Today’s students are more mobile than ever before. A striking 45 percent of Associate degree holders and 67 percent of Bachelor degree holders have transcripts with learning from multiple institutions. Transfer student enrollment has increased by 8 percent since 2020, largely fueled by students who previously earned college credits and are now returning to higher education after a break to complete their degrees or credentials. To help ensure all those credits count toward a credential, we launched Transfer Explorer, a national credit mobility website.

After a successful pilot in four states, the Gates Foundation has provided funding to support Transfer Explorer’s continued development and growth.

What is Transfer Explorer?

Far too often students lose ground when they transfer from one college to another. Courses they took at one institution may not “count” at the new school, costing students time, money, and momentum. Transfer Explorer allows students to explore how credits transfer and apply to degree requirements before they choose to attend a new school, and provides a platform for institutions and systems to continue to improve and enhance their transfer data and processes.

The website was inspired by the City University of New York (CUNY) Transfer Explorer and designed with institutions in four states thanks to collaborations with CUNY, the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, and the Washington Student Achievement Council. Forty-five colleges and universities across these states are participating in Transfer Explorer.

The site’s current functions are oriented toward students, but anyone can use the tools to better understand credit transfer and degree requirements. Today, students anywhere can use Transfer Explorer to:

  • Create a personal record of courses they have taken or plan to take at one or more schools
  • Explore how courses they have or are considering taking transfer and apply to degree requirements at another school
  • Research different schools and degrees
  • Connect directly with colleges and universities to start the transfer conversation
  • Discover information about Transfer Explorer destination schools

How does it work?

We’ve established an automated data feed for each Transfer Explorer member school that regularly provides evaluated course equivalencies, course catalog information, and program requirements from student information systems, degree audit software, and other relevant source systems. Any updates to the institutions’ source systems will be automatically and regularly reflected on Transfer Explorer. The data integration from member colleges is powered by CampusAPI Requisite and Equivalency services from the nonprofit DXtera Institute. The public Transfer Explorer website currently contains over one million transfer rules and over 1,000 academic programs from 15 colleges and universities.

Early successes

Lander University in South Carolina was the first institution to implement Transfer Explorer in February 2025. Transfer advisors at Lander have praised the website for making the transfer process clearer and more intuitive for students, boosting their transfer admissions processes. Transfer Explorer has also enabled Lander to develop a new systematic process for reviewing older transfer equivalencies rules, ensuring that prospective students have the information they need to understand how their past learning will receive credit at Lander University.

“Transfer Explorer is a tool that reduces confusion and promotes transparency. It supports students at any stage along the transfer journey, whether just considering options or charting a specific path at a college or toward a major. In the pilot phase, we also see institutions improving their own credit evaluation systems and processes. WSAC is learning alongside our pilot cohort in real time to understand how the tool impacts the transfer experience.”

— Abby Chien, associate director of strategy & partnerships at the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC)

“Transfer Explorer is providing a one stop solution in providing transparency for transfer planning. Our students, prospective students, and all of those supporting our students, can now access a single online tool to see how their credits will impact their transfer at all six of our CSCU institutions. Transfer Explorer is also allowing, for the first time, prospective CT State Community College and Charter Oak State College students access to transfer credit equivalencies and program applicability. We are thrilled with the development of Transfer Explorer and excited to see how this will enhance transfer success within the CSCU system.”

— Steve Marcelynas, director, Office of Transfer and Articulation, Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System

“Participating as a pilot institution for the Transfer Explorer has brought meaningful improvements to how we support transfer students. Early-use data shows increased student engagement with credit applicability and clearer pre-transfer advising conversations before students transfer. The transparency provided by standard equivalencies has strengthened the consistency of our pre-transfer advising, while also underscoring the need for continued expert input to refine and expand those equivalencies across disciplines. We are also seeing renewed interest in reverse transfer as students better understand how close they are to credential completion. This collaboration is already shaping a more coherent and student-centered transfer ecosystem.”

— Dr. Leslie Barrett Brown, associate director for adult learner pathways at Coastal Carolina University

What is coming next?

In 2026, we will invite a new cohort of state higher education agencies, systems, and consortia to coordinate with their institutions to participate in Transfer Explorer to boost regional and state transfer outcomes. With this expansion, Transfer Explorer is shifting from a fully grant-funded pilot to a grant-subsidized, paid service, offered on a nonprofit basis. Thanks to generous Gates Foundation funding, the first year of access and onboarding fees for the new members who join through this process will be waived, a value of approximately $20,000 to $30,000 per institution. Ithaka S+R researchers will help these members use their participation in Transfer Explorer to advance holistic credit mobility processes and policies. Systems will also have the opportunity to participate in research and collaborate on the development of new website features and tools. More information will be shared with eligible organizations soon.

Over the next two years we will continue to enhance the website, with opportunities including adding credit for prior learning (exams, military, and workforce learning) into search tools, authenticated user accounts, the ability to compare transfer pathways to find the best fit, a transcript upload feature, and an enhanced program requirements display. In addition to these enhancements, we’re investigating using AI in Transfer Explorer to streamline the normalization of data, analyze learning equivalency and degree requirement data, provide guidance to students, and identify and recommend updates to equivalency tables.

No matter where or when students start their higher education journey, their learning counts and should provide them momentum towards a degree. Transfer Explorer helps students find the right path and demystify degree requirements. If you are interested in learning more, contact us at transferexplorer@ithaka.org.

Transfer Explorer, and the broader Articulation of Credit Transfer (ACT) Project have been generously funded by the following philanthropic foundations: Ascendium Education Group, the Gates Foundation, the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation, ECMC Foundation, The Heckscher Foundation for Children, and The Ichigo Foundation.

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