The Student Ready Campus: Building Campus Capacity to Support Transfer Students

During 2025-2026, York University was awarded funding through the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer (ONCAT) Capacity Grant. We designed and delivered a 6-session training sequence for staff and faculty aimed at increasing participants’ knowledge and capacity to respond to the specific needs and challenges of transfer students. Our work leveraged literature-based research, findings from student focus groups, and institutional data to:

  • highlight key challenges faced by transfer students;
  • hear about the lived experiences of transfer students;
  • review the key issues institutions face regarding transfer credit assessment and advising;
  • explore our institution’s data on transfer student population, academic performance, and retention;
  • overview the programming and services our university offers to support transfer students;
  • summarize the findings of environmental scans that look at promising practices at other institutions in Ontario, in Canada, and abroad

Instructional materials from each topic module are shared below, including PowerPoint presentation slide decks; recordings of instructional sessions presented virtually; pre-session learner assessment survey questions; post-session evaluation survey questions; and interactive quiz materials with associated answer keys.

Quick Links

Module 1

Understanding Transfer Students: Pathways, Strengths, and Challenges. In this module, we identify where transfer students are coming from, both in terms of sending institution and geography, and we look at what programs and Faculties are most popular among transfer students at our institution. We also explore the strengths that transfer students typically bring to studying at university and we summarize the findings of literature reviews that highlight a number of common academic and personal challenges face by transfer students. Those challenges include transfer shock, academic adjustment, institutional navigation, and issues around belonging and integration. The module emphasizes the importance of awareness and empathy, and of the positive impact of adopting a transfer-receptive approach across roles and practices 

Module 2

Listening to Transfer Students: Student Voices, Impact, and Experience features a student panel offering personal insights into the lived experiences of transfer students. Participants share their journeys at York, highlighting challenges such as: communication gaps; difficulties with social belonging; uncertainty around navigating the institution, transfer credit information, and identifying appropriate support services; experiences of imposter syndrome; and, the significant role staff communication plays in shaping their sense of inclusion and success. These narratives serve to deepen empathy among staff and faculty while also challenging common institutional assumptions about transfer student success. The session engages directly with students, and provides participants an opportunity to ask questions and explore ways in which transfer students’ experiences could be improved.

Module 3

Transfer Credit Assessment & Advising: Navigating the Path to Academic Success begins by grounding participants in research on advising and transfer credit assessment, highlighting key themes from the literature. These themes include the importance of enhancing clarity, consistency, and timeliness in transfer processes to support student success, as well as the need for dedicated, personalized, and transfer-specific supports. The session takes participants through the full transfer student journey at York, from application through to graduation. A portion of the module was facilitated by the Transfer Credit Manager, who provided an overview of the transfer credit assessment process. This was followed by a segment led by the Director, Academic Success & Transition Programming, who facilitated a discussion with academic advisors focused on advising practices, communication gaps, and strategies for strengthening student support. This structure intentionally connects institutional processes with advising practice, enabling participants to critically examine how transfer credit evaluation and advising approaches shape student pathways and influence success.

Module 4

Retention & Success Metrics: Understanding Retention, Progression, & Success introduces institutional data on transfer student outcomes, including admissions patterns, program pathways, and graduation trends. It explores evidence from the literature on transfer student retention and success with a detailed examination of institutional data spanning 2020-2026. This included trends in the number of transfer students admitted, their sending institutions, programs of entry, year-to-year retention (year 1 to year 2 persistence), and comparative graduation rates between transfer and non-transfer students.

Module 5

York’s Institutional Approach: Strengthening Support for Transfer Student Success, examines existing programs and services designed to support transfer students and identified opportunities for enhancement, including clearer pathways, strengthened advising, and improved communication strategies. The module draws on transfer student literature to explore why institutional supports matter, with particular attention to how these supports help build “transfer student capital” (Laanan et al., 2010). Guest presenter, the Mature and Transfer Student Recruitment Officer, provides insight into recruitment practices for mature and transfer students and the flow of transfer credit within the institution. In addition, the Mature Student Coordinator speaks about ACMAPS (Atkinson Centre for Mature & Part-Time Students) and the range of supports available to transfer students as they begin their studies at York. The module further highlights key resources available to transfer students, including the transfer student resource guide, transfer student orientation, and ongoing efforts to refine transfer credit processes and supports.

Module 6

Learning from Our Peers: Promising Practices from Colleges & Universities in North America highlights innovative approaches from peer institutions across Canada and the United States. Drawing on a comprehensive environmental scan of post-secondary institutions across North America, the module showcases a range of emerging and effective practices designed to better support transfer students. These included innovations such as joint and dual admissions models, financial incentives, and other structural approaches aimed at improving transfer pathways.