Another Article on D-1 B-Ball Transfer Rate

[CaribouJim]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/story/2012-06-24/Athlete-movement-in-Division-I-basketball-raising-alarm/55798356/1

"The number that causes me alarm isn't that 10.7 or 10.9 (%) or whatever the number is in men's basketball," NCAA president Mark Emmert said. "It's that 40% of men's basketball student-athletes aren't at their original school by the end of their sophomore year because they've transferred, they've dropped out, they've moved on. So we've got a significant lack of persistence (in the sport). And we know that kind of movement, one way or another, is really detrimental to kids getting an education."

[TheSultan]

How do they know that movement is "really detrimental to kids getting an education?" For instance, let's look at Jamil Wilson. He completed one year in the classroom at Oregon, when he transferred to Marquette he now has up to four additional years to complete his degree. (The one year he sat out as a transfer and the three he is eligible to play.) Many non-athlete students transfer colleges for a variety of reasons. Most colleges make it relatively easy, especially after year one or two when most of the classes on their transcript are relatively basic.

Now I am sure that they have statistics that show that transfers graduate at a lower rate than those who persist at one school, but that doesn't mean that the transfer was the reason that a student failed to graduate. The real question is how many students who transferred and didn't graduate, wouldn't have graduated anyway had they stayed at their first school - and that is impossible to prove.

[IWB]

I am sure he was concerned about the next words, "dropped out or moved on".

[GOMU1104]

It is hard for me to really get worked up about the transfer issue the way some writers and posters on these boards do. Granted there are some situations that scratch your head, and we have experienced plenty of those in recent years. But what about those players that just aren't happy/comfortable where they are?

I transferred after my freshman year. I was at a D3 school, one that I visited several times, had friends at, was playing sport...but I absolutely hated being there after awhile. I transferred to MU and am in a place now that I'm not sure id be in if I were still at that 1st school. I would hate to be lumped in a statistic like the 40% number and have it seen as a negative...when the transfer is one of the best things I've ever done.

[IWB]

Dealing with two pro-am players right now, both D1 and transferring. One was at a BCS school and felt he was just too far from home. The other was at a place where they fired the coach, the new coach came in and changed things to the point where he felt he could not stay.

There are good reasons to transfer and bad reasons to transfer, the rate is accurate but does not tell the whole story.

[Goose85]

Great points GoMU1104. I went to MU and had a number of high school friends go to other schools and eventually transfer back to the state to attend MU / UW / UWM.

I think a better question to frame this discussion would be - How many students that enroll in a school (D1 - D2 - D3) transfer and / or do not graduate?

We tend to get worked up about athletes, but the difference for them is they want to play and may find a better fit elsewhere.
I'd like to see the number of kids that enroll in big state schools or private schools like MU that transfer or don't graduate? My guess is pretty large seeing as many say it is not hard to transfer into UW after one year of college.