Recruiting Transfer Students: Essential Questions and Proven Strategies
Colleges and universities can no longer afford to treat transfer students as an afterthought. This critical student population is essential to institutional health, but attracting and enrolling them requires a thoughtful, proactive strategy.
If your current approach feels reactive or disconnected, now is the time to ask yourself three critical questions:
1. Do You Have a Strategic Plan for Transfer Students?
Many institutions recognize the importance of transfers but don’t know how to engage them effectively. Transfer enrollment has historically been organic, which makes the funnel unpredictable and difficult to forecast. Too often, the strategy amounts to this: Take last year’s number and aim a little higher.
Yes, it’s harder to be intentional when the pool feels spontaneous. There aren’t as many levers to pull as there are with first-year recruitment. Transfer fairs can be hit or miss. The search market is thinner. But these are not excuses for inaction.
If you’ve never conducted a true audit of your past transfer initiatives — asking What worked? What didn’t? What’s missing? — now is the time. Transfer students require more than reactive recruitment. They deserve a dedicated plan.
2. Are You Moving Fast Enough?
Transfer students are not known for their patience. Many are navigating tight timelines, financial pressures and uncertainty about credit articulation. If they don’t get quick answers, they move on.
Unfortunately, the transfer process often crosses multiple departments: admissions, registrar, academic advising, financial aid, athletics and beyond. Without strong internal communication and ownership, your process slows down and your prospects slip away.
Some solutions:
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Designate a transfer specialist in your registrar’s office to evaluate transcripts quickly and clearly.
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Train financial aid counselors to understand the unique needs of transfers.
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Create interdepartmental procedures that allow for same-day or next-day follow-up.
Remember: Transfer students often ask their key questions before applying. If they don’t feel confident they’ll get credit or funding, they won’t even start your application.
3. Are You Missing Easy Wins?
Too many institutions leave actionable insights — and viable leads — on the table.
Reengage past prospects. Through the National Student Clearinghouse, you can identify “non-matriculants” who applied or were admitted in previous years but enrolled elsewhere. Many of these students are now enrolled at local community colleges and could still be viable transfers.
Maximize your articulation agreements. Don’t just sign them — activate them. Build early relationships with community college students. Help them map out a clear, personalized plan to transfer. Get face time with advisors and students. Make your brand visible on their campus.
Leverage your website. Transfer students don’t want to dig. Use marketing automation to personalize the experience, answer questions in real time, and capture contact information at the moment of intent.
Building an Effective Transfer Strategy in 2025
To compete in today’s transfer market, you need the right mix of people, processes and platforms. Here are a few proven tactics:
Use Marketing Automation
With a robust marketing automation platform, you can:
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Turn anonymous website visitors into known transfer prospects.
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Trigger real-time, personalized messaging based on page behavior.
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Promote high-yield events like transcript evaluations and Instant Decision Days.
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Deploy PID (Progressive Identification) forms to capture inquiries on transfer-specific pages.
(Across Capture Higher Ed clients, transfers identified through a PID form are 2.4x more likely to apply and 4x more likely to deposit than those who aren’t.)
Expand Digital Advertising
Email is not enough. Gen Z transfer students spend over four hours a day on their mobile devices. Targeted digital advertising — especially geo-targeted campaigns aimed at feeder institutions — is essential to staying top of mind.
Tap Into Underused Lead Sources
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Revisit your funnel from the past 2–3 years. Anyone who showed interest but didn’t enroll could be a viable transfer today.
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Utilize National Student Clearinghouse data to identify applicants who landed elsewhere but are now primed for a change.
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Explore Phi Theta Kappa’s Connect platform to access pre-qualified, transfer-ready students.
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Turn social media into a prospecting tool through embedded PID forms on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
The Bottom Line
Transfer students represent both a challenge and an opportunity. They are older, more pragmatic, more impatient — and often more committed. To recruit them effectively in 2025, you need speed, strategy and systems that are built with their journey in mind.
Ask the right questions. Act on the answers. Don’t leave easy wins on the table. And if you need help developing and implementing your transfer strategy, contact Capture today. We have the platform, software and expert services that can take your recruitment to the next level.
By Capture Higher Ed's Team of Enrollment ExpertsHow to Identify and Engage Website Visitors from Other Institutions
That’s where Capture Higher Ed’s recruitment marketing platform comes in. It empowers institutions to identify anonymous website visitors from other colleges and universities — whether it's your nearby community college, a peer institution across the state, or a university from which you frequently draw grad students — and deliver personalized, actionable content based on their behavior.
