cunningham, A.F. (2005). Changes in Patterns of Prices and 

Financial Aid (NCES 2006-153). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for 

Education Statistics.

 
 

CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS 35

• open admission institutions to (1) other open admission institutions, 

(2) minimally selective institutions, and (3) selective institutions; 

• minimally selective institutions to (4) open admission institutions, (5) other 

minimally selective institutions, and (6) selective institutions; and

• selective institutions to (7) open admission institutions, (8) minimally selective 

institutions, and (9) other selective institutions. 

Overall, a relationship exists between the selectivity of the origin and destination 

institutions and credit transfer. 

Proportion of students who transfer without credits. As table 10 shows, 66

percent of students transferring from an open admissions institution to another open 

admissions institution did not transfer credits. This percentage is not statistically 

different from students transferring to open admissions institutions from other 

selectivity groups. The proportion of students without credits transferring to an 

institution with open admissions was 66 percent when transferring from another 

open admissions institution, 67 percent from a minimally selective institution, and 

65 percent from a selective institution. Students transferring to institutions with 

higher selectivity levels had a lower percentage of students without credits 

transferring compared to students from open admissions to other open admissions 

institutions with 21 percent to 40 percent of students transferring without credits for

the other selectivity combinations. 

21 Other studies that examined selectivity and student transfer (see Dowd and Melguizo 2008; and 

Dowd, Cheslock, and Melguizo 2008) on NCES data used Barron’s Academic Competitiveness Index. 

See Schmitt (2009). Documentation for the Restricted-Use NCES-Barron’s Admissions Competitiveness Index 

Files: 1972, 1982, 1992, 2004, and 2008 (NCES 2010-330). U.S. Department of Education. 

Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Less than 35 percent of BPS:04/09 

institutions that provided transcripts were included in this index because Barron’s does not include 

institutions below the 4-year level and includes only a minority of public and for-profit institutions. 

Of those that were successfully matched, the correlation is .65 between Barron’s and the selectivity 

measure used in this study.

 
36 CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS

Table 10. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred or 

coenrolled, the percentage distribution of transfer students and the percentage of 

transfer students with no credits transferring, by accreditation and selectivity 

relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Total transfer or 

coenrolled 

students 

(percent)

Transfer/coenrolled 

students with no 

credits transferring 

(percent)

Total 100.0 41.4

Accreditation relationship

Regional to regional (comparison group) 90.0 36.5

Regional to national 4.2 83.3*

National to regional 4.3 81.4*

National to national 1.4 84.3*

Other relationship ‡ ‡ 

Institution selectivity relationship

Open admission to open admission (comparison group) 21.9 66.2

Open admission to minimally selective 8.0 32.5*

Open admission to selective 31.4 21.1*

Minimally selective to open admission 5.6 67.0

Minimally selective to minimally selective 1.6 40.2*

Minimally selective to selective 4.5 25.1*

Selective to open admission 10.5 65.0

Selective to minimally selective 3.0 34.4*

Selective to selective 13.6 26.6*

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50 

percent or greater.

* Estimate is significantly different from the comparison group shown in italics (p < .01).

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Students who returned to their origin institution after an 

enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours 

have been normalized so that they are comparable across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit 

unit. The “moderately selective” and “selective” classifications were recoded into one “selective” group.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

Number of credits not transferred. As shown in table 11, students who transferred 

to open admissions institutions lost more credits than those transferring to more 

selective institutions. Students who transferred to an open admissions institution lost 

an average of 15 credits when transferring from another open admissions institution, 

twenty-one credits from a minimally selective institution, and 22 credits from a 

selective institution. Compared to students who transferred from open admissions to 

other open admissions institutions, students transferring to more selective 

institutions lost fewer credits, including 

• open admissions to minimally selective institutions (9 credits lost);

• open admissions to selective institutions (8 credits lost); and

• minimally selective to selective institutions (9 credits lost).
CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS 37

Table 11. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred or 

coenrolled, the average credits earned at the origin institution, the average credits 

accepted at the first transfer destination institution, and the difference between the 

average percentage earned and the average percentage transferred, by accreditation and 

selectivity relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Total transfer/

coenrollment 

students 

(percent)

Total credits Difference 

between 

credits 

earned and 

transferred

Earned at 

origin 

institution

Transferred 

to 

destination 

institution

Total 100.0 29.6 16.9 12.7

Accreditation relationship

Regional to regional (comparison 

group) 89.9 30.7 18.6 12.1

Regional to national 4.8 18.7 2.2! 16.6

National to regional 3.9 25.4 4.2! 21.2

National to national 1.2! 17.3 ‡ 15.7* 

Other relationship ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ 

Institution selectivity relationship

Open admission to open admission 

(comparison group) 21.6 22.4 7.7 14.7

Open admission to minimally selective 7.9 30.7 21.8 8.9* 

Open admission to selective 30.2 34.2 26.6 7.6* 

Minimally selective to open admission 5.8 25.7 5.1 20.6

Minimally selective to minimally 

selective 1.5 29.9 15.1 14.8

Minimally selective to selective 4.6 28.1 19.0 9.2* 

Selective to open admission 12.1 29.2 7.1 22.1* 

Selective to minimally selective 3.1 28.7 15.5 13.2

Selective to selective 13.2 33.8 22.7 11.1

! Unstable estimate (relative standard error for estimate exceeds 30 percent). 

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50 

percent or greater.

* Estimate is significantly different from the comparison group shown in italics (p < .01).

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Students who returned to their origin institution after an 

enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours 

have been normalized so that they are comparable across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit 

unit. The “moderately selective” and “selective” classifications were recoded into one “selective” group.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/90), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

Student Enrollment Characteristics and Credit Transfer 

This section examines the relationship between credit transfer and student 

characteristics. The analysis looks at (a) degree program change during the transfer, 

and (b) academic performance as measured by GPA.22 Credit transfer by degree 

22 Change in major at transfer, which might also be related to the transfer of credits, cannot be 

explored because field of study was not reliably reported on the transcripts collected.
 

38 CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS

program change and academic performance as measured by GPA are displayed in 

table 12. 

Degree/Award Level Program Change

Institutions may have program course requirements that differ by degree or award 

level (i.e., associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, or certificate) and may not accept 

previous college credit if a student elects to change the degree/award level of his or 

her program. The degree/award level of students’ programs, however, is not reliably 

reported on transcripts, except for students with a degree or certificate awarded by 

the institution. To create groups representing the relationship between the 

degree/award level of students’ programs before and after transfer, ten categories 

were created. Six of these categories represent students who had enrolled in a 

certificate, associate’s degree, or bachelor’s degree program prior to transfer, the 

majority of whom had earned a credential. The resulting groups include: 

• associate’s degree to (1) bachelor’s degree, (2) associate’s degree, and 

(3) undergraduate courses/no degree program; and

• bachelor’s degree to (4) bachelor’s degree, (5) associate’s degree, and 

(6) undergraduate courses/no degree program. 

Three include students enrolled in undergraduate courses with no degree program 

listed on the transcript (many did not complete a credential): 

• undergraduate courses/no degree program to (7) bachelor’s degree, 

(8) associate’s degree, and (9) undergraduate courses/no degree program. 

• The final group included students moving to and from certificate and other 

programs.23

As shown in table 12, a relationship exists between degree/award level program 

change and the proportion of students without credits transferring and the number 

of credit not transferred. 

 

23 Transcripts that indicate a degree other than undergraduate certificate, associate’s degree, bachelor’s 

degree, postgraduate certificate, master’s degree, professional degree, or doctoral degree were coded as 

“Other.”
CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS 39

Proportion of students who transferred without credits. As shown in table 12, 

approximately 41 percent of all students attended another institution without the 

transfer of credits. Students who moved to a higher degree/award level were less 

likely to lose all their credits when transferring/coenrolling. Specifically, there was a 

lower proportion of students transferring/coenrolling without transferring credits in 

the “undergraduate courses/no degree program to a bachelor’s degree program” 

group (which mostly included community college students who had not been 

enrolled in an associate’s degree program) (21 percent) compared to students 

transferring or coenrolling from associate’s to other associate’s degree programs 

(52 percent), and students transferring or coenrolling from a bachelor’s degree 

program to an associate’s degree program (54 percent). An even smaller percentage 

of students transferred or were coenrolled with no credits moving from an 

associate’s degree program to a bachelor’s degree program (12 percent). 

Number of credits not transferred. When examining the number of credits lost, 

the students transferring/coenrolling from the “undergraduate courses/no degree 

program to a bachelor’s degree” program lost the lowest number of credits (4), 

which is below the overall average of 13 credits (table 12). All other degree change 

groups were near or above the mean and lost more credits, on average, than students 

transferring from undergraduate courses/no degree program to a bachelor’s degree 

program. 

Academic Performance

Credit transfer may be at least partially a function of a student’s prior academic 

performance, as many destination institutions have minimum performance 

thresholds for transferring credit. Academic performance was measured by the 

normalized GPA from the origin institution, and GPAs were combined into three 

groups: (a) 0.00 to 1.99, (b) 2.00 to 2.99, and (c) 3.00 and above. Table 12 lists the 

percentages of students without credits transferring by GPA group. Overall, the 

proportion of students without credits transferring decreased across the groups as 

grades increased, but this pattern is not evident in numbers of credits transferred. 

Proportion of students who transferred without credits. As shown in table 12, 

the higher the GPA, the lower the proportion of students without credits 

transferring. Approximately 67 percent of students who earned a GPA below 2.00 at 

their origin institution had no credits transferred, compared with 39 percent of 

students with GPAs between 2.00 and 2.99, and 31 percent with GPAs above 3.00. 
40 CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS

Table 12. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred or 

coenrolled, the percentage distribution of transfer students, the percentage of 

students with no credits transferred, and the difference between credits transferred 

and earned, by award level change relationship, and grade point average at origin 

institution: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Total 

transfer/

coenrollment 

students 

(percent)

Transfer 

students with 

no credits 

transferring

(percent)

Difference 

between credits 

earned at origin 

and credits 

transferred

(number)

Total 100.0 41.4 12.7

Degree/award level change

Associate’s degree to bachelor’s degree 9.3 12.1* 10.6*

Associate’s degree to associate’s degree 2.4 52.3* 18.3*

Associate’s degree to undergraduate courses/no 

degree 6.0 49.4* 20.9*

Bachelor’s degree to bachelor’s degree 4.1 16.7 9.0*

Bachelor’s degree to associate’s degree 2.4 53.8* 17.3*

Bachelor’s degree to undergraduate courses/no 

degree 5.3 70.1* 33.0*

Undergraduate courses/no degree to bachelor’s 

degree (comparison group) 33.8 20.6 4.1

Undergraduate courses/no degree to associate’s 

degree 9.0 55.8* 12.3*

To and from undergraduate courses/no degree 16.2 55.1* 13.1*

To and from certificate and other programs 11.4 76.3* 15.8*

Grade point average at origin institution

0.00–1.99 (comparison group) 16.5 66.5 11.8

2.00–2.99 33.3 38.7* 15.4*

3.00–4.00 50.2 30.6* 12.1

* Estimate is significantly different from the comparison group shown in italics (p < .01).

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Students who returned to their origin institution after an 

enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours 

have been normalized so that they are comparable across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit 

unit.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

Number of credits not transferred. Among students who transferred credits, 

despite statistical differences by GPA group, the differences for all groups were near 

one semester of coursework for a full-time student, with credit loss ranging from 12 

credits in the 0.00 to 1.99 group and the above 3.00 group to 15 credits in the 2.00 to 

2.99 GPA group.
CHAPTER 2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CREDIT TRANSFER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INSTITUTIONS AND STUDENTS 41

Conclusion

The descriptive statistics in this chapter demonstrate that multiple factors may 

contribute to the transfer of credits. These include institutional factors such as 

institutional level relationship (i.e., transfer direction), institutional control 

relationship, accreditation status, institutional selectivity relationship, and 

accreditation relationship. Student factors such as academic performance and 

changing award/degree programs may also be related to the transfer of credits. The 

next chapter of this report uses multivariate statistical techniques to examine which 

factors are associated with credit transfer when considered jointly. 
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43

Chapter 3. Joint Effects of Institutional and 

Student Characteristics on 

Credit Transfer

The analyses reported in the prior chapter focused on the bivariate relationships 

between institutional or student characteristics and credit transfer, and did not 

consider how those relationships might change when these characteristics are 

considered jointly. This chapter examines whether deviations from traditional 

patterns of student transfer account for the variability in credit transfer after 

controlling for other variables. 

This chapter first presents two tables to better understand the joint effect of 

independent variables on credit transfer by examining the number of credits 

transferred within each transfer direction or pattern. Next, this chapter describes the 

descriptive multivariate technique used to explore the joint relationship of student 

and institutional characteristics on transfer outcomes. Finally, the chapter concludes 

by comparing the multivariate findings with the findings in the previous chapters. 

Credit Transfer and Traditional Student Transfer/Coenrollment

Patterns 

As demonstrated in the previous chapter, the descriptive statistics provide evidence 

that traditional transfer/coenrollment patterns (i.e., vertical 2-year to 4-year transfers) 

promote the transfer of credits, even when taking into account institutional control. 

Tables 13 and 14 examine whether a possible relationship exists between credit 

transfer and other covariates by the direction of transfer (i.e., the level relationship 

between institutions): 

• vertical (2-year to 4-year);

• horizontal or lateral (4-year to 4-year or 2-year to 2-year); and

• reverse (4-year to 2-year).
44 CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER

Table 13. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred/

coenrolled, the percentage of students without transfer credits in the students’ first

transfer institution within each transfer direction, by institution/academic 

characteristics: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Percent with no credits transferred

Total

Vertical 

transfer

Reverse 

transfer

Horizontal or 

lateral 

transfer

Total1 38.8 20.9 65.5 47.1

Control

No change in control (comparison group) 37.9 19.5 63.6 47.9

Change in control 41.0 24.3 69.4 45.4

Accreditation

No change in accreditation (comparison group) 36.4 19.8 64.5 43.5

Change in accreditation 76.0* 47.0* 92.0* 82.5*

Selectivity

Transfer to open/minimally selective institutions 

(comparison group) 55.2 26.0 65.7 59.9

Transfer to selective/moderately selective institutions 22.2* 19.0 ‡ 27.6*

Grade point average prior to transfer

0.00–1.99 (comparison group) 64.9 47.3 65.7 69.8

2.00–2.99 36.9* 20.9* 65.0 43.2*

3.00–-4.00 27.8* 15.9* 64.5 35.2*

Degree/award level change

No change in degree/certificate observed 

(comparison group) 48.0 38.2 65.2 46.9

Change in degree/certificate program 43.4 17.0* 69.0 69.4*

Undergraduate course/no program to a 

degree/certificate program 29.7* 18.7* 62.1 36.1*

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50 

percent or greater.

* Estimate is significantly different from the comparison group shown in italics (p < .01). 1 Overall (reading across the row), the percentage of students with no credits transferring are statistically different from 

each other, with vertical transfer students having the lowest proportion of students and reverse transfer students 

having the highest proportion of students transferring with no credits.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Students who returned to their origin institution after an 

enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours 

have been normalized so that they are comparable across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit 

unit. Institutions that offer 4-year degrees but are predominantly associate’s institutions were classified as 2-year. The 

term “adjusted level” is used so that users can distinguish the INSTCAT adjusted level from the LEVEL variable in the 

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

Table 13 displays the percentages of first-time beginning undergraduate students 

who transferred or coenrolled with no credits transferring to the destination 

institution for each transfer/coenrollment direction, by

• control relationship change (no change in control versus change in control

after transfer);

• accreditation relationship change (no change in accreditation versus change in

accreditation after transfer);
CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER 45

• selectivity relationship change (transfer to open admissions/minimally

selective versus selective/moderately selective);

• award level of program change (no change in award level, change in award

level, and undergraduate courses/no degree to a degree program); and

• GPA prior to transfer (three levels).

Proportion of Students Who Transfer/Coenroll Without Credits

Overall, 66 percent of students who transferred or coenrolled in reverse (i.e., from 

4-year to 2-year institutions) did not have credits transfer. This is higher than 

students who transferred or coenrolled vertically (i.e., from 2-year to 4-year 

institutions) with 21 percent of students without credits transferring. Among 

students who transferred or coenrolled to institutions within the same level (i.e., 

horizontal transfers), 47 percent had no credits transfer. Table 13 shows that the

relationship between covariates (such as selectivity, GPA prior to transfer, and

change in degree/award level following transfer) and credit transfer depends on 

transfer direction. For students transferring in the reverse direction, there is no 

measurable difference in the percentage of students without credits transferring and

institutional control, selectivity, GPA, and change in degree/award level, with 

percentages ranging from 62 to 69 percent. Transferring vertically or horizontally

does vary by multiple covariates, including GPA, award level change, and 

accreditation. The multivariate analysis accounts for the complexity of the variable 

relationships on credit transfer. 

Number of Credits Not Transferred

Table 14 shows the average number of credits transferred24 by institutional 

characteristics and student enrollment characteristics. Overall, the number of credits 

transferred varied by transfer direction. Students who transferred/coenrolled from

4-year to 2-year institutions (i.e., reverse transfer) transferred the lowest number of 

credits (18), while students who transferred/coenrolled between institutions at the same 

level (i.e., horizontal transfer) yielded 24 credits. Transferring or coenrolling from a 

2-year to a 4-year yielded the highest number of credits, with 32 credits transferring. 

