This dissertation examines recent claims that post-secondary student writers underperform because they fail to transfer the skills and knowledge taught in first-year composition courses. My analysis of the scholarship on writing transfer and investigation of the conditions of student writing at one private liberal arts college suggest that there is no basis for the claim. This conclusion is supported by three findings: First, scholarly interest in transfer is motivated not by a desire to understand the phenomenon in the context of post-secondary writing but by ongoing efforts to justify and preserve introductory writing programs. Second, the problems that instructors identify in their evaluations of student writing rarely align with the skills and knowledge of these programs. Third, instructors attribute the success of student writers not to rhetorical fluency but to attitudes, behaviors, and dispositions unrelated to the outcomes of first-year composition. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that arguments in support of writing transfer make the faulty assumptions that students have mastered a body of writing knowledge, that this knowledge can be adapted to new contexts, and that instructors value this knowledge. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]