NCAA research has released new dashboards showing Division I and Division II transfer data for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years. This is the first year the NCAA has published data from the Division II Transfer Portal and the second year the Division I transfer data has been made available as an interactive dashboard.
The Division I and Division II transfer dashboards were created in response to requests from the membership for more transparency around Transfer Portal data to help student-athletes make informed decisions when going through the transfer process.
While the Transfer Portal is updated by school compliance staff multiple times each day, the data used in the dashboards are static and reflect Transfer Portal information available as of January 2023.
The current dashboards include student-athletes entered into the Transfer Portal from Aug. 1, 2020, to July 31, 2021, classified as 2021, and Aug. 1, 2021, to July 31, 2022, classified as 2022.
In Division I, 20,911 student-athletes entered the Transfer Portal in 2022, an increase over the 2021 total (17,781). Of this total, 78% of the entrants in women's sports were on athletics aid at their departing school, while 65% of those in men's sports were on athletics aid upon portal entry.
Additionally, 30% of the student-athletes who entered the Transfer Portal in 2022 were graduate students, only 1 percentage point lower than in 2021.
While 13% of all Division I student-athletes were entered into the Transfer Portal in 2022, 7% of all Division I student-athletes successfully transferred to an NCAA program after portal entry.
In Division II, 10,324 student-athletes requested to be entered into the Transfer Portal, and a combined total of 3,033 successfully transferred to another NCAA program.
In 2022, 1,649 men's Division I basketball players were entered into the Transfer Portal, a slight decrease from 2021 (1,687). Eighty-four percent of these student-athletes were on athletics aid at their departing school.
Of all the Transfer Portal entrants in Division I men's basketball, 1,123 transferred to another NCAA school to receive athletics aid, a slight decrease from 2021 (1,198).
In Division I women's basketball, 1,276 athletes were entered into the Transfer Portal, which is an increase over the 1,130 entrants in 2021. Ninety-three percent were on athletics aid at the time of entry, and 939 received athletics aid at the school to which they transferred, an increase from 2021 (770).
Transfer Portal entries for football student-athletes in both the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision increased in 2022. In the FBS, 2,918 players entered the portal in 2022, compared with 2,531 in 2021.
Sixty-seven percent of the FBS entrants entered with athletics aid from their departing school, and 1,833 received athletics aid at their new NCAA school. This is an increase over the 1,488 who received athletics aid after transferring in 2021.
At the FCS level, 2022 Transfer Portal entries increased to 2,085, an increase of more than 500 from 2021. Fifty-eight percent of FCS players entered the portal with athletics aid in 2022, a decrease from the 61% entering with aid in 2021.
However, 920 received athletics aid at their new NCAA school, up from 674 in 2021.
NCAA research examined reasons student-athletes transfer in its most recent Student-Athlete Well-Being Study. Of those surveyed who believed that they were likely to transfer within the year, the top two reasons for women's sport athletes were mental health (61%) and conflict with coaches or teammates (56%). Men's sport athletes cited mental health (40%) and playing time/participation opportunities (36%) as their primary reasons. A recent study on coachesalso highlighted their concerns about transfers. When asked about roster management, nearly one-third of NCAA head coaches were very concerned about the possibility of players transferring from the team. Simultaneously, 25% of coaches in Division I, 18% in Division II and 12% in Division III reported high levels of stress related to the perceived need to recruit four-year transfers into their programs.
The Transfer Portal launched in October 2018 to help manage the Division I student-athlete transfer process. During the 2020-21 academic year, use of the portal became a requirement for Division II student-athletes seeking transfer opportunities. The Transfer Portal is a compliance tool designed to foster transparency in the transfer process and to empower student-athletes to make known their interest in transferring to another school.
