Among students beginning at 4-year institutions with a bachelor’s degree goal, the cumulative percentage who had left their first institution and transferred to a different one was 10 percent by the end of the first year, 18 percent by the end of the second year (including the 10 percent who had already left by the end of the first year), 22 percent by the end of the third year, and then about 23 percent through the end of the sixth year (since there were few additional transfers in the fifth and sixth years) (see figure).

The cumulative percentage of beginning students who were not enrolled at the first institution at the end of the academic year and never enrolled anywhere else by June 2001 was 3 percent at the end of the first year, 6 percent at the end of the second year (including the 3 percent who were not enrolled at the end of the first year), 9 percent at the end of the third year, and so on. By June 2001, at the end of the sixth academic year, 13 percent had left postsecondary education directly from the first institution without a degree, a smaller percentage than the 23 percent who had transferred elsewhere.

Some students who transferred from their first institution later left postsecondary education without a degree, while others were still enrolled in June 2001 or had already attained a degree at another institution. In the figure, the numbers in the arrows indicate the percentages of students who transferred and then had various outcomes at any postsecondary institution. For example, 6 percent of students who began at a 4-year institution with a bachelor’s degree goal transferred from their first institution and then left postsecondary education without a degree after attending the transfer institution. Seven percent, however, transferred and then completed a bachelor’s degree at a different 4-year institution.