The Transfer Student Experience: It's A Lot Like Buying a Used Car

TL;DR

This paper compares transfer student experiences to used car markets, highlighting information asymmetry and systemic inequities, and offers recommendations to improve transfer processes and outcomes.

Contribution

It identifies structural inequities causing transfer inefficiencies and draws parallels with used car markets to suggest targeted improvements.

Findings

Transfer markets exhibit information asymmetry similar to used car markets.

Systemic inequities contribute to transfer inefficiencies.

Recommendations can potentially improve transfer student outcomes.

Abstract

The experience transfer students encounter as they navigate their journeys from community college to university is similar to that of buying a used car. We demonstrate this by showing how the information asymmetry in the market for used cars also occurs in the market for transfer students, producing inefficient markets in both cases, thereby increasing the chances of adverse selection. We diagnose the underlying conditions that produce transfer inefficiencies, identifying them as a structural inequity within the system of higher education. Finally, recommendations for alleviating information asymmetry in transfer processes, that would lead to better outcomes for transfer students, are provided.