From Anonymous to Actionable
ENGAGE, Capture's marketing automation tool, allows you to see, in real time, when someone is visiting your .edu site, what pages they’re exploring, and where they’re visiting from — down to the IP address.
And thanks to a powerful product enhancement, that IP address can now be translated into a named network, revealing whether your visitors are coming from organizations with terms like “college,” “university,” or “school” in the name.
If a visitor from a higher ed institution is browsing admissions pages, degree programs, or tuition information, you can reasonably infer they are exploring transfer or graduate options. This insight gives you a critical edge:
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You can trigger dynamic content tailored to their potential next step (e.g., “Thinking About Transferring?” or “Explore Our Graduate Programs”)
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You can surface calls to action that match their behavior, encouraging them to inquire, schedule a visit, or apply
Second Chances and Reengagement
Even more powerful, you can determine whether these visitors have previously applied to or inquired about your institution. Many graduate and transfer prospects were once part of your undergraduate pipeline but chose to go elsewhere.
If they’re back on your site, it could mean a second chance to build a relationship. You can reintroduce your value propositions, highlight relevant program updates, or even honor past scholarship offers to incentivize reengagement.
Intelligent Engagement, Real-Time Decisions
Being able to identify website visitors from other colleges and universities — and immediately understand what they’re interested in — gives your team the intelligence to act. Instead of reacting passively, you can proactively engage potential graduate and transfer students with the right message at the right moment.
In an increasingly competitive landscape, this kind of insight isn’t just helpful — it’s essential. Let’s make sure your next graduate or transfer enrollment success starts with a visit to your website. Talk to a Capture expert to find out more.
Beyond Ping: Six Ways Capture Supercharges Your Slate CRM
1. By Giving You More Ways to Connect
Capture offers seven ways to interact with visitors through Dynamic Content, compared to only two in Ping. Through campaigns that are easier to create and more effective at influencing visitors, Capture offers flexible and precise targeting based on behavior, geography and engagement patterns.2. By Influencing Your Anonymous Website Visitors
About 97% of website visitors are anonymous. Capture’s platform is the only tool that can identify, nurture and convert these stealth prospects into inquiries while feeding them into your CRM. Ping only interacts with visitors who are already known in Slate, limiting its impact on new prospects.3. By Allowing You Full Funnel Digital Marketing Attribution
Capture seamlessly tracks digital marketing efforts from first engagement to final enrollment, providing full visibility into which marketing activities influenced each prospective student. Ping requires complex SQL queries and custom reporting to attempt similar insights.4. By Giving You Robust Campaign Reporting & Insights
Capture provides interactive, visually detailed reporting to track performance and optimize strategies. Ping offers only basic reporting on campaign activity with no built-in insights on outcomes. Its custom reporting is also labor-intensive and requires advanced configuration.5. By Offering a Fully Managed Solution
Capture’s experts manage the platform for you, ensuring optimal performance without adding to your team’s workload. Ping requires your staff to operate and maintain it, with limited documentation and support from Slate.6. By Showing You Proven Results & ROI
Capture’s platform has been successfully used by hundreds of institutions and programs throughout the country, offering a 54x ROI. More than 65% of Capture’s partner schools use both Slate/Ping and Capture’s platform because they see the value in pairing the two.
Capture’s Relationship with Slate (Technolutions)
Capture Higher Ed is a Slate Platinum Preferred Partner, recognized for enhancing Slate’s capabilities. Engage integrates seamlessly with Slate, providing additional insights and automation that improve enrollment marketing effectiveness.
Ready To Get Started?
Connect with us to learn how leveraging Capture’s data can take your Slate strategy to new heights.
By Kevin Hyde, Senior Marketing Content Manager, Capture Higher Ed Vegas Baby! Capture Is Headed to Slate Summit 2025
We're counting down the days to this year’s Slate Summit at Caesars Forum — a premier gathering for professionals in enrollment marketing, admissions and advancement. With more than 120 sessions on the agenda, this year’s summit promises to be Slate’s most insightful and impactful yet.
Robert Simora, Chief Product and Technology Officer; Megan Gabbard, CRM Analyst and Slate Certified Professional; and Mariah Ward, Manager of Data Services, will be among the Capture team members at this year’s event.
