Current literature focuses on traditional student attrition and on transfer transition, but little information is available on the non-traditional transfer student experience. The following study explores the process of non-traditional transfer student attrition through an investigation that illustrates the importance of past student experiences, personal issues, institutional fit, academic integration, and institutional communication and procedures. An understanding of how students actually make meaning of their transfer and departure experiences may allow institutions to modify marketing efforts to be more coherent with institutional practice, manage student expectations to enhance post-secondary experiences for today's students in higher education, and eventually introduce functional, non-traditional student retention efforts.