Higher education enrollment patterns are becoming increasingly diverse. Many students earn credits at multiple institutions of higher education on their way to completing a bachelor’s degree. The effects of transfer on degree attainment and years of education accumulated have been studied, with a primary focus on the contributions or drawbacks of community college education. This paper extends the literature regarding the effect of transfer on higher education outcomes to issues of time to degree by asking, “Does transfer accelerate or extend time to degree?” The focus of this paper is less on the role community colleges play in higher education attainment; instead, it examines the issue of student mobility from a transfer policy perspective. This study tests whether the effects of transfer differ among vertical transfer students (who move from two-year to four-year institutions) and lateral transfer students (who move from four-year to four-year institutions) and whether credit loss at the point of transfer is a mechanism for extending time to bachelor’s degree completion. The study uses statewide student longitudinal data from Texas for traditional-aged students who enrolled between 2004 and 2006 and followed for six years. Using propensity score matching, I find a significant transfer penalty in terms of graduation, credit hours, and time to degree. Results suggest credits lost at the point of transfer contribute to poorer transfer student outcomes compared to native students. Mobile students are approximately 18 percentage points less likely to graduate within six years of matriculation. Among those who complete a bachelor’s degree, transfer students attempt 7.55 more credits than native students and extend their time to degree by almost one term. The negative effects of transfer are not unique to vertical transfers who begin in community colleges. Although lateral transfer students have modestly shorter times to degree, graduation and credit accumulation penalties are larger for lateral transfers than vertical transfers—results that support the credit loss hypothesis. The results of this study can inform the design of policies to accelerate time to degree in a high-stakes policy-setting by examining contributing factors in Texas.