Capture is a platinum member of Slate’s Preferred Partner Program. For our clients, platinum status comes with a deeper knowledge and understanding of Slate’s functionality and processes as well as access to a variety of resources into best practices for using the CRM and Capture’s tools together.
Why Capture + Slate Is a Winning Combination
For institutions using Slate, Capture enhances the CRM’s capabilities by embedding real-time behavioral insights directly into key workflows — empowering enrollment teams to work smarter, not harder. Capture’s platform of marketing enrollment and engagement tools identifies prospective students based on interactions with a university’s website and other digital assets. Using behavioral data, our clients who use Slate receive the industry’s most high-intent inquiries — each one associated with an affinity score to prioritize outreach. This robust scoring process is applied to all inquiries for a campus. More than 60% of Capture clients use Slate, and Capture’s platform and solutions have increased institutional application volume by 20 percent — providing inquiries from the right students that lead to higher yield.From Names to Narratives: Behavioral Data in Action
“During my time as an enrollment manager, I often struggled to determine what story the data was telling me,” says Megan Gabbard, who was a Capture client before joining the company as its CRM Analyst and Slate Certified Professional. “I had the basic form data like names and contact info. But my team needed more than that.
“Capture’s behavioral data gave us context to what was just a name in a query. It provided the recruitment team the background of a student’s needs and wants. This allowed me to take personalization to the next level and give context to my less experienced staff.”
Since joining the Capture team, Gabbard says the idea that the behavior should do the heavy lifting has been a constant for her.
“I use Slate and the Capture platform to create a super tool for our partner recruitment teams,” she says.
Five Ways Capture Supercharges Slate
Capture’s technology integration with Slate allows colleges and universities to:- Integrate behavioral data into core Slate workflows.
- Have the flexibility to tailor strategy using any available data points.
- Increase efficiency by replacing manual file processing.
- Synchronize data between Slate and Capture daily.
- Reduce the risk of human error and data corruption.
Meet Us at Slate Summit 2025
Headed to Slate Summit 2025? Come find us at Caesars Forum to see how Capture’s platform and Slate integration can revolutionize your recruitment strategy. Let’s talk data, behavior, and better outcomes — Vegas style. Contact us today if you’d like to connect with a Capture team member headed to Slate!
By Kevin Hyde, Senior Marketing Content Manager, Capture Higher Ed Infographic: What Moved Ashley from ‘Yes’ to ‘Enrolled’?
Students don’t follow a straight line to enrollment. They carve their own “desire paths,” engaging with your website, emails, and outreach in ways you might not expect.
The key to improving yield? Understanding those behaviors and delivering the right message at the right time.
Find out how institutions like yours are using behavioral intelligence to turn unseen engagement into real enrollment impact. Let’s talk about how Capture can help you do the same.
5 Questions to Ask About Your Unique Summer Melt Scenario
1. What has summer melt looked like historically at your university?
Understanding the context and trends behind your summer melt scenario is essential. Historical data provides a foundation for identifying patterns — whether programmatic, geographic or demographic. Make sure your analysis includes the past few years, as pandemic-era shifts may still influence current trends.2. What strategies have been deployed recently, and how are their impacts measured?
Your institution likely tried new approaches in the last few years, from virtual engagement initiatives to personalized communication plans. What worked? What fell flat? Take a close look at the metrics used to assess these strategies. If an initiative showed promise, consider optimizing it rather than starting from scratch. Also, assess whether certain outreach efforts can be repurposed or enhanced.3. Which audiences are most affected by summer melt?
Not every admitted student is equally likely to melt away. Analyzing your data can reveal patterns — perhaps first-generation students, specific majors, or particular geographic markets are more prone to melting. Knowing who’s most at risk allows you to target your resources where they’re needed most rather than spreading efforts too thin.4. Are there early indicators for melt, and how are they identified?
Early warning signs are critical for proactive intervention. Develop and regularly update a rubric to identify students at high risk of melting. Consider both behavioral data (like engagement with your communications) and external factors (such as financial barriers). Sharing this rubric with your team ensures consistency and helps keep your efforts strategic and data-driven.5. Are there institutional habits on campus — and are they helping or hindering your efforts?
Every institution has long-standing practices that persist simply because they always have. But do they still serve your summer melt reduction strategy? Be willing to question the effectiveness of these efforts, and don’t hesitate to pivot if the data suggests they’re no longer impactful.You and your team work tirelessly throughout the year to secure your institution’s incoming class. While it may be tempting to take a breather as summer approaches, it’s crucial to stay proactive and keep your momentum going.
