A recently released bill by the California Senate seeks to promote transfer of California community college students to California state universities by guaranteeing admission to local campuses for all students who complete 60 transfer units and a minimum 2.0 GPA.
SB 1440 is designed to standardize transfer requirements for the state’s most popular transfer majors with the intended result being that students will spend less time at community colleges by not taking unnecessary courses that won’t transfer to their school of choice.
Bakersfield College transfer counselor Sue Granger-Dickson described the bill and what it means for students looking to transfer.
“What this bill did, is it required the California community colleges and the CSU system to create what’s called Associate Degrees for Transfer. The bill wasn’t specific on how it was going to happen but they did say that community colleges would develop degrees of no more than 60 units and that would guarantee admission to the CSU – the local CSU,” said Granger-Dickson.
She is still unclear what qualifies as a local CSU for BC students and is curious if Cal State Fresno and Cal State Northridge could be considered local schools.
The process started with the California Community College State Academic Senate organizing curriculum proposals with faculty members of the state’s CSUs. Their efforts have created what are called Transfer Model Curriculums, which will create degree programs that all of the CSUs will accept. With this process, a degree in psychology will be earned with the same curriculum requirements offered at all California community colleges.
“Faculty are convening and meeting all over the state and are hashing out what these Transfer Associate or these Transfer Model Curriculum are going to look like. They are going to be fast-tracked to Sacramento through the chancellor’s office, and they’re going to be available to students in the fall,” Granger-Dickson said.
Currently, there are 21 schools that have responded with at least 16 agreeing to all three Transfer Curricular Model proposals as they were first presented, according to an e-mail from Jane Patton, president of the Academic Senate for Community Colleges.
According to Patton, most CSUs have acknowledged or agreed to the new terms except San Diego State University. SDSU does not feel that the new Transfer Model Curriculums coordinate with their degrees. They are the only university that feels this way; however, because 1440 is a state mandated measure, the university must reach a satisfactory decision regarding the TMCs.
“Given that the majority of CSU campuses have agreed to accept all three of the first TMCs, there is reason to be hopeful that the outstanding implementation issues can be resolved,” Patton said. Negotiations and planning are currently ongoing.
At this time, according to Granger-Dickson, there are three Transfer Model Curriculums that have been completed: psychology, sociology and communication. Currently, more TMCs are being configured and will possibly be ready for the fall term.
She is excited for the bill and feels that it will eliminate confusion for students as well as the number of units they are taking.
“I’m excited about it because I think that anything that can reduce barriers for students is great. Anything that’s going to increase transfer of our students is great because our transfer rates, while strong for transferring to CSUB, are not as strong as I’d like them to be,” she said.
Granger-Dickson urges students to plan ahead when taking courses and stresses to complete math and English courses sooner than later as well as declaring a major early on to avoid taking unnecessary courses. She also encourages students who are unsure of their major to research by talking with professors and professionals in their fields of interest to see if it’s the right decision for them to make.
“I think that those students who really come to those decisions fairly early and do that research and are well informed are going to be [at BC] less time. And that’s the whole point, to not waste student time and money, which is also federal and state money at this point through financial aid,” she said.
For students interested in learning more about transferring, university representatives make regular visits to BC and are available to answer questions about their college. The counseling department also offers transfer workshops on various subjects regarding CSU and UC transfers. For dates and times or to learn more, visit the counseling center in Student Services.