Grounded in higher education service quality theory, this study investigates how college freshmen’s perception of higher education service quality influence their learning participation, departmental satisfaction, and intentions to transfer majors or institutions. Survey data were collected from first-year students at a national university of science and technology in southern Taiwan. The results indicate that perceived academic quality, administrative quality, and facilities quality all positively influence learning participation. In turn, learning participation enhances departmental satisfaction while reducing students’ intentions to transfer, and departmental satisfaction further shows a significant negative association with transfer intentions. The findings demonstrate the underlying mechanisms linking students’ perceptions of higher education service quality to transfer intentions through learning participation and departmental satisfaction. The findings also provide practical implications for higher education institutions by heightening the importance of strengthening academic support, administrative service, and student engagement initiatives to enhance departmental satisfaction and to improve student retention.