2. Cost of School

At this point in your academic career, it should be no surprise that college is going to cost some amount of money. There will be differences in tuition depending on location, prestige of the school, if the school is public or private, and many other factors. An article from CollegeXpress explains that if you’re transferring colleges to save money, pay attention to each school’s financial aid package and how much they’ll offer you. This is great advice because the financial aid package lays out the cost breakdown and any other information you might need. Something to note, though: you won’t receive the full financial package until you’ve applied and been accepted to a college. Simply Googling the base or average tuition for a college before applying will give you a pretty good idea of how much you can expect to pay without any aid or scholarships.

I recently held an interview with Rebecca Rimkus, the transfer admission counselor at North Central College. During our conversation, she expressed that “school is an investment” and that is what she tries to help transfer students do: invest in the best education for them. You should be getting the quality of school that you pay for. But it doesn’t have to put you in thousands of dollars in debt! When I was applying to transfer colleges, I looked for scholarships that rewarded my GPA or other academics, any extracurriculars I had participated in, etc. When you’re researching transfer colleges, I recommend reaching out to the transfer admissions counselor or the Financial Aid offices to see what support they have specifically for transfer students. According to USNews.com, the tuition and fees to attend college have risen about 4% since last year. However, “private schools can often make up the price gap through tuition discounts and institutional aid.” For example, North Central College has transfer merit scholarships, which is tuition money granted to you based on your GPA upon entering the college. The resources will be there if you know where and how to search for them.

3. Transferring Credits

Even though you may not have enjoyed it, you still put time and effort into doing coursework at your current college. Rimkus said the number one question students ask her is, “How will my classes transfer?” This wasn’t surprising to me because sometimes schools have their own curriculum requirements that don’t equally match up with another school. A study at the University of Georgia found that students who transfer from a four-year college to another are associated with having more debt because they had to complete an extra semester or year of classes. It’s something to be aware of, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t transfer to that school. Ask yourself what’s more important to you, completing your degree “on time” or enjoying the time you spend while completing it? But if you’re set on completing a degree in four years, then you’ll want to create a list of schools based on the number of credits they’ll accept.

So, you might be asking: how do I know if the class I’m in right now will count at “X” college? When I was in the transfer process myself, I used Transferology, which is a website that will show you exactly what classes will transfer for you or not. It has data for over 400 schools in the US, so it is a very useful tool that you might want to bookmark. Sometimes there are also credit equivalents on college websites. Looking at your specific degree requirements on the college website will be helpful as well, because that can also vary. I would recommend exploring each school’s website and becoming familiar with how to navigate it so you can easily look at these pages.

4. Location and Safety on Campus

Another question to ask when you’re college searching is: am I going to be living on campus or commuting? If you want to experience dorm life away from your parents (nobody blames you), then it’s important to think about campus safety since that’s where you’ll spend most of your time outside of class. When Lopez attended NEIU, the reason that eventually led her to transfer was that she felt unsafe in her dorm and on campus. Explaining that her “happiness and safety comes first,” she chose to leave the city and now feels secure in her environment at NIU because of how friendly and present the campus police are in the event of an issue.

If you’re choosing to commute, which I have in my college career, research the parking surrounding the campus and be aware of commuter parking pass fees. A college in a densely populated area might have limited or higher priced parking. Consider the parking fees plus the gas money it’ll cost you to drive to campus every day. Additionally, commuting can impact your connectedness to campus events and academic success. Dr. Ruth N. Lopez Turley and associates conducted a study on college residence and academic performance and found that students living on campus had significantly higher GPAs than commuters. Even though I’m a commuter, I’d say that if you’re willing to pay the cost of dorm residence, it could be worth considering. Because I’ve had three years of commuter experience now, I know how to handle the academic load, but it might be nice for those resources to be within such close reach.

What should I do with this list of schools?

You’ve now researched several colleges based on size, cost, credit transfer, location, and safety. Ideally, you have some options (or one) that checks all your boxes. The next, and in my opinion, most exciting, part is visiting! Even if you have 10+ colleges on that paper, visit them. At least do a virtual visit or talk with an admissions counselor via Zoom or phone call. College visits are so important because they give you that experience of being on campus without making any commitments. Rimkus says she “cannot say enough how impactful college visits are” because they allow you to ask any further questions you haven’t found the answers to, and they allow you to envision what your life would be like there. I went on so many campus visits, and they were usually the deciding factor for me. When you’re there, get a feel for the campus vibes and see if they match what you want.

To Wrap Up: Transferring Takeaways

Once you’ve visited these colleges, make a pros and cons list or organize your thoughts however you like to. Keeping in mind the size, cost, academics, and location will help you find the best college for you. However, the list provided throughout this page was only a guideline, as priorities differ based on who you are as a person and student. Making this decision isn’t easy, but hopefully these resources will ease the struggle a little bit and guide you towards your academic home. Find the school that’ll make YOU happy!