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The Transfer Portal Dashboard Provides Insights After Two Full Transfer Years
Executive Summary
NCAA Research published a Transfer Portal Dashboard that enables users to assess data-points tied to the first two full years of the Portal,
Demarcations of the data include student-athletes on athletics aid vs student-athletes not on athletics aid, as well as the distinction between undergraduate and graduate student status.
The Dashboard enables assessments by sport-level.
Over one-third of student-athletes across all sports that have entered the Transfer Portal haven’t landed at a new NCAA school.
Non-scholarship student-athletes appear to be entering the Transfer Portal in high numbers noting they have "nothing to lose" since they are not on athletics aid at current NCAA school.
Student-athletes that transfer to a non-NCAA institution are not captured as having enrolled at a second institution.
Several sports saw marked spikes in Transfer Portal entries from Year 1 to Year 2.
The data in the NCAA’s research is static and reflects information available as of January 10, 2022. It includes data from 2020 and 2021, with student-athletes entered into the Transfer Portal from August 1, 2019 to July 31, 2020 classified as 2020 and those student-athletes entered from August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2021, classified as 2021.
The NCAA intends to update the dashboard annually. The dashboard allows filtering by sport for sports with 50 ore more Transfer Portal entrants in 2021.
When a student-athlete in the Transfer Portal transfers to a new NCAA school and joins an athletics team, the status field in their Transfer Portal record is updated by university athletics compliance staff at the receiving school after official enrollment. This status field allows us to identify changes in the number of student-athlete transfers as opposed to Transfer Portal entrants and provides insight into transfer patterns.
In many sports, the number of Division I undergraduate transfers who entered the portal in 2020 and 2021 remained relatively consistent. The bulk of the transfer growth is explained by graduate transfers, likely due to the eligibility extension many students were granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in some sports, particularly those in which student-athletes were granted access to the one-time transfer exception in April 2021 (baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, football and men’s ice hockey), there were increases in undergraduate transfers as well.
The Transfer Portal launched October 15, 2018. The NCAA’s Transfer Portal research dashboard does not include transfer date from year 1 (2018-19) since the launch date occurred partially in to that school year.
Indoor/Outdoor track and field student-athletes are counted only once. Student-athletes who entered the Transfer Portal but subsequently removed their name from the Transfer Portal are excluded from the dashboard.
In 2020, 6,703 Division I student-athletes entered the Transfer Portal and enrolled at another NCAA school. Of that total, 1,630 were graduate student-athlete transfers.
In 2021, 9,567 Division I student-athletes entered the Transfer Portal and enrolled at another NCAA school. Of that total, 3,092 were graduate student-athlete transfers.
For 2020, 18% (984) of Division I men’s basketball student-athletes entered the Transfer Portal. On the Division I women’s basketball side, 12% (596) entered the Transfer Portal.
In 2021, 31% of Division I men’s basketball student-athletes (1,692) entered the Transfer Portal. In 2021, for Division I women’s basketball student-athletes, it was 22% (1,134).
Which Division I sports had the overall highest number of student-athletes transfer? Not surprisingly with the roster size and recent unlocking of the one-time transfer exception, in 2020, FBS football led with 1,583 while baseball was a close second with 1,575 student-athletes entering the Transfer Portal. FCS football followed right behind those two sports in 2020 with 1,285.
The Transfer Portal launched October 15, 2018. The NCAA’s Transfer Portal research dashboard does not include transfer date from year 1 (2018-19) since the launch date occurred partially in to that school year.
Which sports presented surprisingly lower Transfer Portal entry?
That award might go to Division I men’s ice hockey for the first year of this data set. Even though men’s ice hockey student-athletes are now able to utilize the one-time transfer exception, in 2020, only 3% (55) men’s ice hockey student-athletes entered Transfer Portal. However, one year later, men’s ice hockey student-athletes started exploring other campuses at a higher clip as 12% (205) of men’s ice hockey student-athletes entered the Transfer Portal in 2021.
Of the 20,680 student-athletes on athletics aid at their original school who entered the Transfer Portal, 39% (8,157) remain in the Transfer Portal and have not found a landing spot. Student-athletes who transfer to a non-NCAA school remain active in the Transfer Portal and their status does not reflect that they’ve actually enrolled at a new institution.
Further, of those 20,680 of student-athletes on athletics aid that entered the Transfer Portal, about 39% (8,047) landed at a Division I school on athletics aid with another 11% (2,182) landing at a Division II school on athletics aid.
There were some student-athletes that went from “on scholarship” to functionally being a walk-on, non-scholarship student-athlete at their next stop. For example, 9% (1,831) from the total 20,680 that were on athletics aid landed at a Division I school but on no athletics scholarship. another 277 student-athletes (1%) landing at a Division II school without athletics aid and another 149 student-athletes (1%) landed at a Division III institution where, by rule, athletics aid is not permissible.
Generally, student-athletes are entering the transfer portal at the conclusion of their sport season or at the end of the academic year. Looking at the calendar year, the month of April led all months in both reporting years with most student-athletes entering the Transfer Portal, followed by May and March. In 2021, the months of July and August were the least popular months to enter the Transfer Portal.
For both reporting years, only 54% of FBS football student-athletes that entered the Transfer Portal enrolled at another NCAA institution with 5% having removed their name from the Transfer Portal and 41% still active in the Transfer Portal. Of the FBS student-athletes that still remain active in the Transfer Portal, 62% (964) of that subgroup are non-scholarship student-athletes— in essence walk-ons shopping around in case there’s an athletics scholarship offer around the corner at another NCAA institution.
The shaping of next year’s depth charts also could be a primary driver in student-athletes opting to enter the Transfer Portal. For example, Division I men’s soccer regular season concludes in November with the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship wrapping up in December. In those two months combined in 2020, 78 student-athletes entered the Transfer Portal. Yet, in April 2021, when Division I men’s soccer teams are wrapping up their non-championship season with a refreshed roster (including midyear newcomers– freshmen and transfers), a total of 225 Division I men’s soccer student-athletes entered the Transfer Portal in April 2021– more than doubling the Transfer Portal entry activity at the end of the championship in November and December.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
