Financial Considerations for Transfer Students

Transfer students can get financial assistance in the form of merit aid. One estimate was that over three-quarters of colleges (77%) offer merit aid to transfer applicants. Merit aid often varies by college size: smaller colleges with less than 3,000 students were somewhat more likely to offer merit aid (81%) than medium-sized colleges (66%) or large schools (67%). Greater than three-quarters of schools (77%) said that they offer merit scholarships for transfer students. And there are reports that the practice of offering "transfer scholarships" is becoming more prominent. There are reports that there is more financial aid for transfer students in states such as New Jersey, which have increased state funds for scholarships such as the NJ STARS II program. There was a report that less selective colleges and universities were somewhat less likely than competitive colleges to award merit scholarships to incoming transfer students.