Law reforms transfer process

By Patrick Makiri
The Guardsman

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act, guaranteeing students who complete certain degrees with at least a C average at California community colleges a place in the California State University system as juniors.

Schwarzenegger signed SB 1440 into law on Sept. 29 requiring the two institutions to better align their transfer process. CCC must offer degrees composed entirely of courses that CSUs recognize as transferable, while CSU must accept students with at least a C average who earn these transferable degrees.

Only 25 percent of community college students intending to transfer actually reach four-year institutions, according to the SB1440 Fact Sheet from the office of Senator Alex Padilla, author of the bill.

Some employees of City College are not convinced by the language of the new law though. “It’s not going to be that much of a guarantee to go to a CSU,” City College transfer counselor Larry Damato said. “The way the law’s worded, it’s not a perfect world.”

While the law guarantees admission into the CSU system for students who complete the program, there is no guarantee the students will be accepted to their preferred campus or into the same major for which they studied at their community college.

Students who earn these associate degrees, however, will be given priority enrollment over students transferring without the same status in addition to being placed in a “similar major,” according to the law.

Currently, community college students transfer with an average of 80 units completed, 20 units above the required amount according to STAR’s bill.

The language of the bill refers to these extra units as excessive and the “result of the confusion surrounding transfer requirements.”

According to Padilla’s fact sheet, shortening the average tenure of college students will shore up funds for admitting more students.

“Streamlining the process would result in students graduating more quickly, allowing community colleges and the CSU to serve more students,” it reads.

Jo Volkert, associate vice president of enrollment at San Francisco State University, said that around 500 students transfer from City College to SFSU each year.

She said this new legislation will help transfer students avoid duplicating classes they have already taken and keep them from spinning their wheels upon transferring.

According to Padilla’s fact sheet, “due to the impending retirement of a generation of baby boomers, California faces a looming workforce shortage in job sectors requiring a bachelor’s degree and above.”

The Public Policy Institute of California claims that by 2025, “only 35 percent of working-age adults will have a college degree in an economy that would otherwise require 41 percent of workers to have a college degree.”

City College Articulation Officer Deanna Abma predicts that more students will leave CCC’s halls with an associate degree due to the STAR Act, but she is not certain how many degrees will actually meet the criteria for the transfer guarantee.

CCC and CSU must still approve the curriculum and decide on how to interpret certain details of the new law.

“We still have to figure out what it means to have admissions priority,” Abma said. “What does it really mean to have priority admissions into a ‘similar’ major?”

Abma also raised the issue of the impact on students’ experience as California’s higher education system becomes more centralized.

In her research on SB1440 she noted a general “fear of statewide standardization,” and the possible corresponding reduction in curriculum variety and opportunities for certain students.

She is also concerned that it could “provide less flexibility” for students who want to change their major.

The forming of these transfer degrees will require no extra funding, and City College remains committed to providing basic skills courses to students not yet transfer-bound Abma said.