In a move to provide more transparency with regard to the transfer portal, the NCAA released statistics and information for the years 2020 and 2021 that shows only 54% of FBS players who entered the portal enrolled at a new school.
During the two-year period shown in the infographics provided by the NCAA, 5% of student-athletes who entered the portal withdrew their name, while 41% remained active in the transfer portal. The data shows an increase of more than 950 FBS players entering to the portal from August 2019-July 2020 (1,583) to August 2020-July 2021 (2,539). The NCAA has seen the most active months coming in December and January, with 38% of the 2021 entrants coming in those two months.
The transfer portal has become more popular since the NCAA has allowed student-athletes a one-time transfer without penalty, which is backed up by the numbers on the NCAA site.
In 2020, there were 587 undergrad students who entered the portal and enrolled at a new school, whereas there were 950 in 2021. That sharp increase has continued to rise in the 2021-2022 year, and the numbers are expected to be even higher than the two previous years.
In the research the NCAA conducted, it shows that only 59% of scholarship FBS football players who entered their name in the transfer portal transferred to another school and received a scholarship at the next destination. Among those scholarship players who entered the portal, 33% (834) still remain active and 8% transferred without athletic aid.
FBS football saw the most student-athletes enter the transfer portal (2,538) of any sport, but men's basketball had the highest percentage of student-athletes in the portal with 31% (1,692) of its athletes entering in the year 2021. FBS saw 16% of its athletes enter the portal, while women's basketball had 22% (1,134) enter during the 12-month period.
The NCAA analyzed data for all of the sports under its jurisdiction and found that only 30% (9,101) of Division I athletes who entered the portal across all sports transferred and received athletic aid at their new school, and 47% (14,293) of all entrants remain active.