24 This is a different measure from that used in previous tables. Measuring the number of credits lost 

is ideal for statistical tests because the construction of the variable controls for the effects of the 

number of credits a student has taken. Otherwise, the length of time a student is enrolled in 

postsecondary education confounds the other variables because the more credits the student earns, 

the more credits are available for transfer and the more credits that can be lost. The total number of 

credits transferred does not control for the length of time a student is enrolled.
46 CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER

Table 14. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred credits, 

the average number of credits transferred in the student’s first transfer, by direction of 

transfer within control, accreditation, selectivity, grade point average at origin institution, 

and degree program change: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Number of credits transferred

Total

Vertical

transfer

Reverse 

transfer

Horizontal 

or lateral 

transfer

Total1 27.6 31.8 18.3 23.6

Control

No change in control (comparison group) 30.0 35.0 18.1 25.0

Change in control 22.0* 23.6* 18.6 20.9

Accreditation

No change in accreditation (comparison group) 28.0 32.2 18.3 23.9

Change in accreditation 14.7* ‡ ‡ 16.5

Selectivity

Transfer to open/minimally selective institutions 

(comparison group) 23.4 32.5 18.1 19.9

Transfer to selective/moderately selective institutions 30.0* 31.7 ‡ 26.6*

Grade point average prior to transfer

0.00–1.99 (comparison group) 14.1 14.3 12.5 15.3

2.00–2.99 29.6* 32.4* 23.9* 27.0*

3.00–4.00 27.3* 31.0* 19.1 22.4*

Degree/award level change

No change in degree/certificate observed 

(comparison group) 26.7 23.7 18.9 29.3

Change in degree/certificate program 40.4* 45.4* 21.0 31.9

Undergraduate course/no program to a 

degree/certificate program 21.1* 22.9 15.3 19.0*

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50 

percent or greater.

* Estimate is significantly different from the comparison group shown in italics (p < .01). 1 Overall (reading across the row), the number of credits transferring by transfer direction is statistically different from 

each other with vertical transfer students having the highest number of credits transferring and reverse transfer 

students having least.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Students who returned to their origin institution after an 

enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours 

have been normalized so that they are comparable across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit 

unit. Institutions that offer 4-year degrees but are predominantly associate’s institutions were classified as 2-year when 

determining transfer direction.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

As shown in table 14, the relationships between control, accreditation, selectivity, 

GPA, and change in degree/award level program after transfer depend on the 

direction of transfer. For students transferring vertically, a relationship exists 

between the number of credits transferred and control, accreditation, selectivity, 

GPA, and change in degree/award level program after transfer. Similarly, for

students who transfer or coenroll in a horizontal direction, a relationship exists 

between the number of credits transferred and control, GPA, and change in 

degree/award level program. For students transferring vertically, only academic 

performance was related to credit transfer. 
CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER 47

Both tables 13 and 14, in conjunction with the statistical tests, indicate that complex 

relationships are present between transfer direction and the covariates. A multivariate 

analysis takes into account the joint effects of the covariates on the proportion of 

students transferring without credits and the number of credits transferred. 

Multivariate Analysis

Variables Used

The multivariate analysis uses variables from the BPS:04/09 transcript file appended 

with new measures developed for this analysis (see appendix A for variable 

descriptions) and is conducted at the student level. The dependent variable in the 

analysis is the total number of credits transferred in the first transfer. Due to missing 

data from many origin institutions, the number of lost credits (which was presented 

in chapter 2) was unavailable for the multivariate model.25 Independent variables of 

interest include 

• transfer direction (vertical, reverse, and horizontal);

• control of origin institution (public, private nonprofit, private for-profit);

• control of destination institution (public, private nonprofit, private for-profit);

• institutional accreditation (regional to regional, regional to national or other,

national to regional or other, national to national or other);

• selectivity (to moderately selective or selective versus to not selective or open

admissions);

• GPA prior to transfer; and

• number of months enrolled at first institution prior to transfer.26

The variables included in the model are consistent with the literature on student 

transfer such as transfer direction (by level) (McCormick 1997, 2003; Peter and

Forrest-Cataldi 2005; Berkner, He, and Cataldi 2002), nontraditional transfer patterns 

(e.g., reverse transfer and swirling) (Goldrick-Rab 2006; Goldrick-Rab and Pfeffer 

2009; Li 2010), GPA (Graham and Dallam 1992; Nolan 1978), accreditation 

relationship, and institutional control relationship (GAO 2005). Degree/award level 

25 The number of credits lost has higher missingness because the missing values from the origin 

institution are added to the missing values in the destination institution in the computation of the 

variable. While levels of missingness were low enough to provide bivariate estimates, when combined 

with missing items generated from the independent variables, they contributed to untenable levels of 

listwise deletion in the multivariate model.

26 The number of months enrolled at the first institution is included as a control variable to account 

for the amount of time a student has to earn credits, and therefore the increased pool of credits 

eligible for potential transfer.
48 CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER

change of the academic program was excluded from the model because of the 

potential to introduce bias from data that are not missing at random because only 

students who obtained a degree are likely to have a transcripted degree program, 

resulting in a possible bias in the estimates. 

The model includes a second set of independent variables to control for risk factors 

for dropping out or stopping out: 

• dependency status (dependent and independent);

• single parent status;

• responsibility for dependents (does not have dependents and has dependents);

• employment status (no job, part time, and full time);

• high school credential (high school diploma and General Education

Development [GED]/other diploma); and

• attendance intensity—first year (full time and part time).

In addition to risk variables, the model includes student demographic variables: 

• race (White, Black/African American, Asian, and all other race groups,

including more than one race27);

• ethnicity (non-Hispanic and Hispanic); and

• gender (male and female).

The control variables included in the model are consistent with the literature on 

student access and success. The risk factors, which were identified from previous 

BPS studies (Horn 1996; Berkner, He, and Cataldi 2002), are indicators of leaving 

postsecondary education without attaining a degree or credential. The demographic 

characteristics are identified from the literature on college choice; specifically, this 

says that students with certain characteristics are less likely to have or obtain the 

information required to navigate administrative processes such as college 

applications and financial aid (Perna 2006a, 2006b). Both sets of variables are 

included in the model to control for the lack of credit transfer resulting from the 

student not being able to navigate the administrative process to request a transcript 

review. These control variables are excluded from the part of the model that 

examines the review of credits for transfer, as this review is institutionally driven. A 

summary of the coding of the variables and the reference groups for categorical 

variables is displayed in table 15.

27 Due to the small number of transfer students, certain race groupings need to be combined, 

including American Indian, Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander, other, and more than one race. 

As a result, findings are limited for examining the transfer of credit by race.
 

CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER 49

Table 15. Descriptive statistics and variable coding for variables used for multivariate analyses of 

credit transfer among beginning first-time students: 2003–04 through 2008–09

Variable Variable coding

Unweighted 

observations Mean SD Min Max

Dependent variable

Total number of credits transferred 

in first transfer Continuous 6,120 14.6 22.1 0.0 156.5

Independent variables – transcript

Control of origin institution

Public Reference group 6,310 0.78 0.42 0.0 1.0

Private nonprofit 1 = yes 6,310 0.17 0.38 0.0 1.0

Private for-profit 1 = yes 6,310 0.05 0.22 0.0 1.0

Control of destination institution

Public Reference group 6,310 0.70 0.46 0.0 1.0

Private nonprofit 1 = yes 6,310 0.23 0.42 0.0 1.0

Private for-profit 1 = yes 6,310 0.07 0.26 0.0 1.0

Transfer direction

Vertical (2-year to 4-year) Reference group 6,280 0.41 0.49 0.0 1.0

Reverse (4-year to 2-year) 1 = yes 6,280 0.16 0.37 0.0 1.0

Horizontal (4-yr to 4-yr or 2-yr 

to 2-yr) 1 = yes 6,280 0.43 0.49 0.0 1.0

To and from less-than-2-year Excluded 

Accreditation relationship

Regional to regional Reference group 6,100 0.91 0.29 0.0 1.0

Regional to national (or other) 1 = yes 6,100 0.04 0.19 0.0 1.0

National to regional (or other) 1 = yes 6,100 0.04 0.19 0.0 1.0

National to national (or other) 1 = yes 6,100 0.01 0.11 0.0 1.0

Grade point average prior to 

transfer Continuous 6,040 2.81 0.88 0.0 4.0

Selectivity

To selective/moderately 

selective Reference group 6,170 0.48 0.50 0.0 1.0

To open admissions/minimally 

selective 1 = yes 6,170 0.52 0.50 0.0 1.0

Log months enrolled prior to first 

transfer Continuous 6,650 1.62 1.33 0.0 4.1

Independent variables – risk 

factors

Dependency status

Dependent Reference group 6,660 0.88 0.33 0.0 1.0

Independent 1 = yes 6,660 0.12 0.33 0.0 1.0

Single parent

Not a single parent Reference group 6,660 0.95 0.21 0.0 1.0

Single parent 1 = yes 6,660 0.05 0.21 0.0 1.0

Responsibility for dependents

Does not have dependents Reference group 6,660 0.92 0.27 0.0 1.0

Has dependents 1 = yes 6,660 0.08 0.27 0.0 1.0

Employment status

No job Reference group 6,660 0.33 0.47 0.0 1.0

Part-time 1 = yes 6,660 0.52 0.50 0.0 1.0

Full-time 1 = yes 6,660 0.15 0.36 0.0 1.0

See notes at end of table.
50 CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER

Table 15. Descriptive statistics and variable coding for variables used for multivariate analyses 

of credit transfer among beginning first-time students: 2003–04 through 2008–09

—Continued

Variable Variable coding

Unweighted 

observations Mean SD Min Max

Independent variables – risk 

factors—Continued

High school credential

High school diploma Reference group 6,660 0.93 0.26 0.0 1.0

GED or other diploma 1 = yes 6,660 0.07 0.26 0.0 1.0

Postsecondary attendance 

intensity in first year

Full-time Reference group 6,660 0.82 0.38 0.0 1.0

Part-time 1 = yes 6,660 0.18 0.38 0.0 1.0

Independent variables – 

demographic characteristics

Race

White Reference group 6,660 0.71 0.45 0.0 1.0

Black/African American 1 = yes 6,660 0.12 0.33 0.0 1.0

Asian 1 = yes 6,660 0.06 0.23 0.0 1.0

All other race groups, including 

more than one race1 1 = yes 6,660 0.11 0.32 0.0 1.0

Ethnicity

Not Hispanic Reference group 6,660 0.89 0.32 0.0 1.0

Hispanic 1 = yes 6,660 0.11 0.32 0.0 1.0

Gender

Male Reference group 6,660 0.40 0.49 0.0 1.0

Female 1 = yes 6,660 0.60 0.49 0.0 1.0

1

 Includes American Indian, Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander, other, and more than one race. 

NOTE: SD = standard deviation.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

Due to the limitations of the transcript collection, a number of other factors were 

omitted from the analysis, including but not limited to academic factors (e.g., change 

in major,28 number of credits earned in high school) and relationship between 

institutions (e.g., historically black colleges and universities/Hispanic-servicing 

institutions [HBCU/HSI] institution status, Carnegie classification, articulation 

agreements in place, state of institution, and distance between first and second 

institutions of attendance). 

Omitting these variables may lead to some unexplained variability in the multivariate 

model because these variables may explain why credits may or may not transfer. For 

28 Researchers who are interested in using “field of study” are encouraged to use data from the 

student interview. Analysts should use caution, however, because the interview represents one point 

in time, whereas the transcript data cover the entire span of time in this study. Analysts should verify 

that the institution the student attended in the interview matches the institution in the transcript data.
CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER 51

example, some academic factors, such as changing a program of study, provide 

institutions with a valid justification for denying the transfer of credit. The proximity 

of institutions to one another, state regulations, or having articulation agreements in 

place provide information or standards to allow credits to transfer more easily. 

Student socioeconomic characteristics or previous academic preparation are latent 

factors related to student academic performance. Finally, geographic variables may 

be indicators of a student’s familiarity with local institutions.

One subset of students—those who transferred to and from less-than-2-year 

institutions—was removed from the analysis because of the small number of 

transfers in that sector. 

Statistical Technique

As shown in figure 5, the dependent variable (total number of credits transferred) is 

positively skewed with a high proportion of zero values. This is likely due to two 

different processes affecting the number of students without credits transferring. 

Specifically, the zero count in the number of credits transferred is “inflated” due to 

students who never attempted to transfer credit (e.g., the institution never reviewed 

courses for possible transfer; Equation 1). The “noninflated” zeros are those where 

students made an attempt to transfer credit, but zero credits were transferred. This 

group should be modeled separately along with students who had credits transfer 

(Equation 2). Because no data were collected to distinguish between the two groups 

of students, a statistical technique is required to model the number of zeros needed 

to account for the second process. 

The statistical method used to examine dependent variables with this characteristic is 

Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial regression (ZINB) (Greene 1994; Erdman, Jackson, 

and Sinko 2008; Long and Freese 2001). The basic assumption of this statistical 

technique is that the number of zero values is over-represented and that zeros are 

generated through two distinct processes (similar to what is described above 

resulting in an excess of zeros). In this case, a logistic regression model, with its own 

independent variables, is used to model the probability that zero credits transfer due 

to students who never requested a transcript review versus students who did request 

credits be transferred, but were denied. The latter group is included in a negative 

binomial model to describe the number of credits transferred. The first component 

produces log-odds ratios and the later model yields coefficient estimates in natural 

log units. A detailed description of the equations used in generating the estimates is 

available in appendix B.
52 CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER

Figure 5. Histogram of the total number of credits transferred to the destination institution 

in the first transfer

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

The two components in the ZINB model can have different sets of independent 

variables to model the two processes. In modeling the transfer of credit, the 

independent variables in the logistic component of the model, which predicts the 

probability of students who never attempted to transfer credit (e.g., the institution 

never reviewed courses for possible transfer), include 

• transfer direction (to test if students transferring through the traditional

vertical path are more likely to request to transfer credit because the student

planned to transfer);

• institutional control of the origin and destination institutions (to test if

students attending certain institutions with lower rates of transfer are less

likely to request to transfer credit);

• accreditation relationship (to test if students moving from nationally

accredited institutions are not requesting to transfer credits presuming they

will not because of their previous institution of attendance);
CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER 53

• selectivity relationship (to test if students coming from institutions with lower

selectivity are not requesting credit transfer presuming that credits won’t be

accepted);

• GPA prior to transfer (to test if students with lower GPAs are less likely to

request credit transfers); and

• months enrolled prior to transfer (to control for the amount of time elapsed

that the student could potentially aggregate credits).

Additional control variables were added because Equation 1 is dependent on the 

behavior of the student who needs to interact with the institution during the credit 

transfer process. These include dependency status, single parent status, responsibility 

for dependents, employment status, type of high school credential, attendance 

intensity in the first year, race, ethnicity, and gender. 

In the negative binomial component, which predicts the number of credits 

transferred, the independent variables include 

• transfer direction (to test if credits may or may not transfer due to differences

in coursework offerings due to changing the level of institution);

• institutional control of the origin and destination institutions (to test if

institutions accept transfer credit depending on whether an institution is

publicly or privately controlled);

• accreditation relationship (to test if institutions accept transfer credit

depending on whether an institution is regionally accredited);

• selectivity relationship (to test if institutions accept transfer credit depending

based on their admissions standards, with selective institutions being more

discriminating);

• GPA prior to transfer (to control for the academic performance of the

student associated with the credits that are transferring); and

• months enrolled prior to transfer (to control for the amount of time elapsed

that the student could potentially aggregate credits).

Student demographic characteristics are excluded from the negative binomial 

component of the model because Equation 2 is primarily institutionally driven.

Listwise Deletion and Missing Case Analysis

While variables derived from the BPS:04/09 student interview and administrative 

records were imputed, the data from the BPS:04/09 transcript file were not imputed. 

As a result, a missing case analysis was conducted to test for potential bias related to 

listwise deletion of missing cases from the multivariate model. The analysis revealed 
54 CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER

no statistical differences between the dropped cases and retained cases in the 

dependent variable (number of credits transferred). A number of independent 

variables, however, did reveal some statistical differences with demographic variables 

(which were imputed) and in dummy variables with a small number of cases. Further 

analysis did not uncover any evidence that the inferences made in the multivariate 

model are not reflective of the population. A more detailed description of the 

analysis can be found in appendix E. 

Multivariate Findings

The results of the multivariate analysis are displayed in table 16 with the logit or 

“inflated zeros” coefficient estimates in the first column (which is traditionally not 

interpreted)29 and the negative binomial regression coefficients in the second column 

(modeling the log number of credits transferred). The model as a whole was 

statistically significant (F = 111.74; p < .001).30 

Factors Predicting the Number of Credits That Transfer

The negative binomial component of the model explores the relationship between 

the number of credits students transferred and student and institutional 

characteristics. Three factors contributed to the number of credits that transferred: 

• institutional control;

• transfer direction; and

• GPA.

A fourth variable, the number of months enrolled prior to the first transfer, was 

included as a control and also had a significant statistical relationship.31

29 The purpose of the logistic component of the model is limited: to obtain estimates of the 

probability for zero credits to transfer so that information can be used in the negative binomial 

component. See appendix F for more information.

