Collegiate student-athletes switch schools for all kinds of reasons. Some are seeking greater competition, while others want the experience of living in a new place. For Cameron Belandres, a former forward on the Toro men’s soccer team, it was about the opportunity to play up to his full potential.
“When your playing style doesn’t fit the team’s system, it can be difficult to showcase your talent and abilities,” said Belandres, a junior who transferred from Cal State Monterey Bay to CSUDH in 2024 and then from CSUDH to Stanislaus in 2025.
More than 4,800 undergraduate NCAA Division II student-athletes entered the transfer portal in 2025, according to league data—an increase of nearly 15% from the previous year.
Critics of the transfer portal argue that transferring freely between schools makes college sports transactional, especially now that student-athletes can be compensated financially for their name, image, and likeness. Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing student-athletes to transfer once without affecting their eligibility. A second transfer would require them to sit out a year.
The order, which takes effect in August and has support from leaders across collegiate and professional sports, could significantly influence both recruiting practices and how student-athletes complete their degrees.
Freedom to “find the right fit”
For 15 years, Kisha Calbert has been the student-athlete success coordinator for Toros Athletics. Calbert believes there are both positive and negative aspects to the transfer portal.
“It has allowed student athletes to have more agency in how they choose to move around for their college athletics experiences,” Calbert told The Bulletin. “[But] I don’t think [they] are being guided appropriately…especially with regards to what playing time looks like: What kind of systems or programs do coaches run? What does their timeline to graduation look like?”
Had President Trump’s order been in effect when Belandres decided to transfer to Stanislaus, he likely would have given his decision a second thought.
“I probably wouldn’t have done it, just because I probably have different goals than other athletes,” said Belandres, who studies psychology. “I want to graduate in a certain amount of years, so I feel like sitting out a year would kind of just delay my journey.”
Calbert echoed Belandres, describing the decision to transfer to another school and athletics program as “100% a leap of absolute faith”—particularly for student-athletes who don’t get a lot of playing time or don’t know whether they “will be impactful at another institution.”
Ashley Ogata, a senior pitcher for Toros softball, transferred from Chaminade University in Honolulu to CSUDH in 2024, at the end of her sophomore year. The move to California has been “amazing,” Ogata said, because “there’s so much more to do” than in Hawaii.
“The culture and the opportunity to experience new things in my 20s has given me what I feel is the best college experience I could have had,” Ogata told The Bulletin. She said student-athletes shouldn’t have to sacrifice playing time to find a school that meets their criteria.
“You enter the portal and choose a new school. If that’s not a fit, you can go back into the portal again,” Ogata said. “It’s your eligibility, so you should use it how you want. Until you find the right fit, you have the right to keep looking.”
Calbert notes that college sports have “always been transactional.” The difference now is that athletic programs can openly pay recruits.
“Every student athlete knew of a coach or a booster or a donor that gave kids money under the table to come to their institutions,” she explained. “Everybody was doing it—people just got really good at not getting caught.”
Coaches’ concerns, players’ preferences
The NCAA introduced the transfer portal in 2018. By 2022, a league well-being study found that 31% of Division II head coaches were “very concerned” about retaining student-athletes. Calbert argues that limiting transfers would not effectively address the challenges the portal may have created.
“I think it’s a direct response to coaches wanting to advocate for the kids to have that flexibility,” she said. “When they realized how hard it was going to be for them to do things and stay successful, they don’t want them to have that agency anymore.”
Samantha Kwiatkowski is a volunteer assistant coach for Toros softball who has experienced the transfer portal as both an administrator and a student-athlete. Kwiatkowski completed two seasons at Cal State Northridge before transferring to CSUDH. She advised student-athletes to trust their instincts.
“I was really scared going into my exit meeting, telling my coaches that I wanted to transfer, but ultimately, you need to do what’s best for you, and sometimes not every school is made for the person,” Kwiatkowski told The Bulletin.
Kwiatkowski also cautioned student-athletes against getting caught up in labels and perceptions of Div. I versus Div. II.
“In my first year here, we went to Super Regionals, and at my old Division I school, we didn’t even go to the postseason at all,” Kwiatkowski said. “It’s just the name, you know? Division I, Division II—but it feels the same. There’s definitely girls at this level that could be playing at the Division I level as well.”
Order could face challenge to preserve “personal choice”
President Trump’s executive order may face a legal challenge. ESPN reported on Apr. 3 that several lawyers representing colleges and their athletes believe judges will rule the new transfer policy unconstitutional and unenforceable.
Still, for hundreds of student-athletes like Belandres, the former Toro men’s forward, going from one athletics program to another should be respected as a “personal choice.”
Belandres said: “I think it’s important, in an individual’s life, to create as many connections as you can, and transferring allows these connections to happen.”