Switching Schools: Effects of College Transfers

Lois Miller ()
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Lois Miller: University of South Carolina

No 18568, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: Using Texas administrative data and a regression discontinuity design, I study how transferring between colleges affects students' earnings. I leverage applications and admissions data to uncover unpublished GPA cutoffs used for transfer student admissions at each fouryear institution, then use these cutoffs as an instrument for transfer. I do not find positive earnings returns for academically marginal students who transfer from two-year to four-year colleges or from less-resourced four-year colleges to flagship colleges and show suggestive evidence of negative returns. Mechanisms include academic "mismatch" among two-year to four-year transfers, and substitution out of high-paying majors for four-year to flagship transfers.

Keywords: college transfer; returns to education; community college (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 I24 I26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu
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