30 A separate ZINB model including all independent variables in both components yielded consistent 

results in the statistical tests for the model and the contributions of the independent variables. 31 To ensure that the months enrolled prior to transfer variable was not removing all variability from 

the model, another analysis without the number of months enrolled prior to transfer was conducted 

and obtained similar results. 
CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER 55 

Table 16. Estimated coefficients and standard errors of the Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial

regression of institutional and student enrollment characteristics on whether credits

transfer for first-time beginning undergraduate students in the 2003–04 academic year:

2003–04 to 2008–09

Variable

Logistic component 

odds ratios

Negative binomial 

coefficient estimates

Dependent variable

Inflated zeros in total 

credits transferred

Log of the total credits 

transferred

Control of origin institution

Public (comparison group) † † 

Private nonprofit -0.214

(0.140)

0.121

(0.053)

Private for-profit 0.323

(0.579)

-0.489

(0.363)

Control of destination institution

Public (comparison group) † †

Private nonprofit -0.128

(0.163)

-0.207*

(0.043)

Private for-profit 0.394

(0.295)

-0.516

(0.141)

Transfer direction

Vertical (2-year to 4-year) (comparison group) † †

Reverse (4-year to 2-year) 1.441*

(0.168)

-0.421*

(0.076)

Horizontal (4-year to 4-year or 2-year to 2-year) 0.892*

(0.115)

-0.147

(0.042)

Accreditation relationship

Regional to regional (comparison group) † † 

Regional to national (or other) 1.017

(0.434)

-0.192

(0.189)

National to regional (or other) 1.164

(0.696)

-0.308

(0.455)

National to national (or other) 0.616

(1.488)

-0.355

(0.574)

Academic performance

Grade point average -0.447*

(0.066)

0.222*

(0.036)

Selectivity relationship

To open admissions/minimally selective) (comparison

group)

† † 

To selective -0.620*

(0.127)

0.089

(0.055)

Risk factors: dependency status1

Dependent (comparison group) † † 

Independent 0.082

(0.329)

† 

See notes at end of table.
56 CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER

Table 16. Estimated coefficients and standard errors of the Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial 

regression of institutional and student enrollment characteristics on whether credits 

transfer for first-time beginning undergraduate students in the 2003–2004 academic 

year: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Variable

Logistic component 

odds ratios

Negative binomial 

coefficient estimates

Risk factors: single parent1

Not a single parent (comparison group) † †

Single parent 0.112

(0.360)

† 

Risk factors: responsibility for dependents1

Does not have dependents (comparison group) † †

Has dependents -0.004

(0.449)

† 

Risk factors: employment status1

No employment (comparison group) † †

Part-time -0.004

(0.111)

† 

Full-time 0.104

(0.160)

† 

Risk factors: high school credential1

High school diploma (comparison group) † †

Received GED or other diploma 0.373

(0.208)

† 

Risk factors: enrollment intensity, first year1

Full-time student (comparison group) † † 

Part-time student 0.084

(0.120) 

† 

Demographic characteristics: race1,2

White (comparison group) † †

Black/African American -0.002

(0.207)

† 

Asian 0.325

(0.216)

† 

All other race groups, including more than one race3 0.103

(0.174)

† 

Demographic characteristics: ethnicity1

Non-Hispanic (comparison group) † †

Hispanic 0.193

(0.180)

† 

Demographic characteristics: gender1

Male (comparison group) † † 

Female 0.014

(0.112)

† 

Control variable: months enrolled prior to transfer

Log months enrolled † 0.552*

(0.018)

See notes at end of table.
CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER 57

Table 16. Estimated coefficients and standard errors of the Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial 

regression of institutional and student enrollment characteristics on whether credits 

transfer for first-time beginning undergraduate students in the 2003–2004 academic 

year: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Variable

Logistic component 

odds ratios

Negative binomial 

coefficient estimates

Constant 0.093

(0.212)

1.379*

(0.137)

Number of cases

Weighted 970,500

Unweighted 1,770 4,870

Diagnostic tests (unweighted ZINB model)

Vuong test for inflated zeros 31.093*

Likelihood Ratio test comparing ZINB to ZIP 11,074.687*

Model information and fit statistics

F test 111.737*

Degrees of freedom 188

Variance correction method BRR

Number of replicates 200

ln(Alpha) -1.136*

† Not applicable due to being classified as a reference group or because variable was not specified in the model.

* Estimate is statistically significant (p < .01). Comparison groups are shown in italics, if applicable. 1 Risk factor and demographic variables were omitted from the negative binomial component (which tests for the log 

number of credits transferred) of the model but were included in the logistic component (which tests for the probability 

of excess zeros due to factors such as not submitting a transcript for review). This decision was made because there 

was no evidence in the literature that a possible relationship exists between an institution’s decision to transfer credits 

and type of dependency, single parent status, type of high school degree, enrollment intensity, race, ethnicity, or 

gender. The variables were included in the logistic component of the model to account for possible relationships 

between these characteristics and whether or not a transcript review occurs (e.g., submitting transcripts for review, 

navigating administrative processes).

2 An alternate ZINB model that combined race and ethnicity into one variable (e.g., White non-Hispanic, Black/African 

American non-Hispanic, Hispanic) yielded identical results. 3 Includes American Indian, Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander, other, and more than one race.

NOTE: ZINB = Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial regression. ZIP = Zero-Inflated Poisson.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

For the institutional control variables, students transferring to private nonprofit and 

private for-profit institutions were negatively related to the number of credits transferred 

compared to public institutions. Holding all other variables constant, students 

transferring to private nonprofit institutions transferred 21 percent fewer credits, 

on average, than students transferring to public institutions. Students transferring to 

private for-profit institutions transferred 52 percent fewer credits compared to students 

sending credits to public institutions.32 There was no evidence of a relationship between 

the control of the origin institution and the number of credits transferred. 

32 To put the results into context, readers should note that a small percentage of students transfer out 

of for-profit institutions. For-profit institutions account for 5 percent of opportunities for credit 

transfer, with an estimated 130,000 opportunities to transfer credit out of 2.6 million total.
58 CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER

Transfer direction was also related to credit transfer. Students transferring from 

4-year to 2-year institutions (reverse transfers) saw 25 percent fewer credits 

transferred compared to students transferring vertically from 2-year to 4-year 

institutions. Transferring between institutions at the same level (horizontal) yielded 

15 percent fewer credits transferred compared to students transferring vertically. 

For GPA, a positive relationship was present, with 22 percent more credits 

transferring for every one-point increase in GPA. The model did not provide 

evidence of a relationship by change in accreditation or selectivity relationship.

To better evaluate the practical use of these findings, table 17 presents the coefficients 

for the statistically significant variables in terms of semester credit hours for a student 

with a 3.0 GPA after 12 months of enrollment holding all other factors constant. The 

coefficients from a Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial regression were converted from 

log credits to credits to evaluate the differences in credit transfer for statistically 

significant coefficient estimates. The constant represents students transferring vertically 

(2-year to 4-year) from public to other public institutions—this is set as the reference 

group, with an average of 23 credits transferring. For students who have a 3.0 GPA, 

transferring to a private nonprofit institution yields 4 credits less than from public 

institutions, holding all other factors constant (19 credits versus 23 credits for students 

vertically transferring from public to public). Transferring to a for-profit yields an 

estimated 11 fewer credits, holding all other factors constant (12 credits versus 23 

credits for students vertically transferring from public to public). Transferring in reverse 

yields 14 fewer credits and horizontally yields 8 fewer credits (8 credits and 15 credits, 

respectively versus 23 credits for students vertically transferring from public to public). 

Table 17. Predicted mean number of credits transferring and 95 percent confidence intervals for a 

student with a 3.0 grade point average enrolled for 12 months prior to transfer and 

transferring from a regionally to another regionally accredited institution with open 

admissions/minimum selectivity (derived from coefficients from the Zero-Inflated 

Negative Binomial regression), by statistically significant institutional and student 

enrollment characteristics: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Variable

Credits 

transferring

95 percent 

confidence interval

Reference group

Public to public, vertical transfer students 22.81 [20.33, 25.30]

Control of destination institution (Reference: public)

Private nonprofit 19.11 [16.66, 21.57]

Private for-profit 12.17 [8.95, 15.38]

Transfer direction (Reference: vertical transfer)

Reverse (4-year to 2-year) 8.35 [6.82, 9.89]

Horizontal (2-year to 2-year or 4-year to 4-year) 14.53 [12.58, 16.48]

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER 59

Because GPA is a continuous variable, figure 6 plots the predicted credit transfer 

values by GPA. The predicted values in figure 6 were generated by setting all dummy 

variables to zero in the negative binomial regression equation. Therefore, figure 6 

represents students who vertically transfer (2-year to 4-year) between public 

institutions. As GPA increases, the number of credits transferred increases as well, 

with an estimated 7 credits transferring near a GPA of zero to 16 credits for a GPA

of 2.0. A 3.0 GPA yields a predicted 23 credits, and a 4.0 GPA predicts 

approximately 31 credits transferred. 

Figure 6. Predicted mean number of credits transferred and 95 percent confidence 

intervals by grade point average for a student enrolled for 12 months prior to 

transfer and transferring from a regionally to another regionally accredited 

institution with open admissions/minimum selectivity (derived from coefficients 

from the Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial regression): 2003–04 to 2008–09

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00

Credits transferred

Grade Point Average
60 CHAPTER 3. JOINT EFFECTS OF INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS ON CREDIT TRANSFER

Conclusion

Two factors consistently contributed to the likelihood of credit transfer, across both 

the descriptive statistics and the multivariate model. Controlling for other factors, 

they are 

• academic performance prior to transfer (as measured by GPA); and

• transfer direction (e.g., vertical, reverse, or horizontal).

Specifically, higher GPAs were related to lower probabilities that zero credits will 

transfer and to a higher number of credits accepted. Reverse or horizontal transfer 

was related to higher probabilities that zero credits will transfer and a lower number 

of credits accepted at the destination institution. 

Institutional control was also related to the number of credits transferred. 

Transferring to for-profit and private nonprofit institutions was related to a lower 

number of credits transferred compared to transferring to a public institution. 

Accreditation status was not a factor in the multivariate analysis, nor was there a high 

volume of students moving between nationally accredited institutions and regionally 

accredited institutions. 

Overall, the findings suggest that when student transfer is aligned with how the 

higher education system is designed to accommodate credit transfer (e.g., from 

2-year institution to 4-year institutions), when students perform successfully in their 

coursework, or when students transfer to a public institution, credit transfer is more 

likely to occur. 
61

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A-1 

Appendix A. Glossary

This glossary describes the variables used in this report. The glossary entries are in 

alphabetical order by variable label (left-hand column).

Attendance pattern first year ATTNSTAT

Student’s attendance pattern at all institutions attended during the 2003–04 academic year. This 

variable includes imputed values.

Full-time

Part-time

Gender GENDER

Indicates the respondent’s gender. This variable includes imputed values.

Male

Female

Dependency status 2003–04 DEPEND

Indicates the respondent’s dependency status during the 2003–04 academic year. This variable 

includes imputed values.

Dependent

Independent

Dependents: Has dependents 2003–04 DEPANY

Indicates whether the respondent had dependents during the 2003–04 academic year. This variable

includes imputed values.

Does not have dependents

Has dependents

High school degree type HSDEG

Indicates whether the respondent has graduated from high school and the type of high school 

diploma received. This variable includes imputed values.

High school diploma

GED or other diploma

Institutional category INSTCAT

Institutional category was derived using the level of offerings reported on the Institutional 

Characteristics (IC) component and the number and level of awards reported on the Completions (C) 

component.

Degree-granting, graduate with no undergraduate degrees

Degree-granting, primarily baccalaureate or above

Degree-granting, not primarily baccalaureate or above

Degree-granting, associate’s and certificates

Nondegree-granting, sub-baccalaureate
A-2 APPENDIX A. GLOSSARY

Job while enrolled: Work intensity 2003–04 JOBENR

Indicates the intensity of work (excluding work-study/assistantship/traineeship) while enrolled during 

the 2003–04 academic year. This variable includes imputed values.

No job

Part-time

Full-time

Race: Census categories RACECEN

Census categories for race of the student, exclusive of Hispanic origin. This variable includes imputed 

values.

White

Black/African American

Asian

All other race groups, including more than one race (due to low sample sizes, students 

identifying as American Indian, Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander, other, and more 

than one race were combined into one category for the multivariate analysis) 

Race-ethnicity: Hispanic or Latino origin HISPANIC

Indicates whether the respondent identified as being Hispanic. This variable includes imputed values.

No

Yes

Single parent status 2003–04 SINGLPAR

Identifies independent students who were single parents during the 2003–04 academic year. This 

variable includes imputed values.

Not a single parent

Single parent

Transcript: Accreditation relationship for first transfer QDACCREL

Indicates the accreditation types of the origin and destination institutions during the first transfer.

This variable had different categorizations or groupings depending on the table or analysis.

Categorization I

Regional to regional

Regional to national

National to regional

National to national

Other relationship

Categorization II

Regional to regional

Regional to national or other

National or regional or other

National to national or other
APPENDIX A. GLOSSARY A-3 

Transcript: Accreditation relationship QGACCREL

Indicates the accreditation types of the origin and destination institutions.

Regional to regional

Regional to national 

National to regional

National to national

Other accreditation relationship

Transcript: Control relationship between schools for first transfer QDCTLCHG

Indicates the control of the origin and destination institutions during the first transfer.

Public to public

Public to private nonprofit

Public to private for-profit

Private nonprofit to public

Private nonprofit to private nonprofit

Private nonprofit to private for-profit

Private for-profit to public

Private for-profit to private nonprofit

Private for-profit to private for-profit

Transcript: Control relationship QGCTLCHG

Indicates the control of the origin and destination institution.

Public to public

Public to private nonprofit

Public to private for-profit

Private nonprofit to public

Private nonprofit to private nonprofit

Private nonprofit to private for-profit

Private for-profit to public

Private for-profit to private nonprofit

Private for-profit to private for-profit

Transcript: Course credits taken at origin institution first transfer QDTCRSS

Total number of credits taken at the origin institution prior to the first transfer. 

Transcript: Difference between credits earned and credits transferred QDTCRDIFF

The difference in the number of credits earned at the origin institution (QDTCRRS) and the number 

of credits transferred to the destination institution (QDBTCRRS) for the student’s first transfer. Note: 

This variable was derived for this report and can be computed using the code that accompanies this 

report.

Transcript: Degree program level transfer type for first transfer QDPRTYPE

The type of degree programs the respondent was enrolled in at the origin and destination institutions 

during the first transfer.

Associate’s degree to bachelor’s degree

Associate’s degree to associate’s degree

Associate’s degree to undergraduate courses/no degree program

Bachelor’s degree to bachelor’s degree

Bachelor’s degree to associate’s degree
A-4 APPENDIX A. GLOSSARY

Transcript: Degree program level transfer type for first transfer—continued QDPRTYPE

Bachelor’s degree to undergraduate courses/no degree program

Undergraduate courses/no degree program to bachelor’s degree 

Undergraduate courses/no degree program to associate’s degree

Undergraduate courses/no degree program to undergraduate courses/no degree program

To and from certificate and other programs

Transfer: First Institution Adjusted Sector TRTYPE_1ST

Indicates the adjusted level (MTLEVEL in the Student Schools dataset), and control (MTCTRL in the 

Student Schools dataset) of the institution. 

Public 4-year

Public 2-year

Public less-than-2-year

Private nonprofit 4-year

Private nonprofit less-than-4-year

Private for-profit 4-year

Private for-profit less-than-4-year

Transcript: Grade point average (GPA) at first institution attended QEGPA1SC

GPA values are calculated using normalized credit values. Normalized credit calculations place hours 

or credit units received for a course on a common scale so that credit units can be compared across 

students and institutions.

Categorization I

Continuous

Categorization II

0.00–1.99

2.00–2.99

3.00–4.00

Transcript: Level and control transfer type QGTRTYPE

The level and control of the origin and destination institutions. Note: Four-year institutions that offer 

predominantly associate’s degrees were re-coded to 2-year institutions using the INSTCAT variable in 

the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). This variable had different 

categorizations or groupings depending on the table or analysis.

Categorization I

Public 2-year

Public 4-year

Private nonprofit 4-year

Private nonprofit 2-year

Private for-profit 4-year

Private for-profit 2-year

Public less-than-2-year

Private nonprofit less-than-2-year

Private for-profit less-than-2-year
APPENDIX A. GLOSSARY A-5 

Transcript: Level and control transfer type—continued QGTRTYPE

Categorization II

Public 2-year

Public 4-year

Private nonprofit 4-year

Private nonprofit 2-year

Private for-profit 4-year

Private for-profit 2-year

Public less-than-2-year

Private nonprofit less-than-2-year

Private for-profit less-than-2-year

Unknown due to bulk credit transfer

Categorization III

Public 4-year to all others

Private nonprofit 4-year to all others

Private for-profit 4-year to all others

Public 2-year to all others

Private nonprofit less-than-4-year to all others

Private for-profit 2-year to all others

Public less-than-2-year to all others

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to all others

All other sector combinations

Categorization IV

Public 4-year to all others

Private nonprofit 4-year to all others

Private for-profit 4-year to all others

Public 2-year to all others

Private nonprofit less-than-4-year to all others

Private for-profit 2-year to all others

Public less-than-2-year to all others

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to all others

Unknown origin due to bulk credit transfer

All other sector combinations

Categorization V

Public 2-year to public 4-year

Public 2-year to public 2-year

Public 4-year to public 4-year

Public 4-year to public 2-year

Public 2-year to private nonprofit 4-year

Private nonprofit 4-year to public 4-year

Public 4-year to private nonprofit 4-year

Private nonprofit 4-year to public 2-year

Private nonprofit 4-year to private nonprofit 4-year

Private for-profit 4-year to other institution

Private for-profit 2-year to other institution

Other institution combination
A-6 APPENDIX A. GLOSSARY

Transcript: Level relationship between schools for first transfer QDLVLCHG

Indicates the level of the origin and destination institutions during the first transfer. Note: Four-year 

institutions that offer predominantly associate’s degrees were re-coded to 2-year institutions using the 

INSTCAT variable in IPEDS. This variable had different categorizations or groupings depending on 

the table or analysis.

