Data Offers Nuanced Portrait of Self-Supported Transfer Students

New data offers a nuanced profile of students paying their own way through college—and the contextual barriers they face during the transfer process.

Compared to their younger, financially dependent peers, financially independent transfer applicants were more likely to be first-generation college students, and have greater financial need and more complex academic backgrounds, according to a report published Thursday by the Common App, an online platform through which students can submit applications to more than 1,100 higher ed institutions.

Using Common App data, researchers analyzed the behaviors and characteristics of three subgroups of students who meet one of the criteria that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid uses to deem an applicant financially independent: being 24 years of age or older, being a veteran or active-duty service member, or having a dependent. (Common App only began collecting data on applicants’ parenting status during the 2024–25 academic year.)

“Independent students may begin at community colleges close to home or have a need to stop out and then re-enroll in college, and transferring between institutions is essential for facilitating their educational attainment,” the report reads. “Understanding independent applicants’ backgrounds, academic profiles, and application patterns will add important context and insights for policymakers and practitioners supporting these students.”

And that’s especially important because transfer students make up a growing share of college students, according to both the report and other recent data.

In 2025, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported that the number of transfer students increased by 4.4 percent between 2023 and 2024. And according to Common App’s new data, financially independent students are driving some of that overall increase. Between the 2021–22 and 2024–25 academic years, the number of transfer applicants who were either 23 or older (24 by the time they enrolled) or military-affiliated jumped 65 percentage points. And last academic year, financially independent applicants accounted for 22 percent of transfer applications submitted through Common App.

But when financially independent students apply to transfer, their academic backgrounds, resource levels and application patterns often look different from those of their dependent peers, with “parenting applicants as an extreme case in almost all analyses,” Rodney Hughes, co-author of the Common App report, said at a media briefing Thursday afternoon.

For example, while independent students across all subgroups were more likely to identify as first-generation compared to other transfer applicants, parenting applicants were 2.1 times as likely to identify as first-generation and applicants 23 or older were 1.7 times as likely. Independent transfer applicants were also 1.5 to 1.7 times more likely than dependents to live in lower income ZIP codes and 1.4 to 1.7 times as likely to qualify for Common App fee waivers; parenting applicants have the highest incidence of both income indicators.

“Supports already in place for first-generation students in areas like course scheduling, academic advising, and career services may be just as relevant for incoming independent transfer students,” the report reads. “Incoming independent students may also have needs specific to their own contexts, such as needs for affordable child care and flexible course scheduling.”

In addition, independent transfer applicants are typically more experienced students.

According to the report, they are between 1.5 (military-affiliated) to 1.9 (age 23 or older) times as likely to have completed 60 or more prior credits compared to students outside of those categories. At the same time, independent students—37.3 percent of military-affiliated and 45.9 percent of parenting applicants—are more likely to apply for transfer after not being enrolled the previous academic year, compared to only 3.6 percent of transfer applicants outside the three independent subgroups.

And the majority of independent students are transferring from community colleges, according to the report.

Compared to 34.9 percent of students outside of the independent subgroups, 52.9 percent of parenting applicants and 51.2 percent of applicants age 23 or older most recently attended an institution that grants associate degrees.

As the number of independent transfer applicants continues to climb, universities should make sure they’re well-equipped to help them adjust to a new environment, Hughes said.

For example, “They may have now had a Promise Scholarship to cover much of their tuition and fees at the two-year institution, and maybe they go to a four-year institution that’s not [covered under] the Promise program. And now they’re paying for college for the first time and taking out loans for the first time,” he said. “They have some college experience, but that may be a new part of the experience. [The university needs to offer] intake counseling and student loan counseling for that transfer population.”