Capture’s behavioral data, dynamic marketing tools, predictive modeling and expert guidance are specifically designed to control summer melt and boost yield. Reach out today to learn how our solutions can support your enrollment goals.
The 2025 NAGAP Recap — Insights from San Francisco
1. AI is Everywhere — But Clarity is in Short Supply
It felt like every booth and breakout mentioned AI, but the real challenge isn’t whether to adopt it — it’s knowing which kind of AI best suits your institution or program. Reactive AI, conversational AI, generative AI, machine learning, “agentive” systems — there’s a dizzying array of buzzwords out there. What’s often missing is a clear explanation of why a specific type of AI works best for a particular recruitment context. At Capture, we’ve long used machine learning AI to support our partners — well before the recent AI buzz. That means we’re not just riding a trend; we’re delivering proven efficiencies and personalization that directly support your enrollment goals.2. More with Less Is the New Normal
Across the board, I heard the same thing: graduate enrollment teams are being asked to do more with less — fewer people, tighter budgets and constant staffing shifts. And in the middle of all that, program directors are being asked to become tech experts overnight. It's a lot. There’s no shortage of tech tools out there but cutting through the noise to find a system that actually works — and works for you — is a major hurdle. That’s where Capture comes in. We help programs implement solutions that are powerful and practical, without turning your recruitment strategy over to a black box or robot.3. The Form Is Dead (Or at Least Dying)
One of the most pressing behavioral shifts we’re seeing: prospective students — especially adults — are increasingly “form averse.” Long gone are the days when a simple RFI was the entry point to your funnel. Capture’s progressive identification tools help programs find and nurture high-intent prospects with or without a form. Our Capture Engagement Score (CES) and Capture Affinity Index (CAI) tools also make it possible to re-engage inquiries, applicants, and even admits who have gone quiet — without relying on the old “spray and pray” approach.Until next year!
As a first timer at NAGAP, I was impressed by the energy, insights and urgency in every conversation. The graduate recruitment space is changing, but the desire to serve students more effectively — and more personally — is still at the heart of what we do. If we didn’t get a chance to connect in San Francisco, I’d love to continue the conversation. Drop me a line anytime: seth.reynolds@capturehighered.com By Seth Reynolds, Enrollment Solutions Consultant, Capture Higher EdReinforcements: Enhancing Your Admissions Team with Expert Service
- An account executive who is a formally seated enrollment management leader and understands your stressors.
- A project manager, communication specialists, digital asset experts, graphic designers, and writers to create and execute campaigns.
- A client trainer who works with your counseling staff to make sure the team gets the most out of the technology without being overwhelmed.
- Data scientists help analyze and guide your efforts every day.
NAGAP Perspectives: Generating Graduate Enrollments at Jacksonville University
Take Jacksonville University
The Graduate Admissions team at Jacksonville University wanted to generate new interest in several different areas of its more than 50 graduate and professional programs while pushing prospective graduate students through the enrollment funnel.
So, the private university in Jacksonville, Fla., with nearly 1,300 full-time and part-time graduate students, partnered with Capture Higher Ed, a leading enrollment management and marketing firm that helps institutions make personalized, data-driven, timely and measured connections with prospective students.
“Capture’s targeted approach allows us to identify students when they are at their highest level of interest,” says Jacksonville University Director of Enrollment Communications Katy Remich. “In an era of ‘stealth shopping,’ Capture's partnership assists us in not just identifying these students but positioning our messaging in front of them at the opportune moment.”
For the past two years, the graduate enrollment professionals at JU have utilized Capture’s ENGAGE, marketing automation built from the ground up for higher education recruitment and perfectly suited for graduate recruitment support.
[caption id="attachment_15422135" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Katy Remich[/caption]
Through the ENGAGE software and supported by Capture’s enrollment experts, JU uses dynamic content, including the Capture progressive identification (PID) form, to create new interest for multiple programs at the inquiry stage as well as drive candidates through their decision process with application campaigns.
Through ENGAGE, JU can identify thousands of students every month, and in the past month alone, the university has had almost 50 organic leads come in through Capture's PID Form. Through the platform’s daily visitor reports, each JU admissions counselor is provided with a roster of highly interested and engaged students, enabling them to connect with students and offer additional touch points and follow-up interactions, Remich says.