Categorization I

4-year to 4-year

4-year to 2-year

4-year to Less-than-2-year

2-year to 4-year

2-year to 2-year

2-year to Less-than-2-year

Less-than-2-year to 4-year

Less-than-2-year to 2-year

Less-than-2-year to Less-than-2-year

Categorization II

Vertical

Reverse

Horizontal

Transcript: Level relationship QGLVLCHG

Indicates the level of the origin and destination institutions. Note: Four-year institutions that offer 

predominantly associate’s degrees were re-coded to 2-year institutions using the INSTCAT variable in 

IPEDS.

4-year to 4-year

4-year to 2-year

2-year to 4-year

2-year to 2-year

All others to/from less-than-2-year

Transcript: Overall credits transferred to destination institution QDBTCRRS

The total normalized course level or bulk credits accepted at the destination institution from the 

origin institution during the transfer event. Normalized credit calculations place hours or credit units 

received for a course on a common scale so that credit units can be compared across students and 

institutions. This variable had different categorizations or groupings depending on the table or 

analysis.

Categorization I

Continuous

Categorization II

No credits transferred

Some or all credits transferred

Transcript: Overall credits transferred to destination first transfer QGBTCRRS

The total normalized course level or bulk credits accepted at the destination institution during the first 

transfer. Normalized credit calculations place hours or credit units received for a course on a common 

scale so that credit units can be compared across students and institutions.
 

APPENDIX A. GLOSSARY A-7 

Transcript: Percentage of credits transferred, first transfer QDTRRAT

The percentage of credits transferred from the origin institution to the destination institution during 

the first transfer.

No credits transferred

Some credits transferred

All credits transferred

Transcript: Selectivity relationship for first transfer QDSELREL

Indicates the selectivity levels of the origin and destination institutions during the first transfer. This 

variable had different categorizations or groupings depending on the table or analysis.

Categorization I

Open admission to open admission

Open admission to minimally selective

Open admission to selective

Minimally selective to open admission

Minimally selective to minimally selective

Minimally selective to selective

Selective to open admission

Selective to minimally selective

Selective to selective

Categorization II

To open admission/minimally selective

To selective/moderately selective

Transcript: Total known institutions attended QDSCHTOT

Total number of institutions attended. 

Weight: BPS:04/09 analysis weight for transcript respondents WTC000

The BPS:04/09 panel weight was used to produce this report. This is the longitudinal study weight 

used for analysis of the 2003–04 first-time postsecondary students who were eligible study 

respondents and have transcript records.
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B-1 

Appendix B. Technical Notes and Methodology

Sources of the Data 

This report presents data from the 2009 Postsecondary Education Transcript Study 

(PETS:09). As part of the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal 

Study (BPS:04/09), transcripts from all postsecondary institutions attended between 

July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2009, were requested for the BPS:04 cohort, a sample of 

students derived from the sample of students selected for the 2003–04 National 

Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:04). The remainder of this appendix 

describes BPS:04/09 and PETS:09.

Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study

The Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) is conducted for the 

U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to 

address the need for nationally representative data on key postsecondary education 

issues. BPS explores topics related to postsecondary enrollment and persistence in the 

United States and evaluates the benefits of postsecondary education to individuals and 

society (Radford et al. 2010). BPS:04/09 follows students for 6 years as they navigate 

the system of postsecondary education, gathering information on transfer patterns, 

coenrollment, and periods of nonenrollment (stopouts). BPS:04/09 is the third 

iteration of BPS. The two previous cohorts are BPS:90/94 and BPS:96/2001.

BPS:04/09 Sample Design

The BPS:04/09 sample includes about 18,640 students representing the 

approximately 3.7 million students who began their postsecondary education in the 

2003–04 academic year. BPS sample members were first identified in NPSAS:04, 

which employed a two-stage sampling design. In the first stage, NPSAS sampled 

institutions from the universe of all Title IV postsecondary education institutions. In 

the second stage, BPS sampled students from enrollment lists provided by sampled 

institutions. A total of 109,210 students were sampled from 1,630 postsecondary 
B-2 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

institutions.1 Of those, the study confirmed that 18,640 students were first-time 

beginners eligible for the BPS:04/09 sample. 

Postsecondary Education Transcript Study

In addition to the student interviews conducted in 2004 and 2009, BPS:04 included 

the collection of postsecondary transcripts (PETS:09). Transcripts and course 

catalogs were requested from all institutions attended by the BPS:04 cohort since the 

first year of enrollment in 2003–04. Institutions were identified during the base-year 

and follow-up interviews with the sample. For more information about NPSAS and 

its connection to the BPS, see Cominole et al. (2006). For additional information on 

BPS:04/09 and the associated PETS:09 transcript collection, see Wine, Janson, and 

Wheeless (2011).

Data Collection

For the BPS:04 cohort, PETS:09 collected transcripts for 16,960 students from a 

total of 2,620 institutions. Transcript data collection occurred in two phases. Phase 1, 

which began in November 2008, collected transcripts from all institutions students 

reported attending in the first follow-up, BPS:04/06. Similarly, Phase 2, starting in 

October 2009, collected transcripts from institutions that students reported during 

the second follow-up, BPS:04/09. In addition, transcripts from transfer institutions 

listed on any collected transcripts were collected in early 2010. Institutions were

provided seven different methods for submitting the requested transcripts, including 

five secure internet submission options; one option via secure electronic fax; and, 

when no other method was possible, via FedEx. 

1 The institution-level sampling frame for NPSAS:04 was constructed from the 2000–01 and 2001–02 

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Institutional Characteristics files and header 

files and the 2000 and 2001 Fall Enrollment files. The sample of institutions was freshened using the 

2002–03 IPEDS data collection. Students were selected from enrollment lists and were enrolled in 

either (1) an academic program, (2) at least one course for credit that could be applied toward fulfilling 

the requirements for an academic degree, or (3) an occupational or vocational program that required at 

least 3 months or 300 clock hours of instruction to receive a degree, certificate, or other formal award.

Students were ineligible for inclusion in the sample if they were concurrently enrolled in high school or 

in a General Education Development (GED) program. For more information about the sampling 

design, see the BPS:04/09 Methodology Report (NCES 2012-246).
APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-3 

Institution-Level Response Rates

Of the 3,030 eligible2 institutions attended by the BPS:04 cohort, 2,620 (87 percent) 

submitted transcripts for at least one cohort member. Overall, 91 percent of all 

transcripts requested from these institutions were received. Response rates varied by 

sector of institution, ranging from 71 percent participation among private for-profit 

less-than-2-year institutions to 93 percent among private nonprofit 4-year nondoctorate-granting institutions (see table B-1). 

Table B-1. Eligible institution participation, by institution type: 2009

Institution type

Total eligible 

institutions

Institution-level participation1

Number Percent

Total 3,030 2,620 86.6

Public

Less-than-2-year 70 50 77.9

2-year 920 810 88.9

4-year non-doctorate-granting 300 270 90.4

4-year doctorate-granting 260 240 93.4

Private nonprofit

2-year-or-less 90 80 85.9

4-year non-doctorate-granting 510 460 91.3

4-year doctorate granting 240 210 89.0

Private for-profit

Less-than-2-year 260 180 70.5

2 years or more 390 310 78.4

1 An institution was considered a participant if it provided a transcript for at least one student. Sixteen of the 

participating institutions are not represented in the institution type rows due to unknown institution type. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004 National Postsecondary 

Student Aid Study (NPSAS:04) and 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09).

Student-Level Response Rates and Bias Analysis

Of the 18,640 students deemed eligible at the end of BPS:04/06, at least one 

transcript was received for each of 16,960 sample members (91 percent, weighted).3

As with the institution-level data, response rates varied by institution sector, ranging 

from 74 percent among private for-profit less-than-2-year institutions to 97 percent 

among private nonprofit 4-year non-doctorate-granting institutions (see table B-2). 

2 Two percent of the 3,100 institutions attended by BPS:04 cohort students were deemed ineligible 

because they had closed or because a study respondent had enrolled in, but not attended, the institution. 

3 All response rates reported at the student or item level are weighted.
B-4 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

Table B-2. Unweighted and weighted NPSAS:04 institution response rates and BPS:04/09 student study, interview, panel, and transcript response 

rates, by type of institution: 2009

Type of institution (base year)

Institution response rate Eligible 

sample 

size Respondents

Response rate Overall response rate

Unweighted Weighted Unweighted Weighted Unweighted Weighted

BPS:04/09 study respondents

Total 83.5 80.0 18,540 16,680 90.0 89.2 75.1 71.3

Public

Less-than-2-year 76.6 74.3 540 430 79.3 79.0 60.7 58.7

2-year 85.4 77.6 6,310 5,570 88.3 87.7 75.4 68.0

4-year non-doctorate-granting 85.1 70.3 1,690 1,590 94.3 93.4 80.2 65.7

4-year doctorate-granting 86.3 87.1 3,070 2,990 97.3 96.7 84.0 84.3

Private nonprofit

Less-than-4-year 89.0 92.6 530 440 83.4 85.5 74.3 79.2

4-year non-doctorate-granting 81.9 78.1 2,280 2,190 96.1 94.4 78.7 73.7

4-year doctorate-granting 77.7 80.8 1,520 1,490 98.0 97.5 76.2 78.8

Private for-profit

Less-than-2-year 84.0 82.3 1,450 1,070 74.2 74.3 62.3 61.1

2 years or more 84.4 88.2 1,150 900 78.7 77.9 66.4 68.7

BPS:04/09 interview respondents

Total 83.5 80.0 18,540 15,160 81.8 80.2 68.3 64.1

Public

Less-than-2-year 76.6 74.3 540 420 77.0 77.5 59.0 57.6

2-year 85.4 77.6 6,310 5,010 79.4 78.1 67.8 60.6

4-year non-doctorate-granting 85.1 70.3 1,690 1,430 84.6 82.6 72.0 58.1

4-year doctorate-granting 86.3 87.1 3,070 2,720 88.4 87.2 76.3 76.0

Private nonprofit

Less-than-4-year 89.0 92.6 530 400 75.7 79.9 67.4 74.0

4-year non-doctorate-granting 81.9 78.1 2,280 1,990 87.2 84.2 71.4 65.8

4-year doctorate-granting 77.7 80.8 1,520 1,340 88.4 86.8 68.7 70.1

Private for-profit

Less-than-2-year 84.0 82.3 1,450 1,030 70.8 70.6 59.5 58.1

2 years or more 84.4 88.2 1,150 830 72.5 72.2 61.2 63.6

See notes at end of table.
APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-5 

Table B-2. Unweighted and weighted NPSAS:04 institution response rates and BPS:04/09 student study, interview, panel, and transcript response 

rates, by type of institution: 2009—Continued

Type of institution (base year)

Institution response rate Eligible 

sample 

size Respondents

Response rate Overall response rate

Unweighted Weighted Unweighted Weighted Unweighted Weighted

BPS:04/09 panel respondents

Total 83.5 80.0 18,540 16,120 87.0 85.7 72.6 68.6

Public

Less-than-2-year 76.6 74.3 540 380 70.6 71.3 54.0 53.0

2-year 85.4 77.6 6,310 5,360 85.0 83.6 72.6 64.9

4-year non-doctorate-granting 85.1 70.3 1,690 1,560 92.7 91.7 78.9 64.5

4-year doctorate-granting 86.3 87.1 3,070 2,950 95.9 95.0 82.7 82.7

Private nonprofit

Less-than-4-year 89.0 92.6 530 420 78.7 80.3 70.1 74.3

4-year non-doctorate-granting 81.9 78.1 2,280 2,170 95.0 92.1 77.8 71.9

4-year doctorate-granting 77.7 80.8 1,520 1,480 97.0 96.5 75.4 78.0

Private for-profit

Less-than-2-year 84.0 82.3 1,450 950 65.8 64.6 55.3 53.2

2 years or more 84.4 88.2 1,150 860 74.7 74.4 63.0 65.6

BPS:04/09 transcript respondents

Total 83.5 80.0 18,540 16,960 91.5 91.4 76.4 73.1

Public

Less-than-2-year 76.6 74.3 540 400 74.8 74.7 57.3 55.5

2-year 85.4 77.6 6,310 5,840 92.6 91.7 79.0 71.1

4-year non-doctorate-granting 85.1 70.3 1,690 1,540 91.0 90.4 77.5 63.6

4-year doctorate-granting 86.3 87.1 3,070 2,940 95.7 95.9 82.6 83.6

Private nonprofit

Less-than-4-year 89.0 92.6 530 480 90.0 89.0 80.1 82.4

4-year non-doctorate-granting 81.9 78.1 2,280 2,210 96.8 96.9 79.3 75.7

4-year doctorate-granting 77.7 80.8 1,520 1,440 94.5 95.1 73.5 76.9

Private for-profit

Less-than-2-year 84.0 82.3 1,450 1,080 74.3 74.0 62.4 60.9

2 years or more 84.4 88.2 1,150 1,030 90.0 89.7 75.9 79.2

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09).
 

 B-6 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

NCES Statistical Standard 4-4-1 states that “[a]ny survey stage of data collection with 

a unit or item response rate less than 85 percent must be evaluated for the potential 

magnitude of nonresponse bias before the data or any analysis using the data may be 

released” (U.S. Department of Education 2012). At the student level, two institution 

sectors had response rates below 85 percent; public less-than-2-year and private forprofit less-than-2-year institutions had response rates of 75 and 74 percent, 

respectively. Nonresponse bias analyses were conducted for each of these institution 

sectors to determine whether respondents and nonrespondents differed on the 

following characteristics: institution region and undergraduate enrollment; student 

dependency, age, gender, high school graduation year, race/ethnicity, income, marital 

status, and citizenship status; whether a federal financial aid Central Processing 

System (CPS)4

 record was available for the student at the base year; whether a 

student had applied for federal aid, was a Pell Grant recipient, or borrowed via a 

Stafford Loan; and the amount, if any, of a student’s Pell Grant or Stafford Loan. 

Differences between respondents and nonrespondents on these variables were tested 

for statistical significance at the 5 percent level. Across all institutions, the weight 

adjustments using WTC000 reduced student transcript nonresponse bias from 41 to 

4 percent. For public less-than-2-year institutions, one variable category (1.5 percent) 

had statistically significant bias after these adjustments. The percentage of categories 

with statistically significant bias remained constant for private for-profit less-than2-year before and after the weight adjustments, at 19 percent. 

Item Response Rates

For each study item, nonresponse bias analysis could be required at any of three 

levels: (1) institutions, (2) study respondents, or (3) items. The item-level response 

rates for the variables used in this report are displayed in table B-3. Most variables 

used for the analysis in this report have an item-level response rate above 90 percent. 

The following three variables, however, have item-level response rates below 85

percent: 

• QDTRRAT – percentage of credits transferred (first transfer); 

• QDTCRDIFF (created for this analysis) – the difference between credits 

earned (QDTCRSS) and transferred (QDBTCRRS) for the first transfer; and 

• QDTCRSS – course credits taken at origin institution of first transfer. 

4 The CPS contains data for students and families who have completed the Free Application for 

Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

 
 

APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-7 

Table B-3. Item response rates and nonresponse rates for student-level derived variables from the BPS:04/09 transcript data collection: 2003–04 

to 2008–09

Variable Dataset Description

BPS

sample

size

Item

response

rate

Item nonresponse

rate

QDSCHTOT Derived Transcript: Total known institutions attended 16,960 100.0 #

HSDEG NPSAS:04 High school degree type 16,960 99.3 0.7

ATTNSTAT NPSAS:04 Attendance pattern 2003–04 16,960 98.8 1.2

HISPANIC NPSAS:04 Ethnicity: Hispanic 16,960 98.5 1.5

SINGLPAR NPSAS:04 Single-parent independent students 2003–04 16,960 98.6 1.4

DEPEND NPSAS:04 Dependency status 2003–04 16,960 98.4 1.6

RACECEN NPSAS:04 Race: Census categories 16,960 97.7 2.3

QGCTLCHG Transfer Transcript: Control relationship 13,670 96.8 3.2

QGLVLCHG Transfer Transcript: Level relationship 13,670 96.8 3.2

QGTRTYPE Transfer Transcript: Level and control transfer type 13,670 96.8 3.2

[calculated] Derived Derived: First institution adjusted sector 16,960 96.5 3.5

[calculated] Derived Derived: Number of student transfers 16,450 95.8 4.2

QDCTLCHG Derived Transcript: Control relationship 6,630 95.2 4.8

QDLVLCHG Derived Transcript: Level relationship 6,630 94.7 5.3

QDCTLCHG and QDLVLCHG Derived Derived: Institutional Sector (control/level relationship combined) 6,630 94.6 5.4

JOBENR NPSAS:04 Work intensity while enrolled 2003–04 16,960 94.3 5.7

QGBTCRRS Transfer Transcript: Overall credits transferred to destination institution 13,670 94.2 5.8

QGACCREL Transfer Transcript: Accreditation relationship 13,670 93.1 6.9

QDSELREL Derived Transcript: Selectivity relationship for first transfer 6,630 93.0 7.0

QDBTCRRS Derived Transcript: Overall credits transferred to destination first transfer 6,630 92.2 7.8

QDACCREL Derived Transcript: Accreditation relationship for first transfer 6,630 92.1 7.9

QDPRTYPE Derived Transcript: Degree program level transfer type for first transfer 6,630 91.8 8.2

QEGPA1SC Derived Transcript: Grade point average at first institution attended 16,950 90.9 9.1

QDTCRSS Derived Transcript: Course credits taken at origin institution first transfer 6,630 74.5 25.5

QDTCRSS and QDBTCRRS Derived Derived: Difference between credits earned and transferred 6,630 73.4 26.6

QDTRRAT Derived Transcript: Percentage of credits transferred, first transfer 6,340 71.0 29.0

# Rounds to zero. 

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. The sample size column contains the number of cases who may have been eligible to “respond” to the item 

(e.g., the data for the item was reported on the transcript). The item response rates and nonresponse rates were computed using the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09) student transcript analysis weight. The response rate is computed as the number of cases who responded to the item and did 

not have a legitimate skip for the item divided by the number of cases who did not have a legitimate skip for the item.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), 

Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
 

 B-8 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

Nonresponse bias analysis was conducted to determine if bias was present depending 

on response status (item respondents versus item nonrespondents) to these three 

variables as required by NCES standards 4-4-1 and 4-4-3. Differences between 

respondents and nonrespondents were tested for statistical significance at the 5 

percent level on frame variables. A summary of nonresponse bias analysis results for 

QDTRRAT is presented in table B-4, QDTCRDIFF in table B-5, and QDTCRSS in 

table B-6. Each of these tables examines the distribution of nonresponses using 

frame variables from NPSAS:04 (similar to what was done for the BPS:04/09 

methodology report):

• institution sector;

• geographic region; 

• CPS record match; 

• applied for federal aid; 

• Pell grant status in base year; 

• Pell grant amount in base year; 

• Stafford loan status in base year;

• total Stafford loan amount received in base year; 

• institutional undergraduate enrollment from NPSAS institution in base year; 

• age at base year; 

• high school graduation year;

• dependency status in base year; 

• income level in base year; 

• race/ethnicity; 

• gender; 

• marital status in base year; and

• citizenship status in base year. 

