Inconsistencies in the definition of transfer from two-year to four-year institutions and in the calculation of the transfer rate have given rise to incongruous findings. For example, one researcher in 1989 reported a transfer rate of less than 12% for the colleges in Illinois at the same time that the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges found a transfer rate exceeding 42% for the California colleges. Taking into account imperatives based upon the enrollment and transfer patterns of the colleges' heterogeneous student body, a consistent transfer indicator can be achieved by defining potential transfer students as all those entering in a given year who have no prior college experience, who stay at the community college long enough to complete at least 12 college-credit units, and who take one or more classes at the university within 4 years after original college entry. During fall 1989, the Center for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC) invited researchers from a broad sample of community colleges nationwide to provide data according to this definition, and 47 institutions from 16 states complied. The study revealed that just under 50% of the students entering with no prior college experience in the Fall of 1984 had completed 12 or more units within the ensuing 4 years. Of that group, 23% had taken classes at a university. In 1990, CSCC again asked the colleges to provide data on their transfers, and 68 complied; 48% of the students entering in fall 1985 with no prior college experience had earned at least 12 credits, and 24% of them had transferred. (JMC)