Distinguishing between exogenous and endogenous intent-to-transfer students

In this article, we distinguish between 2 types of students who intend to transfer and graduate from another institution. During the fall of 2006, 507 first-semester students attending a state university completed a survey. Seventy-six percent of the students indicated that they planned on graduating from the University (intent-to-persist), 16% indicated that the intended to transfer and that this intention emerged following enrollment at the University (endogenous intent-to-transfer), and 8% indicated that they entered the University with the intent to transfer (exogenous intent-totransfer). Exogenous intent-to-transfer students were significantly (p < .05) higher than endogenous intent-to-transfer students on academic integration, social integration, and institutional commitment. The 2 types of intent-totransfer students differed in their economic, social, and quality of academic program reasons for enrolling at and transferring from the University. Implications for retention of making the distinction between the 2 types of intended transfer students were noted.