All other PETS:09 variables used in this Statistical Analysis Report had a response 

rate of 85 percent or higher. 
 

APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-9 

Table B-4. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the ratio of credits transferred (QDTRRAT) variable, by select 

variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

Sector

Public less-than-2-year ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ 0.00 2.29*

Public 2-year 2,170 860 53.8 59.2 -0.05 -0.02 1.50

Public 4-year, nondoctorate-granting 580 170 12.8 9.8 0.03 0.01 1.43

Public doctorate-granting 690 190 15.2 12.1 0.03 0.01 2.03*

Private nonprofit less-than-4-year 90 ‡ 0.6 ‡ ‡ 0.00 0.57

Private/nonprofit 4-year nondoctorate 510 90 8.4 5.3 0.03 0.01 2.89**

Private nonprofit, doctorate-granting 250 100 3.8 5.0 -0.01 0.00 1.25

Private for-profit, less-than-2-year 50 50 1.3 3.2 -0.02 -0.01 1.93

Private for-profit, 2-years or more 150 40 3.8 3.8 0.00 0.00 0.07

Bureau of Economic Analysis region (OBE) code

New England (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) 280 130 5.0 5.7 -0.01 0.00 0.64

Mideast (DE, DC, MD, NJ, NY, PA) 650 290 14.2 13.1 0.01 0.00 0.45

Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI) 720 220 16.6 11.4 0.05 0.02 2.76**

Plains (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD) 500 320 7.6 16.2 -0.09 -0.03 2.47*

Southeast (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, 

TN, VA, WV) 1,060 400 23.7 24.3 -0.01 0.00 0.21

Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX) 580 190 13.5 11.6 0.02 0.01 0.94

Rocky Mountains (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY) 120 60 3.0 3.7 -0.01 0.00 1.00

Far West (AK, CA, HI, NV, OR, WA) 530 230 15.3 13.4 0.02 0.01 0.99

Outlying Areas (PR) 60 ‡ 1.2 ‡ ‡ 0.00 1.80

CPS record available at base year

No 1,200 460 32.4 28.6 0.04 0.01 1.69

Yes 3,290 1,370 67.6 71.4 -0.04 -0.01 1.69

Applied for federal aid

No 1,020 390 28.5 25.3 0.03 0.01 1.52

Yes 3,470 1,440 71.5 74.7 -0.03 -0.01 1.52

See notes at end of table.
 

 B-10 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

Table B-4. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the ratio of credits transferred (QDTRRAT) variable, by select 

variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

Pell grant status

No 3,070 1,310 71.3 72.5 -0.01 0.00 0.56

Yes 1,420 530 28.7 27.5 0.01 0.00 0.56

Pell grant amount at base year

0 3,070 1,310 71.3 72.5 -0.01 0.00 0.56

Up to $2,000 460 180 10.7 10.7 0.00 0.00 0.03

$2,001 to $3,700 470 170 9.8 8.9 0.01 0.00 0.71

$3,701 or more 490 180 8.3 8.0 0.00 0.00 0.33

Stafford loan status

No 2,670 1,090 66.1 66.2 0.00 0.00 0.06

Yes 1,820 740 33.9 33.8 0.00 0.00 0.06

Total Stafford loan amount received

$0 (zero) 2,670 1,090 66.1 66.2 0.00 0.00 0.06

$1 to $2,624 360 130 7.0 6.9 0.00 0.00 0.13

$2,625 1,110 470 19.8 19.1 0.01 0.00 0.45

More than $2,625 360 140 7.1 7.8 -0.01 0.00 0.46

Institutional undergraduate enrollment (base 

year)

0–1,991 1,080 430 20.0 20.1 0.00 0.00 0.05

1,992–6,958 1,310 530 29.2 28.8 0.00 0.00 0.07

6,959–16,918 1,100 430 26.7 26.5 0.00 0.00 0.05

16,919 or more 1,010 450 24.2 24.5 0.00 0.00 0.14

Age at base year

15 to 18 years old 2,540 1,020 54.4 50.6 0.04 0.01 1.54

19 years old 1,320 530 28.0 27.8 0.00 0.00 0.12

20 to 23 years old 340 120 9.4 8.5 0.01 0.00 0.75

24 to 29 years old 140 80 3.8 6.2 -0.02 -0.01 2.11*

Over 30 years old 150 90 4.4 7.0 -0.03 -0.01 1.83

See notes at end of table.
 

APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-11

Table B-4. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the ratio of credits transferred (QDTRRAT) variable, by select 

variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

High school graduation year

Before 1998 90 60 3.1 6.0 -0.03 -0.01 1.97*

1998–2002 500 190 14.3 15.5 -0.01 0.00 0.65

2003–04 3,750 1,500 82.3 78.1 0.04 0.01 2.00*

Did not graduate high school ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ 0.00 0.20

Dependency status at base year

Dependent 3,990 1,590 85.8 80.7 0.05 0.02 2.34*

Independent 510 250 14.2 19.3 -0.05 -0.02 2.34*

Income level at base year

Dependent: Less than $10,000 210 60 4.5 3.7 0.01 0.00 0.96

Dependent: $10,000-$19,999 280 100 5.8 4.7 0.01 0.00 1.22

Dependent: $20,000-$29,999 370 130 7.6 6.3 0.01 0.00 1.52

Dependent: $30,000-$39,999 400 140 8.8 7.3 0.02 0.00 1.52

Dependent: $40,000-$49,999 360 140 8.1 6.3 0.02 0.01 2.08*

Dependent: $50,000-$59,999 320 120 7.2 5.5 0.02 0.01 1.85

Dependent: $60,000-$69,999 370 160 8.2 8.8 -0.01 0.00 0.43

Dependent: $70,000-$79,999 300 120 7.2 5.9 0.01 0.00 1.29

Dependent: $80,000-$99,999 510 230 10.2 11.1 -0.01 0.00 0.73

Dependent: $100,000 or more 860 400 18.2 21.2 -0.03 -0.01 1.55

Independent: Less than $5,000 110 50 2.2 2.9 -0.01 0.00 0.90

Independent: $5,000-$9,999 70 30 2.0 2.4 0.00 0.00 0.66

Independent: $10,000-$19,999 120 50 3.2 3.6 0.00 0.00 0.35

Independent: $20,000-$29,999 80 40 2.1 3.1 0.00 0.00 1.16

Independent: $30,000-$49,999 80 50 2.1 3.7 -0.02 0.00 1.94

Independent: $50,000 or more 60 40 2.6 3.6 -0.01 0.00 0.93

See notes at end of table.
 

 B-12 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

Table B-4. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the ratio of credits transferred (QDTRRAT) variable, by select 

variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

Race/ethnicity

White 2,980 1,310 64.1 68.4 -0.04 -0.01 1.73

Black or African American 530 180 12.1 12.9 -0.01 0.00 0.54

Asian 510 160 12.5 9.0 0.04 0.01 2.45*

American Indian or Alaska Native 240 120 6.1 5.8 0.00 0.00 0.30

All other race/ethnicities, including more than one 

race 230 70 5.1 4.0 0.01 0.00 1.62

Gender

Male 1,860 690 43.1 38.8 0.04 0.01 2.19*

Female 2,640 1,150 56.9 61.2 -0.04 -0.01 2.19*

Marital status at base year

Single, divorced, or widowed 4,290 1,720 93.8 90.9 0.03 0.01 1.88

Married 180 100 5.5 8.5 -0.03 -0.01 1.98*

Separated ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ 0.00 0.42

Citizenship at base year

U.S. citizen 4,240 1,720 93.4 92.7 0.01 0.00 0.58

Resident alien 190 80 4.7 6.0 -0.01 0.00 1.07

Foreign or international student 60 30 1.9 1.3 0.01 0.00 1.24

# Rounds to zero.

‡ Does not meet reporting standards because there are too few cases to report.

* p < .05

** p < .01

NOTE: Standard postal service abbreviations are used. CPS = Central Processing System. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. The sample size column 

contains the number of cases who may have been eligible to “respond” to the item (e.g., the data for the item was reported on the transcript). The item response rates and 

nonresponse rates were computed using the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09) student transcript analysis weight. The 

response rate is computed as the number of cases who responded to the item and did not have a legitimate skip for the item, divided by the number of cases who did not 

have a legitimate skip for the item. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09).
 

APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-13

Table B-5. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the difference between the credits earned at the origin institution

and the credits transferred (QDCRDIFF) variable, by select variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

Sector

Public less-than-2-year ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ 0.00 1.48

Public 2-year 2,360 810 53.8 59.8 -0.06 -0.02 1.68

Public 4-year, nondoctorate-granting 610 160 12.6 9.7 0.03 0.01 1.35

Public doctorate-granting 740 180 15.1 12.0 0.03 0.01 1.98*

Private nonprofit, less-than-4-year 90 ‡ 0.6 ‡ ‡ 0.00 0.54

Private/nonprofit 4-year nondoctorate 530 80 8.2 5.1 0.03 0.01 3.18**

Private nonprofit, doctorate-granting 270 90 3.7 5.0 -0.01 0.00 1.35

Private for-profit, less-than-2-year 60 50 1.3 3.3 -0.02 -0.01 1.95

Private for-profit, 2-years or more 180 40 4.3 3.8 0.00 0.00 0.35

Bureau of Economic Analysis region (OBE) code 

New England (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) 290 120 4.9 5.7 -0.01 0.00 0.76

Mideast (DE, DC, MD, NJ, NY, PA) 710 270 14.3 12.6 0.02 0.00 0.65

Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI) 770 210 16.3 11.3 0.05 0.01 2.67**

Plains (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD) 540 300 7.7 15.7 -0.08 -0.02 2.19*

Southeast (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, 

TN, VA, WV) 1,160 390 23.9 24.8 -0.01 0.00 0.26

Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX) 630 180 13.4 12.3 0.01 0.00 0.51

Rocky Mountains (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY) 130 50 2.9 3.7 -0.01 0.00 1.14

Far West (AK, CA, HI, NV, OR, WA) 580 210 15.6 13.1 0.02 0.01 1.22

Outlying Areas (PR) 60 ‡ 1.0 ‡ ‡ 0.00 1.55

CPS record available at base year

No 1,300 450 32.6 28.8 0.04 0.01 1.68

Yes 3,570 1,310 67.4 71.2 -0.04 -0.01 1.68

Applied for federal aid

No 1,110 380 28.7 25.3 0.03 0.01 1.67

Yes 3,750 1,380 71.3 74.7 -0.03 -0.01 1.67

See notes at end of table.
 

 B-14 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

Table B-5. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the difference between the credits earned at the origin institution

and the credits transferred (QDCRDIFF) variable, by select variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

Pell grant status

No 3,310 1,250 71.1 72.1 -0.01 0.00 0.45

Yes 1550 510 28.9 27.9 0.01 0.00 0.45

Pell grant amount at base year

0 3,310 1,250 71.1 72.1 -0.01 0.00 0.45

Up to $2,000 520 170 11.0 10.9 0.00 0.00 0.11

$2,001 to $3,700 520 170 9.9 9.0 0.01 0.00 0.75

$3,701 or more 510 170 8.0 8.1 0.00 0.00 0.09

Stafford loan status

No 2,910 1,050 66.6 65.9 0.01 0.00 0.27

Yes 1,960 710 33.4 34.1 -0.01 0.00 0.27

Total Stafford loan amount received

$0 (zero) 2,910 1,050 66.6 65.9 0.01 0.00 0.27

$1 to $2,624 400 130 7.1 7.0 0.00 0.00 0.03

$2,625 1,160 450 19.2 19.2 0.00 0.00 0.01

More than $2625 410 140 7.2 7.9 -0.01 0.00 0.47

Institutional undergraduate enrollment (base year)

0–1,991 1,190 420 20.6 19.5 0.01 0.00 0.47

1,992–6,958 1,390 520 28.5 30.0 -0.02 0.00 0.31

6,959–16,918 1,190 400 27.0 26.1 0.01 0.00 0.28

16,919 or more 1,090 420 24.0 24.4 0.00 0.00 0.17

Age at base year

15 to 18 years old 2,720 970 53.5 50.8 0.03 0.01 1.07

19 years old 1,440 510 28.5 26.7 0.02 0.01 0.99

20 to 23 years old 390 120 9.8 8.4 0.01 0.00 1.20

24 to 29 years old 160 80 3.8 6.5 -0.03 -0.01 2.41*

Over 30 years old 160 90 4.4 7.6 -0.03 -0.01 2.17*

See notes at end of table.
 

APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-15

Table B-5. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the difference between the credits earned at the origin institution

and the credits transferred (QDCRDIFF) variable, by select variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

High school graduation year

Before 1998 100 60 2.9 6.3 -0.03 -0.01 2.26*

1998–2002 570 190 14.8 15.6 -0.01 0.00 0.46

2003–2004 4,030 1,430 81.9 77.7 0.04 0.01 2.02*

Did not graduate high school ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ 0.00 0.06

Dependency status at base year

Dependent 4,290 1,510 85.5 79.6 0.06 0.02 2.59**

Independent 570 250 14.5 20.4 -0.06 -0.02 2.59**

Income level at base year

Dependent: Less than $10,000 220 60 4.3 3.8 0.01 0.00 0.63

Dependent: $10,000-$19,999 310 90 5.9 4.8 0.01 0.00 1.21

Dependent: $20,000-$29,999 400 120 7.7 6.3 0.01 0.00 1.57

Dependent: $30,000-$39,999 430 130 8.8 7.0 0.02 0.00 1.85

Dependent: $40,000-$49,999 390 130 8.0 6.3 0.02 0.00 1.90

Dependent: $50,000-$59,999 350 120 7.4 5.1 0.02 0.01 2.73**

Dependent: $60,000-$69,999 400 150 8.0 8.8 -0.01 0.00 0.65

Dependent: $70,000-$79,999 330 110 7.2 5.6 0.02 0.00 1.69

Dependent: $80,000-$99,999 550 220 10.0 11.1 -0.01 0.00 0.86

Dependent: $100,000 or more 920 390 18.1 20.7 -0.03 -0.01 1.41

Independent: $5,000-$9,999 80 30 2.0 2.7 -0.01 0.00 0.94

Independent: Less than $5,000 120 40 2.3 2.9 -0.01 0.00 0.80

Independent: $10,000-$19,999 140 50 3.4 4.1 -0.01 0.00 0.59

Independent: $20,000-$29,999 90 40 2.1 3.1 0.00 0.00 1.19

Independent: $30,000-$49,999 80 50 2.2 4.0 -0.02 0.00 2.02*

Independent: $50,000 or more 60 30 2.5 3.7 -0.01 0.00 1.09

See notes at end of table.
 

 B-16 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

Table B-5. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the difference between the credits earned at the origin institution

and the credits transferred (QDCRDIFF) variable, by select variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

Race/ethnicity

White 3,200 1,260 63.6 68.5 -0.05 -0.01 1.91

Black or African American 580 180 11.9 13.5 -0.02 0.00 0.98

Asian 560 150 13.0 8.6 0.04 0.01 3.24**

American Indian or Alaska Native 260 110 6.0 5.7 0.00 0.00 0.32

All other race/ethnicities including more than one 

race 260 70 5.4 3.7 0.02 0.00 2.35*

Gender

Male 2,010 660 42.8 38.7 0.04 0.01 2.06*

Female 2,860 1,100 57.2 61.3 -0.04 -0.01 2.06*

Marital status at base year

Single, divorced, or widowed 4,640 1,650 93.8 90.5 0.03 0.01 2.18*

Married 190 100 5.5 8.9 -0.03 -0.01 2.27*

Separated 30 ‡ 0.7 ‡ ‡ 0.00 0.39

Citizenship at base year

U.S. citizen 4,580 1,650 93.4 92.5 0.01 0.00 0.65

Resident alien 210 80 4.8 6.2 -0.01 0.00 1.08

Foreign or international student 70 ‡ 1.8 ‡ ‡ 0.00 1.03

# Rounds to zero.

‡ Does not meet reporting standards because there are too few cases to report.

