For many students, college is a place for self-discovery, education and making new and lasting friendships. For others, it’s a time to start thinking about transferring to a four-year university.
On Sept. 14, the Transfer Center at Bakersfield College hosted a transfer day in the Fireside Room for students interested in continuing on to the four-year level. According to Sue Granger-Dickson, transfer counselor at BC, approximately 600 students walked through and spoke to several university representatives.
In an interview with Granger-Dickson, she pointed out that students need to organize now for the new changes to UC and CSU requirements.
“I think one of the things that’s going to be new this year with the budget shortfalls is the CSU’s have been telling us that they are going to hold students to the priority application period, which for the CSU’s is Oct. 1 through Nov. 30 this fall for Fall 2010. UC’s are only in the priority period of Nov. 1 through Nov. 30 for Fall 2010,” said Granger-Dickson. “So before, many of the colleges would stay open and now they are going to hold students to that priority. Students need to get themselves organized and attend application workshops this fall, as well as make sure they hit that Nov. 30 deadline and it’s all done online now.”
The universities represented at the event were candid when speaking to students regarding the admission requirement changes, especially at the CSU and UC campuses.
Tammy Teixeira of CSU East Bay stated that their admission rate is 100 percent if all CSU breadth requirements are met, but she also made it clear that fees have taken a sharp increase in the last 10 months. “Students need to realize that even though we have a 100 percent applicant to admission rate, tuition and fees have also risen 30 percent for all CSU campuses across the board, which is a significant increase,” Teixeira said.
Sam Blanco III of UC Davis echoed those remarks but also indicated their situation is much different than the Cal State system.
“We have a 70 percent junior transfer rate and right now our fees are sitting about $9,364. But the UC regents are in session right now voting whether or not to raise our fees by an additional 23 percent for all UC campuses,” said Blanco.
Campuses not affected by the recent budget signing, however, are private universities which are benefitting from the sharp increase in public university fees. Universities such as University of the Pacific in Stockton has taken advantage of the shift in student interest to private universities and relaxed their admission requirements to make their campus more attractive to transferring students.
“With our university, students are not held to a 60-unit transfer requirement. Our transfer requirements are that the student has at least 30 transferrable credits which means we take lower division transfers, and have a good personal statement,” said Detwarn Buntun, admissions counselor with University of the Pacific. “We also allow midterm transfers so we’re making ourselves very attractive to transferring students”
Out of state universities are also taking advantage of the rise in education costs in California, such as the University of Nevada, Reno campus. Quentin Owens, admissions counselor with UNR, stated that not only are they affordable, but also part of the Western Undergraduate Exchange which is an agreement between western neighboring states that allows for lower tuition rates for out of state students.
“To qualify for the Exchange, you must have a 3.0 grade point average. That will in effect give a California resident in-state tuition at UNR,” said Owens. “Our transfer requirements are also very easy to meet, which simply consist of 24 transferrable credits and at least a 2.5 grade point average.”
One university was also present that understands a student’s need to remain at home and hold a full-time job while attending classes. Kim Whitt of Kaplan University indicated that not only do BC students receive 10 percent off their tuition and fees, but active duty and reservist military personnel as well as military veterans enjoy reduced tuition rates.
“Right now for BC students, our fees are $353 per unit but that includes books,” Whitt said. “Military personnel both active and reservist as well as their spouses pay $166 per unit and military vets pay $230 per unit and we’ll ship their books anywhere. If you’re in Iraq, we’ll ship them to Iraq.”
Students seemed to take interest in the transfer day even though this year’s fair was smaller than last year. Vanessa Limones, a criminal justice major who’s graduating in May, stated “I like transfer day, it gives you what you need to make an informed decision on what university you want to or should be attending.”
Students are also reminded that Cal State-Bakersfield is on the BC campus three to four times per semester conducting “instant admissions” for students who meet the CSUB and CSU Breadth requirements. For more information on the CSUB instant admissions program or any other transfer related issue, visit the Transfer Center in the Student Services Building, or call 395-4421.