USF Honored for Helping Transfer Students Succeed

The honor society for two-year colleges named 251 colleges and universities — including USF — to its 2025 Transfer Honor Roll. The recognition is based on how schools support transfer students, including cost and financial aid, campus life, admission practices, and undergraduate degree completion rates.

USF has been named to the Phi Theta Kappa honor roll every year since 2020. The honor roll originated in 2016.

Since 2020, USF has welcomed 1,676 transfer students, and they make up more than 20 percent of the university’s overall undergraduate population.

Olivia Hershman ’25 transferred to USF from Ventura City College. “I just loved the city, I loved the campus, I knew it was where I wanted to be,” Hershman said.

These factors were considered by Phi Theta Kappa:

• USF’s 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio.
• Students have both a faculty adviser and an academic success coach at USF.
• Financial support and scholarships for transfer students include merit scholarships, a Phi Theta Kappa scholarship, and a community college partnership scholarship.
• There are special campus events for transfer students, such as information sessions, Explore USF Transfer Day, and Meet USF Transfer Day.

New this year, USF launched “Transfer Champions,” a group of faculty members who can mentor transfer students. Some of them were transfer students themselves, said Rebecca Hong, vice provost of student success, inclusive excellence, and curricular innovation. 

"We've designed our transfer process to be as accessible and supportive as possible," said Erica Delgado, director of transfer admission and campus engagement. She said USF requires 24 semester credits and a 2.5 GPA for all majors except nursing and engineering, “and we have articulation agreements with more than 70 two-year colleges across California and Washington to help students see exactly how their previous coursework applies to our core curriculum.”