* p < .05

** p < .01

NOTE: Standard postal service abbreviations are used. CPS = Central Processing System. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. The sample size column 

contains the number of cases who may have been eligible to “respond” to the item (e.g., the data for the item was reported on the transcript). The item response rates and 

nonresponse rates were computed using the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09) student transcript analysis weight. The 

response rate is computed as the number of cases who responded to the item and did not have a legitimate skip for the item divided by the number of cases who did not 

have a legitimate skip for the item.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09).
 

APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-17

Table B-6. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the number of credits earned at the origin institution (QDTCRSS) 

variable, by select variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

Sector

Public less-than-2-year ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ 0.00 1.55

Public 2-year 2,400 770 53.9 60.0 -0.06 -0.02 1.63

Public 4-year, nondoctorate-granting 620 160 12.6 9.5 0.03 0.01 1.39

Public doctorate-granting 750 170 15.1 11.7 0.03 0.01 2.08*

Private nonprofit, less-than-4-year 100 ‡ 0.6 ‡ ‡ 0.00 0.63

Private/nonprofit 4-year nondoctorate 540 80 8.2 4.9 0.03 0.01 3.40***

Private nonprofit, doctorate-granting 270 90 3.7 5.1 -0.01 0.00 1.37

Private for-profit, less-than-2-year 60 50 1.3 3.5 -0.02 -0.01 2.06*

Private for-profit, 2-years or more 180 40 4.2 4.0 0.00 0.00 0.17

Bureau of Economic Analysis region (OBE) code 

New England (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) 290 120 4.8 5.9 -0.01 0.00 0.90

Mideast (DE, DC, MD, NJ, NY, PA) 710 270 14.2 12.7 0.02 0.00 0.63

Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI) 780 200 16.2 11.3 0.05 0.01 2.63**

Plains (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD) 550 290 7.9 15.7 -0.08 -0.02 2.04*

Southeast (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, 

TN, VA, WV) 1,180 370 23.9 24.8 -0.01 0.00 0.26

Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX) 640 170 13.4 12.2 0.01 0.00 0.58

Rocky Mountains (CO, ID, MT, UT, WY) 130 50 2.9 3.7 -0.01 0.00 1.04

Far West (AK, CA, HI, NV, OR, WA) 590 200 15.5 13.1 0.02 0.01 1.15

Outlying Areas (PR) 60 ‡ 1.0 ‡ ‡ 0.00 1.41

CPS record available at base year

No 1,310 430 32.4 29.0 0.03 0.01 1.49

Yes 3,620 1,260 67.6 71.0 -0.03 -0.01 1.49

Applied for federal aid

No 1,130 360 28.6 25.5 0.03 0.01 1.47

Yes 3,810 1,330 71.4 74.5 -0.03 -0.01 1.47

See notes at end of table.
 

 B-18 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

Table B-6. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the number of credits earned at the origin institution (QDTCRSS) 

variable, by select variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

Pell grant status

No 3,360 1,200 71.1 72.1 -0.01 0.00 0.44

Yes 1,570 490 28.9 27.9 0.01 0.00 0.44

Pell grant amount at base year

0 3,360 1,200 71.1 72.1 -0.01 0.00 0.44

Up to $2,000 520 170 11.0 11.0 0.00 0.00 0.01

$2,001 to $3,700 530 160 9.8 9.1 0.01 0.00 0.61

$3,701 or more 520 160 8.1 7.8 0.00 0.00 0.24

Stafford loan status

No 2,950 1,010 66.4 66.3 0.00 0.00 0.06

Yes 1,990 680 33.6 33.7 0.00 0.00 0.06

Total Stafford loan amount received

$0 (zero) 2,950 1,010 66.4 66.3 0.00 0.00 0.06

$1 to $2,624 400 120 7.2 6.7 0.00 0.00 0.51

$2,625 1,170 440 19.1 19.3 0.00 0.00 0.08

More than $2,625 410 130 7.2 7.7 0.00 0.00 0.31

Institutional undergraduate enrollment (base year)

0–1,991 1,210 400 20.6 19.3 0.01 0.00 0.55

1,992–6,958 1,410 500 28.4 30.3 -0.02 -0.01 0.39

6,959–16,918 1,210 380 27.0 25.9 0.01 0.00 0.37

16,919 or more 1,100 410 23.9 24.5 -0.01 0.00 0.20

Age at base year

15 to 18 years old 2,760 930 53.6 50.4 0.03 0.01 1.21

19 years old 1,460 480 28.6 26.6 0.02 0.01 1.06

20 to 23 years old 390 110 9.8 8.5 0.01 0.00 1.09

24 to 29 years old 160 70 3.8 6.7 -0.03 -0.01 2.59**

Over 30 years old 160 90 4.3 7.8 -0.03 -0.01 2.26*

See notes at end of table.
 

APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-19

Table B-6. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the number of credits earned at the origin institution (QDTCRSS) 

variable, by select variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

High school graduation year

Before 1998 100 60 2.8 6.5 -0.04 -0.01 2.37*

1998–2002 570 180 14.7 15.9 -0.01 0.00 0.66

2003–2004 4,090 1,370 82.1 77.1 0.05 0.01 2.31*

Did not graduate HS ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ 0.00 0.01

Dependency status at base year

Dependent 4,360 1,450 85.7 79.0 0.07 0.02 2.83**

Independent 580 240 14.3 21.0 -0.07 -0.02 2.83**

Income level at base year

Dependent: Less than $10,000 230 60 4.3 3.8 0.01 0.00 0.66

Dependent: $10,000-$19,999 320 90 6.0 4.6 0.01 0.00 1.48

Dependent: $20,000-$29,999 410 120 7.7 6.4 0.01 0.00 1.40

Dependent: $30,000-$39,999 440 120 8.9 6.9 0.02 0.01 2.18*

Dependent: $40,000-$49,999 390 130 8.0 6.3 0.02 0.00 1.79

Dependent: $50,000-$59,999 350 110 7.4 5.1 0.02 0.01 2.65**

Dependent: $60,000-$69,999 410 140 8.1 8.6 -0.01 0.00 0.42

Dependent: $70,000-$79,999 340 100 7.2 5.6 0.02 0.00 1.55

Dependent: $80,000-$99,999 560 210 10.1 11.1 -0.01 0.00 0.82

Dependent: $100,000 or more 930 370 18.2 20.6 -0.02 -0.01 1.25

Independent: Less than $5,000 120 40 2.3 2.9 -0.01 0.00 0.82

Independent: $5,000-$9,999 80 30 2.0 2.8 -0.01 0.00 1.10

Independent: $10,000-$19,999 140 50 3.4 4.1 -0.01 0.00 0.66

Independent: $20,000-$29,999 90 40 2.1 3.2 0.00 0.00 1.21

Independent: $30,000-$49,999 80 50 2.2 4.1 -0.02 -0.01 2.18*

Independent: $50,000 or more 60 30 2.5 3.8 -0.01 0.00 1.21

See notes at end of table.
 

 B-20 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

Table B-6. Student item nonresponse bias for responses and nonresponses to the number of credits earned at the origin institution (QDTCRSS) 

variable, by select variables for all students: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Variable

Unweighted 

study 

respondents

Unweighted 

study nonrespondentsRespondent 

percent

Nonrespondent 

percent Difference

Estimated 

bias t test

Race/ethnicity

White 3,260 1,200 63.8 68.1 -0.04 -0.01 1.63

Black or African American 580 170 11.9 13.8 -0.02 -0.01 1.16

Asian 570 140 12.9 8.7 0.04 0.01 3.13**

American Indian or Alaska Native 270 110 6.0 5.8 0.00 0.00 0.24

All other race/ethnicities including more than one 

race 260 60 5.4 3.7 0.02 0.00 2.18*

Gender

Male 2,030 640 42.6 38.9 0.04 0.01 1.84

Female 2,910 1,050 57.4 61.1 -0.04 -0.01 1.84

Marital status at base year

Single, divorced, or widowed 4,710 1,580 93.9 90.3 0.04 0.01 2.31*

Married 200 100 5.4 9.1 -0.04 -0.01 2.38*

Separated 30 ‡ 0.7 ‡ ‡ 0.00 0.28

Citizenship at base year

U.S. citizen 4,650 1,580 93.4 92.3 0.01 0.00 0.79

Resident alien 210 80 4.7 6.3 -0.02 0.00 1.24

Foreign or international student 70 ‡ 1.8 ‡ ‡ 0.00 1.06

# Rounds to zero.

‡ Does not meet reporting standards because there are too few cases to report.

* p < .05

** p < .01

*** p < .001

NOTE: Standard postal service abbreviations are used. CPS = Central Processing System. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. The sample size column 

contains the number of cases who may have been eligible to “respond” to the item (e.g., the data for the item was reported on the transcript). The item response rates and 

nonresponse rates were computed using the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09) student transcript analysis weight. The response 

rate is computed as the number of cases who responded to the item and did not have a legitimate skip for the item divided by the number of cases who did not have a 

legitimate skip for the item.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09).
 

APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-21

For more detailed information on nonresponse bias analysis and an overview of the 

survey methodology, see 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study 

(BPS:04/09): Full-Scale Methodology Report

(http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012246). 

Confidentiality Protection

To protect the confidentiality of NCES data that contain information about specific 

individuals and to minimize disclosure risks, BPS:04/09 data and, by extension, the 

associated PETS:09 data, were subject to perturbation procedures. Perturbation 

procedures, which have been approved by the NCES Disclosure Review Board, 

preserve the central tendency estimates but may result in slight increases in 

nonsampling errors.

Weighting

The composition of the sample of students for whom transcripts were collected 

differed from those who were interviewed, and therefore, a specific weight was 

constructed for analyzing transcript data. Of the 18,640 eligible students, 16,960 had 

at least one transcript provided by a postsecondary institution, 110 were deceased, 

and the remaining 1,580 were considered nonrespondents when calculating this 

weight. Construction of this weight began with the BPS:04/06 analysis weight. 

Nonresponse adjustments were implemented using the WTADJUST procedure in 

SUDAAN and incorporating a model-based constrained logistic weighting 

procedure. Calibration methods to ensure the weights added to the sum of the 

BPS:04/09 study weights for eligible cases were also applied. 

Statistical Procedures

Bivariate Comparisons

Comparisons of means were tested using an adjusted Wald test for linear hypotheses 

using Stata’s “test” postestimation command. Differences between estimates were 

tested against the probability of a Type I error5

 or significance level. The statistical 

5 A Type I error occurs when one concludes that a difference observed in a sample reflects a true 

difference in the population from which the sample was drawn, when no such difference is present.

 
 

 B-22 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

significance of each comparison was determined by calculating the Wald test for the 

difference between each pair of means or proportions and comparing the F value 

with published tables of significance levels for two-tailed hypothesis testing. The 

Wald values were computed to test differences between independent estimates using 

the following formula:

Zo = β1−βj

SE(β1) (1)

Where Zo

 is the Wald Statistic (which can be compared to an F distribution; β1 and βj

are estimates; and SE(β1) is the standard error of β1, which is in the denominator. The 

test is “adjusted” because the standard errors were corrected using Balanced 

Repeated Replication (BRR) weights. 

For proportions, a Pearson chi-squared test was computed using the following 

formula:

χ2 = ∑ (fo−fe)2

fe

 (2)

Where χ2 is the chi-squared statistic, fo is the observed frequency in a table cell, and f

e

is the expected frequency in the cell. Chi-square is equal to the sum of the squared 

difference between the observed frequency (f

o

) and the expected frequency (fe) 

divided by the expected frequency (fo

). The chi-square, however, does not account 

for the variance correction procedures to adjust for the complex sampling design. 

The chi-squared statistic is corrected for the complex survey design using the 

second-order correction of Rao and Scott (1984). The resulting statistic is an 

F statistic. 

There are hazards in reporting statistical tests for each comparison. First, 

comparisons based on large t statistics may appear to merit special attention. This 

can be misleading because the magnitude of the t statistic is related not only to the 

observed differences in means or percentages but also to the number of respondents 

in the specific categories used for comparison. Hence, a small difference compared 

across a large number of respondents would produce a large (and thus possibly 

statistically significant) t statistic. To address this issue, we use variance correction 

procedures to estimate more accurate standard errors despite the large sample size. 

A second hazard in reporting statistical tests is the possibility that one can report a 

“false positive” or Type I error. Statistical tests are designed to limit the risk of this 

type of error using a value denoted by alpha. The alpha level of .01 was selected for 

findings in this report and ensures that a difference of a certain magnitude or larger 
 

APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-23

would be produced when there was no actual difference between the quantities in 

the underlying population no more than 1 time out of 100. 

When a large number of comparisons in a table are tested, Type I errors become 

more likely. Therefore, the results of multiple comparison tests should be interpreted 

with caution. In this analysis, comparisons of student transfers from public less-than2-year institutions were made both overall and also for each of the other six 

institution sectors (public 4-year, public 2-year, private nonprofit 4-year, private 

nonprofit less-than-4-year, private for-profit 4-year, and private for-profit less-than4-year). As the number of simultaneous comparisons increases, the likelihood of a 

Type I error also increases. The probability of a Type I error for these comparisons 

taken as a group is larger than the probability for a single comparison. When more 

than one comparison between groups of related characteristics are tested for 

statistical significance, one must apply a standard that assures a level of significance 

for all of those comparisons taken together. This report uses an alpha level of .01 

instead of .05 for all statistical tests except for the nonresponse bias analysis noted 

above. When test hypotheses indicate alpha values at the .01 level or smaller, the null 

hypothesis that there is no difference between the two quantities is rejected. Failing 

to reject a null hypothesis, that is, to detect a difference, however, does not imply 

that the values are the same or equivalent. 

Multivariate Modeling

The model used for the analysis of transfer credit was chosen due to some unique 

characteristics of the dependent variable. The dependent variable, the total number 

of credits transferred, is positively skewed with a high proportion of zero values. 

This is likely due to two different processes impacting the number of students with 

zero credits transferring. Specifically, the zero count in the number of credits 

transferred is “inflated” due to students who never attempted to transfer credit (i.e., 

the institution never reviewed courses for possible transfer; process #1). The 

“noninflated” zeros are those where students made an attempt to transfer credit, but 

zero credits were transferred. This group should be modeled separately with students 

who had credits transfer (process #2). Because no data were collected to distinguish 

the two groups of students, a statistical technique is required to model for the 

number of zeros needed to account for the second process. 

The statistical method used to examine dependent variables with this characteristic is 

Zero-inflated Negative Binomial regression (ZINB). The basic assumption of this 

statistical technique is that the number of zero values is overly represented and that 

these excess zeros are generated through two distinct processes (similar to what is 

described above). The ZINB regression technique generates estimates for two 
B-24 APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY

models simultaneously: (1) a logistic regression model, with its own independent 

variables, which describes the two processes that lead to zero credits transferred as 

an outcome (the probability that zero credits transfer, presumably from process #1); 

and (2) a negative binomial model to describe the number of credits transferred 

(Erdman, Jackson, and Sinko 2008; Long and Freese 2001). 

The logistic regression component of the model can be represented by the following 

equation:

φi = Pr(always zero | zi) = eziγ

1+eziγ (3)

where φi is the probability that a student with an observed count of zero is in the 

always zero group (due to process #1 – transfer credits never being reviewed). The 

independent variables, represented by the vector zi

 include transfer direction, 

institutional control of the origin and destination institutions, accreditation 

relationship, selectivity relationship, grade point average (GPA) prior to transfer, and 

months enrolled prior to transfer. Additional control variables were added because 

process #1 is dependent on the behavior of the student, who needs to interact with 

the institution during the credit transfer process. These include dependency status, 

single parent status, responsibility for dependents, employment status, type of high 

school credential, attendance intensity in the first year, race, ethnicity, and gender. 

The parameter estimates associated with zi are represented by γ. 

The negative binomial component of the model is represented by the following 

equation and derives the expected number of credits transferred: 

E(yi|xi) = λi = exiβ (4)

where the dependent variable yi is the natural log of the number of credits transferred 

and xi

 represents the vector of independent variables; xi can differ from the variables 

in the logistic function as is the case presented in this transfer of credit model. 

Independent variables include transfer direction, institutional control of the origin

and destination institutions, accreditation relationship, selectivity relationship, GPA

prior to transfer, and months enrolled prior to transfer. Student demographic 

characteristics are excluded from the negative binomial component of the model 

because process #2 is institutionally driven. The parameter estimates associated with 

xi are represented by β. Lambda (λi

) is a shortened version of the equation. 

Equation 4 used in the negative binomial component is identical to the Poisson 

regression equation. ZINB regression differs from the Poisson in the probability of 
 

APPENDIX B. TECHNICAL NOTES AND METHODOLOGY B-25

observing a specific count given xi. In Poisson regression, the probability of an 

observed count of yi conditioned on xi is calculated using the following equation:

 (5)

ZINB on the other hand, models for the probability of an observed count of yi on 

both the vector xi and the observation not being part of the always zero group due to 

process #2 (i.e., transfer credits were reviewed). The adjusted equation is as follows:

(6)

An additional measure of dispersion (represented by α) and the gamma distribution 

of error terms associated with α (represented by Г), relax the assumption that the 

variance of the dependent variable must equal the mean. When α is zero (no 

dispersion in the dependent variable), Equation 6 becomes the Poisson regression 

equation (Equation 5 above). For a detailed description of the equations used to 

derive ZINB estimates, see Greene (1994) and Long and Freese (2001).

