Calif. colleges work to improve transfer process
By Alexei Koseff, Sacramento Bee
More than 50 years ago, California’s revered Master Plan for Higher Education established public community colleges as a means to educate the state’s lower-division students and prepare them for transfer to a higher institution.
Today, the sprawling system of 112 colleges and more than 2.1 million students transfers only about 40 percent of those seeking to continue on to a university where they can finish a bachelor’s degree, according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.
The poor transfer rate stems in part from a conundrum of varying requirements and confusing pathways between schools that finally resulted in a 2010 bill, SB 1440, creating the Associate Degree for Transfer. The two-year degree guarantees admission into the California State University system as a junior and sets students up to complete their studies in four years – an increasing challenge at CSU campuses where high enrollment creates heavy demand for mandatory classes.