How many transfer student applicants can you expect to enroll?

For every 100 transfer student applicants at your institution, how many can you expect to  admit, to send in a deposit (or otherwise confirm their intention to enroll), and to actually matriculate? The above graphic provides a basis for knowing what to expect, based on the admissions funnel benchmarks in the Noel-Levitz report released last fall, 2010 Admissions Funnel Benchmarks for Four-Year Public and Private Institutions.

For example, at four-year public institutions, at the national level, 88 of every 100 prospective transfer applicants who complete their applications at the median (88 percent) can be expected to be admitted and approximately 58 of the 88 admits (66 percent) can be expected to enroll/matriculate.  In addition, 88 percent of the admits who send in a deposit or otherwise confirm their intention to enroll can be expected to enroll.

As shown in the report, transfer students move through the admissions funnel at different rates for public versus private institutions at the median, at the first quartile, and at the third quartile. In addition, their rates of movement through the funnel are quite different from freshmen, international students, and other student segments.  Further, the report identifies trendlines that indicate specific rates that are rising or falling.  For example, among private colleges and universities, the admit-to-enroll yield rate has been steadily declining.

To project future enrollments as accurately as possible, these benchmarks serve as a solid starting point. However, it is imperative that campuses track and compare their institution’s own historic admissions funnel rates daily and weekly at each decision stage, so you can know where your future enrollment will most likely end up as each day and week of the admissions cycle unfolds.  For guidelines on using admissions funnels, see pages 12 and 13 of the report.

For a copy of the report, visit www.noellevitz.com/changingfunnel.