By distinguishing between zeros produced by two separate data-generating processes, 

the ZINB model addresses the overdispersion of a distribution as well as a higher 

number of zeros than would be expected in a normal distribution. Diagnostic tests 

ensure that distribution of the dependent variable fits the assumptions of the ZINB 

model, one that tests the null hypothesis that α does not equal zero (i.e., that the data 

are not overly dispersed) and another that tests the null hypothesis that there are not 

a higher number of zero values than would be expected in a normal negative 

binomial distribution (i.e., the Vuong test).
This page intentionally left blank.
 

 C-1 

Appendix C. Figure and Standard Error Tables 

Table C-1. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04, the 

percentage of students attending multiple institutions, by transfer status: 2003–04 to 

2008–09

Known institutions attended All students Students who transferred

One 1.3 † 

Two 1.1 1.2 

Three 0.4 0.9 

Four 0.2 0.5 

Five or more 0.1 0.3 

† Not applicable.

NOTE: Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination 

institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours have been normalized so that they are comparable 

across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit unit. The “moderately selective” and “selective” 

classifications were recoded into one “selective” group.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
 

 C-2 APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES

Table C-2. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred, the 

percentage distribution of all potential transfer opportunities, by control, level, sector, 

and accreditation relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship (using predominate degree level)

Percent of transfer 

opportunities

Control

Public to public 1.0

Public to private nonprofit 0.7

Public to private for-profit 0.3

Private nonprofit to public 0.5

Private nonprofit to private nonprofit 0.3

Private nonprofit to private for-profit 0.1

Private for-profit to public 0.3

Private for-profit to private nonprofit 0.1

Private for-profit to private for-profit 0.2

Adjusted level

4-year to 4-year 0.9

4-year to 2-year 0.6

2-year to 4-year 0.7

2-year to 2-year 0.9

All others to/from less-than-2-year 0.3

Adjusted sector

2-year public to 4-year public 0.7

2-year public to 2-year public 0.9

4-year public to 4-year public 0.6

4-year public to 2-year public 0.4

2-year public to 4-year private nonprofit 0.7

4-year private nonprofit to 4-year public 0.3

4-year public to 4-year private nonprofit 0.3

4-year private nonprofit to 2-year public 0.3

4-year private nonprofit to 4-year private nonprofit 0.3

4-year private for-profit to other Institution 0.2

2-year private for-profit to other Institution 0.4

Other institution combination 0.6

Accreditation

Regional to regional 0.7

Regional to national 0.3

National to regional 0.3

National to national 0.3

Other accreditation relationship †

† Not Applicable.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. This table includes all transfer events and may include 

multiple transfer opportunities per student. Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of 

less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Institutions that offer 4-year 

degrees but are predominantly associate’s institutions were classified as 2-year. The term “adjusted level” is used so 

that users can distinguish the INSTCAT adjusted level from the LEVEL variable in the Integrated Postsecondary 

Education Data System (IPEDS). The term “adjusted sector” is used to note differences by the sector variable as well.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
 

APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES C-3 

Table C-3. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred to another 

institution: Number of credit transfer opportunities, by sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship (using predominate degree level)

Number of transfer 

opportunities (thousands)

Standard 

error

Public 4-year to all others 682.8 6.87

Public 4-year to public 4-year 262.6 1.69

Public 4-year to private nonprofit 4-year 105.3 0.28

Public 4-year to private for-profit 4-year 10.0 0.01

Public 4-year to public 2-year 287.1 1.26

Public 4-year to private nonprofit 2-year ‡ †

Public 4-year to private for-profit 2-year 8.5 0.01

Public 4-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public 4-year to private nonprofit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public 4-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 4-yr to all others 310.2 1.76

Private nonprofit 4-year to public 4-year 112.0 0.33

Private nonprofit 4-year to private nonprofit 4-year 74.2 0.22

Private nonprofit 4-year to private for-profit 4-year 4.2 0.00

Private nonprofit 4-year to public 2-year 110.2 0.36

Private nonprofit 4-year to private nonprofit 2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 4-year to private for-profit 2-year 6.2! 0.01

Private nonprofit 4-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 4-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-yr to all others 34.0 0.08

Private for-profit 4-year to public 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-year to private nonprofit 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-year to private for-profit 4-year 8.0! 0.01

Private for-profit 4-year to public 2-year 14.0 0.01

Private for-profit 4-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public 2-yr to all others 1,449.8 16.87

Public 2-year to public 4-year 673.9 4.40

Public 2-year to private nonprofit 4-year 219.9 1.46

Public 2-year to private for-profit 4-year 42.1 0.09

Public 2-year to public 2-year 446.0 4.04

Public 2-year to private nonprofit 2-year 16.1! 0.03

Public 2-year to private for-profit 2-year 34.1 0.06

Public 2-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public 2-year to private nonprofit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public 2-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year 13.7 0.01

Private nonprofit less-than-4-yr to all others 28.5 0.08

Private nonprofit 2-year to public 4-year 8.4! 0.01

Private nonprofit 2-year to private nonprofit 4-year 3.9! 0.00

Private nonprofit 2-year to private for-profit 4-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 2-year to public 2-year 13.4! 0.02

Private nonprofit 2-year to private nonprofit 2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 2-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 2-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

See notes at end of table.
 

 C-4 APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES

Table C-3. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred to another 

institution: Number of credit transfer opportunities, by sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09

—Continued

Institution relationship (using predominate degree level)

Number of transfer 

opportunities (thousands)

Standard 

error

Private nonprofit less-than-4-yr to all others—Continued

Private nonprofit 2-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Less-than-2-year private nonprofit to a 2-year private for-profit ‡ †

Private nonprofit less-than-2-year to private nonprofit 4-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit less-than-2-year to public 2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit less-than-2-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to all others 63.5 0.22

Private for-profit 2-year to public 4-year 9.3! 0.02

Private for-profit 2-year to private nonprofit 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to private for-profit 4-year 6.5! 0.01

Private for-profit 2-year to public 2-year 24.7 0.04

Private for-profit 2-year to private nonprofit 2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to private for-profit 2-year 12.8! 0.02

Private for-profit 2-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to private nonprofit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public less-than-2-year to all others 7.5 0.01

Public less-than-2-year to public 4-year ‡ †

Public less-than-2-year to private nonprofit 4-year ‡ †

Public less-than-2-year to private for-profit 4-year ‡ †

Public less-than-2-year to public 2-year 4.3 0.00

Public less-than-2-year to private nonprofit 2-year ‡ †

Public less-than-2-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ †

Public less-than-2-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public less-than-2-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to all others 32.9 0.05

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to public 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private nonprofit 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private for-profit 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to public 2-year 22.6 0.03

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private nonprofit 2-yr ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private for-profit 2-yr ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private nonprofit lessthan-2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private for-profit less-than2-year ‡ †

All other sector combinations No transfer events

† Not applicable. 

! Unstable estimate (relative standard error for estimate exceeds 30 percent). 

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50

percent or greater.

NOTE: This table includes all transfer events and may include multiple transfer events per student. Students who 

returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not 

considered to have transferred.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
 

APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES C-5 

Table C-4. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred to another 

institution: Volume of credit transfers, by sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship (using predominate degree level)

Number of credits 

transferred (thousands)

Standard 

error

Public 4-year to all others 6,980.5 465.5

Public 4-year to public 4-year 4,506.9 428.9

Public 4-year to private nonprofit 4-year 1,034.8 128.3

Public 4-year to private for-profit 4-year 56.3! 17.1

Public 4-year to public 2-year 1,341.8 124.4

Public 4-year to private nonprofit 2-year ‡ †

Public 4-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ †

Public 4-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public 4-year to private nonprofit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public 4-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 4-year to all others 3,113.5 224.1

Private nonprofit 4-year to public 4-year 1,708.7 179.8

Private nonprofit 4-year to private nonprofit 4-year 780.8 84.8

Private nonprofit 4-year to private for-profit 4-year 58.4! 19.8

Private nonprofit 4-year to public 2-year 538.9 68.7

Private nonprofit 4-year to private nonprofit 2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 4-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 4-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 4-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-year to all others 125.7! 42.9

Private for-profit 4-year to public 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-year to private nonprofit 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-year to private for-profit 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-year to public 2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 4-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public 2-year to all others 19,079.3 1,060.30

Public 2-year to public 4-year 13,606.4 725.4

Public 2-year to private nonprofit 4-year 2,932.1 433.4

Public 2-year to private for-profit 4-year 344.8 87

Public 2-year to public 2-year 2,002.5 255.5

Public 2-year to private nonprofit 2-year 143.0! 55

Public 2-year to private for-profit 2-year 50.2! 16.3

Public 2-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public 2-year to private nonprofit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public 2-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year # #

Private nonprofit less-than-4-year to all others 337.8! 125.6

Private nonprofit 2-year to public 4-year 198.4! 82.5

Private nonprofit 2-year to private nonprofit 4-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 2-year to private for-profit 4-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 2-year to public 2-year 65.6! 32.4

Private nonprofit 2-year to private nonprofit 2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 2-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 2-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit 2-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ †

See notes at end of table.
 

 C-6 APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES

Table C-4. First-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred to another 

institution: Volume of credit transfers, by sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Institution relationship (using predominate degree level)

Number of credits 

transferred (thousands)

Standard 

error

Private nonprofit less-than-2-year to private nonprofit 4-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit less-than-2-year to public 2-year ‡ †

Private nonprofit less-than-2-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to all others 175.1 47.9

Private for-profit 2-year to public 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to private nonprofit 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to private for-profit 4-year 49.3! 23.6

Private for-profit 2-year to public 2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to private nonprofit 2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to private nonprofit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit 2-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ †

Public less-than-2-year to all others ‡ †

Public less-than-2-year to public 4-year ‡ † 

Public less-than-2-year to private nonprofit 4-year ‡ † 

Public less-than-2-year to private for-profit 4-year ‡ † 

Public less-than-2-year to public 2-year ‡ † 

Public less-than-2-year to private nonprofit 2-year ‡ † 

Public less-than-2-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ † 

Public less-than-2-year to public less-than-2-year ‡ † 

Public less-than-2-year to private for-profit less-than-2-year ‡ † 

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to all others 0.3! 0.1

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to public 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private nonprofit 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private for-profit 4-year ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to public 2-year 0.2! 0.1

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private nonprofit 2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private for-profit 2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private nonprofit less-than2-year ‡ †

Private for-profit less-than-2-year to private for-profit less-than2-year ‡ †

Unknown origin due to bulk credit transfer 164.9 0.2

Unknown to 4-year public ‡ †

Unknown to 4-year private nonprofit ‡ †

Unknown to 2-year public ‡ †

Unknown to less-than-4-year private nonprofit ‡ †

Unknown to less-than-2-year private for-profit ‡ †

All other sector combinations No transfer opportunities

† Not applicable. 

! Unstable estimate (relative standard error for estimate exceeds 30 percent). 

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50

percent or greater. 

NOTE: This table includes all transfer events and may include multiple transfer events per student. Students who 

returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not 

considered to have transferred.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
 

APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES C-7 

Table C-5. Standard errors: Number and percentage distribution of first-time beginning 

undergraduate students in 2003–04, by transfer status within sector: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Sector of first institution of attendance

Attended one institution 

or returned to origin in 

less than 4 months Attended multiple institutions

Attended one institution

One 

transfer

Two or more 

transfers

Total 0.7 0.6 0.4

Public 4-year 1.2 0.9 0.8

Public 2-year 1.2 1.0 0.6

Public less-than-2-year 5.3 4.0! † 

Private nonprofit 4-year 1.4 1.3 0.9

Private nonprofit less-than-4-year 7.9 7.6 3.5! 

Private for-profit 4-year 3.1 2.7! † 

Private for-profit less-than-4-year 1.4 1.3 0.5

† Not applicable. 

! Unstable estimate (relative standard error for estimate exceeds 30 percent). 

NOTE: Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination 

institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours have been normalized so that they are comparable 

across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit unit.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

Table C-6. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who

transferred to another institution, the number of credits earned at origin institution,

transferred to destination, and the difference between credits earned and transferred

during the first transfer, by amount of credits transferred

Number of credits 

transferred

Total students Total credits

Percent

Earned at 

origin 

institution

Transferred to 

destination 

institution

Difference between 

credits earned and 

transferred

Total † 0.6 0.5 0.4

No credits transferred 1.1 0.9 # 0.9

Some credits transferred 1.1 1.2 1.1 0.5

All credits transferred 1.1 1.0 1.0 #

† Not applicable.

# Estimate rounds to zero. 

NOTE: Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination 

institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours have been normalized so that they are comparable 

across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit unit.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
 

 C-8 APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES

Table C-7. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred, the percentage distribution of transfer students and the percentage of 

students with no credits transferred, by control, level, sector, accreditation, and 

selectivity relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Total transfer 

students 

(percent)

Transfer students with 

no credits transferring 

(percent)

Total † 1.0

Control relationship

Public to public 1.2 1.2

Public to private nonprofit 1.1 2.4

Public to private for-profit 0.5 4.5

Private nonprofit to public 0.6 3.2

Private nonprofit to private nonprofit 0.3 4.2

Private nonprofit to private for-profit 0.1 †

Private for-profit to all other control groups 0.6 4.4

Adjusted level relationship

4-year to 4-year 1.1 1.7

4-year to 2-year 0.7 2.1

2-year to 4-year 1.2 1.2

2-year to 2-year 0.9 2.4

All others to/from less-than-2-year 0.3 2.8

Adjusted sector relationship

2-year public to 4-year public 1.0 1.5

2-year public to 2-year public 0.8 2.6

4-year public to 4-year public 0.8 2.3

4-year public to 2-year public 0.5 2.5

2-year public to 4-year private nonprofit 1.0 2.7

4-year private nonprofit to 4-year public 0.3 3.2

4-year public to 4-year private nonprofit 0.4 4.2

4-year private nonprofit to 2-year public 0.4 3.9

4-year private nonprofit to 4-year private nonprofit 0.3 4.6

Other institution to 4-year private for-profit 0.4 5.9

Other institution to 2-year private for-profit 0.4 3.5

Other institution combination 0.7 3.9

Accreditation relationship

Regional to regional 0.8 1.1

Regional to national 0.4 4.5

National to regional 0.5 7.1

National to national 0.3 9.6

Other relationship † †

Institution selectivity relationship

Open admission to open admission 1.1 2.3

Open admission to minimally selective 0.8 4.0

Open admission to selective 1.2 1.4

Minimally selective to open admission 0.6 4.6

Minimally selective to minimally selective 0.3 7.0

Minimally selective to selective 0.5 4.2

See notes at end of table.
 

APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES C-9 

Table C-7. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred, the percentage distribution of transfer students and the percentage of 

students with no credits transferred, by control, level, sector, accreditation, and 

selectivity relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Institution relationship

Total transfer 

students 

(percent)

Transfer students with 

no credits transferring 

(percent)

Institution selectivity relationship—Continued

Selective to open admission 0.6 2.4

Selective to minimally selective 0.3 4.6

Selective to selective 0.7 1.9

† Not applicable.

NOTE: Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination 

institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours have been normalized so that they are comparable 

across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit unit. The “moderately selective” and “selective” 

classifications were recoded into one “selective” group.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
 

 C-10 APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES

Table C-8. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred, the average credits earned at the origin institution, the average credits 

accepted at the first transfer destination institution, and the difference between the 

credits earned and transferred, by control, level, sector, accreditation, and selectivity 

relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Total credits Difference 

between credits 

earned and 

transferred

Earned at 

origin 

institution

Transferred to 

destination 

institution

Total 0.6 0.5 0.4

Control relationship

Public to public 0.7 0.7 0.5

Public to private nonprofit 2.6 1.8 1.0

Public to private for-profit 2.1 1.3 1.5

Private nonprofit to public 1.9 1.4 1.9

Private nonprofit to private nonprofit 2.4 1.8 2.6

Private nonprofit to private for-profit 4.7 3.2! 3.8

Private for-profit to public 5.5 0.9! 5.9

Private for-profit to private nonprofit † † † 

Private for-profit to private for-profit 3.7 1.5! 3.1

Adjusted level relationship

4-year to 4-year 1.2 1.3 0.9

4-year to 2-year 1.4 0.5 1.4

2-year to 4-year 1.1 1.0 0.6

2-year to 2-year 1.1 0.8 1.0

All others to/from less-than-2-year 1.9 † 2.3

Adjusted sector relationship

2-year public to 4-year public 1.2 1.2 0.8

2-year public to 2-year public 1.1 1.0 1.2

4-year public to 4-year public 2.3 2.4 1.2

4-year public to 2-year public 1.3 0.6 1.4

2-year public to 4-year private nonprofit 3.7 2.4 1.5

4-year private nonprofit to 4-year public 1.8 1.9 1.6

4-year public to 4-year private nonprofit 1.8 1.5 1.0

4-year private nonprofit to 2-year public 3.1 0.9 3.4

4-year private nonprofit to 4-year private 

nonprofit 2.6 1.9 2.9

Other institution to 4-year private for-profit 3.2 2.4 1.9

Other institution to 2-year private for-profit 2.3 0.5! 2.2

Other institution combination 2.9 1.2 2.8

Accreditation relationship

Regional to regional 0.6 0.6 0.5

Regional to national 2.2 0.9! 1.8

National to regional 2.8 1.6! 2.9

National to national 3.7 † 3.0

Other relationship † † † 

See notes at end of table.
 

APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES C-11

Table C-8. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred, the average credits earned at the origin institution, the average credits 

accepted at the first transfer destination institution, and the difference between the 

credits earned and transferred, by control, level, sector, accreditation, and selectivity 

relationship: 2003–04 to 2008–09—Continued

Institution relationship

Total credits Difference 

between credits 

earned and 

transferred

Earned at 

origin 

institution

Transferred to 

destination 

institution

Institution selectivity relationship

Open admission to open admission 1.3 1.1 1.0

Open admission to minimally selective 2.3 2.5 1.8

Open admission to selective 1.4 1.3 0.7

Minimally selective to open admission 3.1 1.2 3.3

Minimally selective to minimally selective 3.7 2.3 4.1

Minimally selective to selective 2.4 2.3 1.7

Selective to open admission 1.5 0.7 1.6

Selective to minimally selective 2.2 1.9 1.6

Selective to selective 1.5 1.4 1.3

† Not applicable. 

! Unstable estimate (relative standard error for estimate exceeds 30 percent). 

NOTE: Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination 

institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours have been normalized so that they are comparable 

across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit unit.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
 

 C-12 APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES

Table C-9. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate students who transferred in

2003–04, the percentage distribution of transfer students, the percentage of transfer 

students with no credits transferring, and the difference between credits earned and 

credits transferred, by degree program change relationship and grade point average at 

origin institution: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Total 

transfer

students 

(percent)

Transfer 

students with 

no credits 

transferring 

(percent)

Difference 

between credits 

earned at origin 

and credits 

transferred 

(number)

Total † 1 0.4

Degree program change

Associate’s degree to bachelor’s degree 0.8 2.2 1.2

Associate’s degree to associate’s degree 0.4 6.9 2.1

Associate’s degree to undergraduate courses/no degree 0.6 4.3 2.4

Bachelor’s degree to bachelor’s degree 0.5 3.5 1.7

Bachelor’s degree to associate’s degree 0.3 5.5 2.5

Bachelor’s degree to undergraduate courses/no degree 0.5 3.9 3.4

Undergraduate courses/no degree to bachelor’s degree 1.1 1.3 0.6

Undergraduate courses/no degree to associate’s degree 0.6 3.3 1.2

To and from undergraduate courses/no degree 0.9 2.5 1.1

To and from certificate and other programs 0.8 3.1 1.3

Grade point average at origin institution

0.00–1.99 0.8 2.1 0.6

2.00–2.99 0.9 1.6 0.9

3.00–4.00 1 1.4 0.7

† Not applicable.

NOTE: Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination 

institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours have been normalized so that they are comparable 

across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit unit.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES C-13

Table C-10. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred, the percentage of students with no credits transferred in the student’s first 

transfer, by direction of transfer within control relationship, accreditation relationship, 

selectivity relationship, grade point average at origin institution, and degree program 

change: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Percent with no credits transferred

Vertical 

transfer

Reverse 

transfer

Horizontal or 

lateral transfer Total

Total 1.2 2.1 1.7 1.1

Control relationship

No change in control 1.5 2.5 2.1 1.2

Change in control 2.4 3.8 2.8 2.0

Accreditation relationship

No change in accreditation 1.2 2.2 1.7 1.1

Change in accreditation 13.0 5.7 4.8 5.4

Selectivity relationship

Transfer to open/minimally selective institutions 3.5 2.2 2.2 1.8

Transfer to selective/moderately selective institutions 1.3 † 1.9 1.1

Grade point average prior to transfer

0.00–1.99 6.5 3.2 3.8 2.3

2.00–2.99 2.3 3.9 2.5 1.7

3.00–4.00 1.5 4.8 2.4 1.5

Degree program change

No change in degree program observed 4.1 4.5 2.8 2.2

Change in degree program 1.8 3.3 3.6 2.4

† Not applicable.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Students who returned to their origin institution after an 

enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours 

have been normalized so that they are comparable across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit 

unit. Institutions that offer 4-year degrees but are predominantly associate’s institutions were classified as 2-year. The 

term “adjusted level” is used so users can distinguish the INSTCAT adjusted level from the LEVEL variable in the 

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
C-14 APPENDIX C. FIGURE AND STANDARD ERROR TABLES

Table C-11. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred credits, the average number of credits transferred in the student’s first 

transfer, by direction of transfer within control relationship, accreditation relationship,

selectivity relationship, grade point average at origin institution, and degree program 

change: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Institution relationship

Percent with no credits transferred

Vertical 

transfer

Reverse 

transfer

Horizontal or 

lateral transfer Total

Total 1.0 1.0 1.1 0.6

Control relationship

No change in control 1.1 1.1 1.5 0.8

Change in control 2.2 2.2 1.2 1.3

Accreditation relationship

No change in accreditation 1.0 1.0 1.1 0.6

Change in accreditation † † 2.9 2.4

Selectivity relationship

Transfer to open/minimally selective institutions 2.9 2.9 1.4 1.3

Transfer to selective/moderately selective institutions 1.2 † 1.7 0.9

Grade point average prior to transfer

0.00–1.99 3.4 3.4 1.9 1.2

2.00–2.99 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.1

3.00–4.00 1.5 1.5 1.4 0.9

Degree program change

No change in degree program observed 2.4 2.4 2.0 1.4

Change in degree program 2.0 2.0 3.3 1.7

Undergrad course/no program to a degree program 1.8 1.8 1.2 1.2

† Not applicable.

NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Students who returned to their origin institution after an 

enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours 

have been normalized so that they are comparable across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit 

unit. Institutions that offer 4-year degrees but are predominantly associate’s institutions were classified as 2-year. The 

term “adjusted level” is used so that users can distinguish the INSTCAT adjusted level from the LEVEL variable in the 

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
D-1 

Appendix D. Multiple Transfer Students

Because itemized transfer credits by course are inconsistently reported on transcripts, 

the origin institution cannot be identified for some destination institutions. As a 

result, most tables and statistics in this report censor the data by including only a 

student’s first transfer in the analysis. While students with three or more institutions 

of attendance are not excluded from the analysis, the author conducted some 

bivariate statistical tests to better understand how different multi-transfer students 

are from students who transfer one time. 

Table D-1 displays estimates for total postsecondary credits earned, grade point 

average (GPA), number of remedial courses, number of institutions attended, and 

level/control of the first origin institution. There were a number of differences 

between one-transfer and multi-transfer students. Students transferring multiple 

times were more likely to have more postsecondary credits earned, with 116 versus 

101 credits (F = 51.12; p < .001). Additionally, there were differences by level 

(F = 25.59; unadjusted χ2

 = 244.72; p < .001) and control (F = 10.24; unadjusted 

χ2

 = 152.53; p < .001). There were no measurable differences in the number of 

remedial courses taken (F = 2.66; p = 0.106) and overall GPA (F = 0.39; p = 0.535).

While differences do exist, these cases are not likely to contribute much bias to the 

analysis because they are not being excluded from any analyses and they represent 

only 9 percent of the weighted cases. 
D-2 APPENDIX D. MULTIPLE TRANSFER STUDENTS

Table D-1. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred, the 

average postsecondary credits, grade point average, number of remedial courses, 

institutions attended, and proportion of level and control by number of times transferred: 

2003–04 to 2008–09

Variables One transfer Two or more transfers

Academic performance/characteristics

Career postsecondary credits 101.4 116.5

Grade point average across all institutions 2.9 2.8

Number of remedial courses 1.3 1.5

Number of institutions attended 2.0 2.9

Adjusted level relationship (percent)

4-year 32.3 44.0

2-year 64.6 54.6

Less-than-2-year 3.1 ‡

Control relationship (percent)

Public 81.6 82.6

Private nonprofit 11.1 14.4

Private for-profit 7.3 3.0

‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases or the relative standard error for the estimate is 50 

percent or greater.

NOTE: Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination 

institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours have been normalized so that they are comparable 

across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit unit.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

Table D-2. Standard errors: Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who 

transferred, the average postsecondary credits, grade point average, number of remedial 

courses, institutions attended, and proportion of level and control, by number of times 

transferred: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Variables One transfer Two or more transfers

Academic performance/characteristics

Career postsecondary credits 1.13 1.73

Grade point average across all institutions 0.02 0.03

Number of remedial courses 0.05 0.09

Number of institutions attended 0.02 0.03

Adjusted level relationship (percent)

4-year 0.02 0.02

2-year 0.02 0.02

Less-than-2-year 0.00 †

Control relationship (percent)

Public 0.01 0.01

Private nonprofit 0.01 0.01

Private for-profit 0.01 0.01

† Not applicable.

NOTE: Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination 

institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours have been normalized so that they are comparable 

across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit unit.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).
E-1 

Appendix E. Missing Case Analysis for 

Multivariate Model

The data from the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study 

(BPS:04/09) transcript file were not imputed, so there is potential bias related to 

listwise deletion from the multivariate model. This appendix presents the results of a 

missing case analysis to determine the extent to which the results presented in the 

multivariate model yields accurate inferences of the transfer of credit in the 

population of first-time beginning transfer students. 

As shown in table E-1, the missing cases dropped from the analytic sample are 

missing not at random (MNAR). There were statistical differences between the 

analytic sample and the full sample in the following variables after listwise deletion 

(i.e., the analytic sample): 

• control of origin institution (private for-profit) with fewer cases in the analytic

sample (5.0 percent versus 6.0 percent);

• transfer direction (reverse) with a higher proportion of cases in the analytic

sample (15.2 percent versus 14.3 percent);

• accreditation direction (from regional to national) with fewer cases in the

analytic sample (2.5 percent versus 3.0 percent);

• independent status with fewer cases in the analytic sample (12.4 percent

versus 15.2 percent)

• student with dependents with fewer cases in the analytic sample (7.1 percent

versus 9.0 percent);

• employment status (full-time) with fewer cases in the analytic sample

(15.5 percent versus 17.4 percent); and

• months enrolled prior to transfer with a higher proportion of cases enrolled

longer (12.8 months versus 11.4 months).

These results indicate that if the multivariate results were biased, it would most likely 

occur in the for-profit sector, 4-year to 2-year transfers, and regional to national 

accreditation transfers. The results would likely be biased due to the lower number of 

independent students, students with dependents, and full-time students in the 
E-2 APPENDIX E. MISSING CASE ANALYSIS FOR MULTIVARIATE MODEL

analytic sample, who generally attend these institution types.1 The following research 

question guided the second part of the missing case analysis: 

If independent students, students with dependents, and full-time 

students were added back to the sample, to what extent would the 

multivariate results have changes?

1 Because the months enrolled variable was added to the model only to account/control for the 

amount of time available to the student to add credits, it was not deemed to be a significant factor in 

biasing the model.
APPENDIX E. MISSING CASE ANALYSIS FOR MULTIVARIATE MODEL E-3 

Table E-1. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred, the 

mean/percentage estimates for variables used in the multivariate analyses of credit 

transfer comparing cases in the full sample and the analytic sample: 2003–04 to 2008–09

Variables Full sample Analytic sample

Dependent variable

Total credits transferred 16.5 16.6

Independent variables

Control of origin institution (percent)

Public 83.7 83.7

Private nonprofit 12.3 12.8

Private for-profit 4.0 3.4

Control of destination institution (percent)

Public 75.2 75.9

Private nonprofit 18.8 19.1

Private for-profit 6.0 5.0*

Transfer direction (percent)

Vertical (2-year to 4-year) 42.2 42.1

Reverse (4-year to 2-year) 14.3 15.2*

Horizontal (4-year to 4-year or 2-year to 2-year) 43.6 42.7

Accreditation relationship (percent)

Regional to regional 93.8 93.7

Regional to national (or other) 3.0 2.5*

National to regional (or other) 2.5 2.5

National to national (or other) 0.7 0.6

Grade point average prior to transfer 2.8 2.8

Selectivity (percent)

To selective/moderately selective 51.6 52.2

To open admissions/minimally selective 48.4 47.8

Dependency status (percent)

Dependent 84.9 87.6

Independent 15.1 12.4*

Single parent (percent)

Not a single parent 95.1 95.7

Single parent 4.9 4.3

Responsibility for dependents (percent)

Does not have dependents 91.0 92.9

Has dependents 9.0 7.1*

Employment status (percent)

No job 31.6 31.9

Part-time 51.1 52.6

Full-time 17.4 15.5*

High school credential (percent)

High school diploma 91.9 92.2

GED or other diploma 8.1 7.8

See notes at end of table.
E-4 APPENDIX E. MISSING CASE ANALYSIS FOR MULTIVARIATE MODEL

Table E-1. Among first-time beginning undergraduate students in 2003–04 who transferred, 

mean/percentage estimates for variables used in the multivariate analyses of credit 

transfer comparing cases in the full sample and the analytic sample: 2003–04 to 

2008–09—Continued

Variables Full sample Analytic sample

Independent variables—Continued

Postsecondary attendance intensity in first year (percent)

Full-time 76.0 76.5

Part-time 24.0 23.5

Months enrolled prior to transfer 11.4 12.8*

* Estimate is significantly different from the full sample (p < .01).

NOTE: Students who returned to their origin institution after an enrollment spell of less than 4 months at a destination 

institution are not considered to have transferred. Credit hours have been normalized so that they are comparable 

across institutions regardless of calendar system or type of credit unit.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary 

Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09),Postsecondary Education Transcript Study (PETS).

In order to test if the results would change, three Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial 

(ZINB) multivariate analyses were re-run, adding the following interaction terms to 

the model: 

• Model 1: Control of origin institution by student independent status, control

of origin institution by students with dependents, and control of origin

institution by full-time employment status;

• Model 2: Transfer direction by student independent status, transfer direction

by students with dependents, and transfer direction by full-time employment

status; and

• Model 3: Accreditation by student independent status, accreditation by

students with dependents, and accreditation by full-time employment status.

In all cases, the models yielded the same results as the multivariate model, with no 

statistically significant interaction terms in the negative binomial model. The results 

suggest that if these missing cases were added back to the model, it would not 

change the results, and that the inferences to the population are not compromised. 

The syntax used to generate these models can be found at 

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2014163. 
 

 F-1 

Appendix F. Factors That Predict the Probability 

of Inflated Zero Credits Transferring

Table 16 in chapter 3 presents the results of the two components of the ZeroInflated Negative Binomial (ZINB) regression. The first column presents the 

coefficient estimates (in log-odds) for the logistic regression component, and the 

second column presents the results of the negative binomial component. The logistic 

regression component is traditionally not meant to be interpreted, but is included to 

ensure that the negative binomial component produces accurate estimates. 

Unlike most ZINB models, however, the logistic model is guided by a theory. 

Students may not transfer credits because the institution doesn’t know of previous 

coursework (i.e., the student never informed the institution) or because the 

institution evaluated the credits and did not transfer them. Therefore, appendix F 

presents a limited interpretation of the logistic results of this model. The 

interpretation of the logistic portion of the model is the probability that a zero value 

is attributed to the institution not being informed of credit transfer (i.e., the “inflated 

zeros”) versus students who formally request credits to transfer but lose all credits 

(i.e., “legitimate” zeros to be included in the negative binomial component). 

The logistic regression component of the results demonstrates that three factors 

were related to a higher number of zero credits transferring than would be expected 

if multiple processes were not occurring.1

 These are 

• transfer direction; 

• grade point average (GPA); and 

• selectivity relationship. 

Controlling for other factors, the direction of transfer (i.e., vertical, reverse, or 

horizontal) significantly predicted the probability of zero credits transferring as a 

result of the institution not knowing about previous coursework. The reference 

group for this variable was vertical transfer (i.e., from a 2-year to a 4-year institution). 

1 The model presumes that multiple processes are contributing to inflate the zero values. In this case, 

it is hypothesized that zero values are inflated due to (1) the institution never getting an opportunity 

to review transcripts for the transfer of credit and (2) the institution reviewing/evaluating courses to 

transfer credit but not recognizing the credits.

 
 

 F-2 APPENDIX F. FACTORS THAT PREDICT THE PROBABILITY OF INFLATED ZERO CREDITS TRANSFERRING

Students transferring in reverse and horizontally had a higher likelihood of zero 

credits transferring compared to students transferring vertically. A student who 

transferred in reverse from a 4-year institution to a 2-year institution had an 

estimated 323 percent increase2 in the odds that zero credits transfer compared to 

students transferring vertically. Students transferring horizontally (2-year to other 

2-year or 4-year to other 4-year institutions) had a 144 percent increase in the odds 

that zero credits transfer. This finding was consistent with the earlier findings that 

indicated that a higher proportion of students transferred zero credits when they 

deviated from more traditional transfer patterns (2-year to 4-year institutions).

A relationship also existed between GPA and zero credits transferring. Higher GPA 

values decreased the likelihood of zero credits transferring. Specifically, every one 

point increase in GPA resulted in a 36 percent decrease in the odds that a student 

will have no credits transfer. 

Selectivity was also related to zero credits transferring. Students transferring to a 

selective or moderately selective institution rather than to an open admissions or 

minimally selective institution had a lower probability of zero credits transferring 

with 46 percent lower odds that zero credits transfer compared to open admissions 

institutions.

The model did not uncover any relationship between the likelihood of zero credits 

transferring and student risk factors (i.e., dependency status, being a single parent, 

having dependents, employment status, type of high school credential, or first year 

attendance intensity) or demographic characteristics (i.e., race, ethnicity, or gender). 

2 The percentage change in the probability is determined by taking the coefficient from the logistic 

model (table 16) and taking the inverse log to get the odds ratio. For this example, the inverse log of 

coefficient for reverse transfer, 1.441, is 4.225. This is 4.225 times the vertical transfer student 

likelihood of transferring zero credits, or 4.225:1. The percentage change is calculated by subtracting 1 

from the odds ratio 4.225 (the odds for vertical transfer [the comparison group]), and multiplying that 

value by 100, which yields 323 percent.