This article reports a study that improves the authors' understanding of the potential impact of expanded community college transfer access to elite institutions by examining a variety of key questions using two national databases with complementary strengths. By estimating the number of low-income community college students currently transferring to highly selective institutions, this study demonstrates that elite institutions are not currently utilizing the transfer route to substantially increase the representation of low-income students on their campuses. In addition, by examining the influence of student academic preparedness and the effects of institutional characteristics on transfer enrollment rates at elite institutions, this study helps specify the nature of the problem of low transfer access. This article is organized into five sections. The first section provides an introduction of the study. The second section presents the conceptual framework, which draws on three perspectives informing this issue: policy perspectives concerning the equity and efficiency of education; philosophical perspectives considering the legitimate criteria for admissions to elite higher education in a democracy; and institutional fiscal perspectives that influence admissions and enrollment management decisions. The third section describes the data analyzed. The fourth section describes the methods and results of the analyses, and the results are also compared to the findings of prior studies. The final section summarizes the major conclusions of the study and considers their implications. (Contains 3 tables and 18 notes.)