“Capture’s Behavioral Intelligence platform excels at providing digestible data,” she says. “You are able to see the ROI of their products and services every time you log into the dashboard.”
A Dynamic Approach
While graduate prospective students might not be ready to inquire or engage with a counselor, they often are willing to tell them what areas of study they are considering for a master’s degree, doctorate, or professional certificate. How do you nudge them into taking a small action? And how should you reward them for doing so?
This is where PID forms shine.
These interactive and dynamic forms not only help identify prospective graduate students but are also great for simple prompts. For example, you can serve PID forms with questions like, “Would you prefer an email or a call to receive information from us?” Or ask, “Can we text you? If yes, what’s the best number for us to reach you?”
The idea behind this form of ENGAGE-enabled dynamic content is to deliver automated, personalized, 1:1 messaging when students want it, addressing interests learned from past visits.
Other forms of dynamic content include triggered emails, which are behavior-based, one-off emails that are sent automatically based on a visitor’s action on and interaction with your website and other digital assets. For example, if a prospective graduate student visits a particular program page three times, you could send them a triggered email with more information on the program, the graduate admissions process and ask them to apply.
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Kate Howard[/caption]
The JU graduate and professional enrollment staff take the opportunity to not only use their partnership with Capture in the more traditional ways to move students through the enrollment funnel but also to share news that is relevant in their markets, says Capture Senior Enrollment Advisor Kate Howard, who works closely with the university.
“Upon receiving American Bar Association provisional accreditation for their law school, they were able to generate more web traffic to their site through Capture dynamic content offering more information,” Howard says. “In less than two months, nearly 1,400 visitors clicked on content leading them to the College of Law.”
Through ENGAGE, Capture also offers a complete digital marketing plan that includes search engine marketing; digital display marketing; customized social media advertising; social, web, and email retargeting; interactive and video ads; and focused landing pages that allow you to influence and encourage prospective graduate students to take important next steps.
Success in the Sunshine State
Over its multi-year contract with Capture, Jacksonville’s graduate and professional programs have generated 200 organic inquiries for the 2023 and 2024 enrollment years, resulting in 42 enrolled students to date. In addition, Capture is influencing 12 percent of all 2024 graduate student deposits to date.
Capture’s partnership started with graduate and has since expanded to the undergraduate and transfer markets.
“Jacksonville University’s level of collaboration with Capture has been key to the successful relationship,” Howard says. “Through building mutual trust, the multi-year relationship continues to grow with new digital advertising expansions on the horizon.”
Outside of their products, the individuals at Capture are an invaluable resource for JU’s enrollment and marketing staffs, Remich adds.
“They readily share industry experience, guiding us in decisions regarding content and timing,” she says. “Capture’s creative team has taken the time to understand our brand, resulting in a seamless blend across our shared content.
“Capture has provided our team with valuable insights, creative suggestions, and exceptional customer service. It is undeniable that Capture has had a significant impact on the growth we have witnessed in our graduate and professional studies programs.”
By Kevin Hyde, Senior Marketing Content Manager, Capture Higher Ed Capture Is Headed to NAGAP 2025 — Let’s Connect in San Francisco!
It’s the first NAGAP experience for both Reynolds and Broome, and they’re eager to dive in. Not only does the summit feature dynamic speakers and opportunities to learn new approaches, it’s also the perfect place to exchange ideas and connect with fellow NAGAP members.
“Graduate recruitment can be managed centrally, program-by-program, or in a mix of both,” Reynolds says. “There’s no one right way — but there are the right tools.
“We have such a strong model at Capture for graduate recruitment support: funnel impact, insight, and intelligence help teams of one or 100 engage and convert the right students. No other platform in the market combines behavioral data, marketing automation and AI tools in one CRM-integrated system that is purpose-built for higher ed.”
Broome says he is looking forward to connecting with NAGAP 2025 attendees and hearing how the industry is adapting.
“From what I’ve seen, schools that don’t offer online graduate programs are struggling for enrollment,” he notes. “I'm excited to learn more about what’s working — and where the biggest opportunities are.”
Want to connect before the Summit gets rolling? Reach out to the team directly:
- Seth Reynolds – seth.reynolds@capturehighered.com (Feel free to text or call to coordinate a meeting: 503-866-4443.)
- Geoff Broome – gbroome@capturehighered.com