CAEL Working Group Releases Report Urging Action on CPL in Transfer

Estimates show that this year’s cohort of high school graduates will be followed by a multiyear decline. As a result, the number of traditional-age prospective college students will be down 13% in 2041 vs. 2025.

Demographics aren’t the only things shifting among the traditional populations of potential college enrollees. In a survey last year, only 45% of students in grades 7-12 indicated that a two- or four-year college was their “most likely next step.” That proportion was 73% in a 2018 iteration of the survey.

Amid these trends, more higher ed institutions are focusing on adult learners, including transfer students. According to a report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, transfer enrollments rose by 4.4% in the 2024 academic year. This marks an overall increase of almost 8% since 2020. During the same period, non-transfer enrollment declined by almost 3.5%. 

Credit for prior learning (CPL), a critical success factor in adult learning, is also growing as a practice. A recent AACRAO report, published in partnership with CAEL, found that 82% of U.S. and Canadian institutions offer one or more pathways to earn CPL. Unfortunately, that report also found that 54% of institutions won’t accept CPL in transfer, regardless of whether CPL is offered at the institution.

In 2023, a CAEL working group formed to take on these intersecting issues. The group’s members include experts from public and private two- and four-year postsecondary institutions. They met regularly to discuss current prevailing approaches to handling CPL in transfer and the challenges and opportunities associated with improving them. 

In a white paper released last week, the group urges adopting a “golden rule” for tackling the complex and often technical issues of CPL mobility.  This approach would address the lack of data standardization and documentation that results in a lack of understanding of what to look for among receiving institutions. The golden rule mindset calls for institutions to proactively provide the same level of detail in their documentation of CPL that they would expect when evaluating incoming transfer CPL. 

The white paper also includes case studies detailing real-world approaches to the challenges and opportunities of CPL in transfer. The paper appears in the research section of cael.org.