%0 Report
        %A Miller, Lois
        %T Switching Schools: Effects of College Transfers
        %D 2026
        %8 2026 Apr
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 18568
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18568
        %X Using Texas administrative data and a regression discontinuity design, I study how transferring between colleges affects students’ earnings. I leverage applications and admissions data to uncover unpublished GPA cutoffs used for transfer student admissions at each fouryear institution, then use these cutoffs as an instrument for transfer. I do not find positive earnings returns for academically marginal students who transfer from two-year to four-year colleges or from less-resourced four-year colleges to flagship colleges and show suggestive evidence of negative returns. Mechanisms include academic “mismatch” among two-year to four-year transfers, and substitution out of high-paying majors for four-year to flagship transfers.
        %K college transfer
%K returns to education
%K community college