Motivators and Experiences of Lateral Transfer
Qualitative Study (Spring 2025)
The term “lateral transfer” refers to student mobility between universities offering the same type of degree programs, from 4-year institutions to 4-year institutions or from 2-year to 2-year.
Lateral transfers accounted for 42% of cases among the 1.2 million transfer students enrolled across U.S. institutions of higher education in the Fall of 2023 (Rincon and Spiva, 2024). Despite its relative popularity within the transfer landscape, lateral transfer remains understudied. Better understanding the unique characteristics, needs, opportunities, and challenges associated with this population is essential to serving lateral student transfers.
This qualitative research will focus on students and recent alumni who transferred laterally to the University of Arizona from Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University, our peers within the Arizona Tri-University network (Tri-U). We seek to answer two research questions,
RQ1: What are the academic and personal factors that inform a student’s decision to transfer laterally, from one Tri-U to another?
RQ2: What are the challenges that students encounter during and after the initial transfer process? What resources, if any, helped mitigate these challenges?
Study Opportunities
One-on-one Interviews
- All participants who complete interviews will receive one $15 Amazon gift card.
- Interviews will last between 15 and 30 minutes.
- In-person and remote (Zoom) options.
- Interview topic: personal motivations and rationales for transferring laterally.
Focus Groups
- All participants who complete focus groups will receive a $40 Amazon gift card.
- Focus groups will last 1 hour and will bring together small groups of students.
- In-person and remote (Zoom) options. In-person focus groups will have catered lunches.
- Focus group topic: what the transfer experience was like, including starting the process at your previous institution, transferring credits, and adjusting to the new educational environment.
Our study team has sent recruitment emails with study information to all students who are eligible. Check your University of Arizona email for a message with the subject "You are Invited: Up to $55 Compensation for Study on Lateral Transfer at the University of Arizona".
If you did not receive the message, you are not eligible for our study. Thank you for your interest!
No. Alumni and former students are also eligible as long as they: 1) are above 18 years of age, 2) ) have an instance of lateral transfer to/from the U of A between Fall 2018 and Spring 2023.
Yes, you can sign-up for both study opportunities or only one.
Processing will begin immediately after the session, and you will have access to your gift card within 1 week of completing the focus group/interview.
Please cancel your registration at least 24 hours before the event by clicking on the cancellation link in the confirmation email (received upon registering). No shows will not be able to reschedule.
No. Please sign-up for up to one focus group slot and up to one interview slot. If you register for more than one slot, additional registrations will be dropped.
You should receive an automated confirmation email. Within 1-2 weeks of you selecting a slot, a member of our study team will reach out. You will be asked to complete the study consent form and a short demographic intake survey (2-5 minutes).
You may do so anytime by submitting a written request to assessmentresearch@arizona.edu
No. Your name will not appear in any resulting reports and publications. You will be assigned a pseudonym (fake name) and the study team will ensure that the interview and focus group excerpts featured in future reports do not disclose any potentially identifying information.
Please reach out to assessmentresearch@arizona.edu and allow for 1-2 business days for one of our team members to return your message.