Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 1440, which simplifies the transfer process from California Community Colleges into California State Universities, into law on Sept. 29.
Starting in the fall of 2011, students who earn a 2.0 GPA or higher with 60 transferable units, and 18 of those units in a major or area of interest, are guaranteed admission as a junior into their local CSU.
For many current community college students, the requirements for transferring are confusing and they end up taking more units than necessary. With this bill in place, students will not have to repeat coursework at the upper division level.
Amber Chiang, Bakersfield College Marketing and Public Relations director, said that the state government has told CCC’s and CSU’s that they must have the system in place by fall 2011.
“That’s actually pretty quick, typically curriculum development and matriculation is a time consuming process. There are already teams in place moving forward with this at the state level and then it’s going to be directed down to us,” Chiang said.
This fast time frame will not benefit students who are graduating in the spring, but should make transferring easier for incoming students as well as current freshmen.
Rachel Sanders, a college freshman, decided to take online classes through Brigham-Young University rather than going to a community college because of the restraints associated with transferring into four-year universities.
“The school that I wanted to transfer into next year doesn’t accept transfers anymore because of the economy and many of the state schools are cutting back on how many transfers they are allowing,” Sanders said.
According to Chiang, such problems will be solved through the new agreement.
Chiang said, “Previously we did have a 60-unit transfer that worked for the CSU’s, some UC’s and some private schools, but as enrollments got so crazy it kind of just went away. Because those schools were so impacted they weren’t taking our students so now we are basically putting that back into place.
“The reality is that the classes aren’t really going to change. What is going to change is the agreement between the two schools and what it takes to transfer over there.”
Details of how the system is going to change and what schools are considered as local have yet to be seen this early in development.
BC President Greg Chamberlain believes that the main detail to be set is what exactly is considered your local University.
He said, “[Porterville College] has many students who go to Cal State Bakersfield and many students who go to Fresno State, so what’s home to them? Is it just going to be strictly miles on the map?”
Though SB 1440 has a lot of progress to be made in a relatively short amount of time, Chamberlain supports the bill and believes that it will greatly benefit BC’s students.
He said, “I see it possibly getting students to complete their objectives faster. Because if you can truly get out of here and transfer with 60 units and finish with 120 rather than 130 or 140 or even 150, that’s going to save the students money and time.
“And that also means seats are freed up. If you aren’t stuck around here for another semester to only take three more classes, that you may not need to have, then that’s three classes that someone else could be getting into.”
Chamberlain said that the colleges have currently been told to sit and wait while CSU and CCC systems discuss an overall approach to the new legislation.
BC freshman Rose Taylor said, “I’m going to be applying to both CSU’s and private universities and they all have different requirements. So it makes it kind of difficult for me because I’m going to have to take more classes than I probably need to in order to meet all of them, just in case, and then maybe I’ll just get accepted into one of them.”
Assembly Bill 2302 accompanies the transfer bill and asks other California university divisions to similarly clarify their transfer systems, although they are not under state lawmakers.
According to an e-mail sent out by Linda Michalowski, Vice Chancellor of California Colleges, “It is important to recognize that SB 1440 will not solve every transfer related problem. As long as we face unprecedented fiscal challenges, issues such as impaction will remain. However, SB 1440 is a tremendous step in the right direction and, together, we are committed to its successful implementation.”