Tuesday, October 20, 1998
Regents aim to simplify transfer process
OUTREACH: Board committed to adjusting courses at community
colleges to meet UC requirements
By Edina Lekovic
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
SAN FRANCISCO “¹ With $18.5 million earmarked for community
college outreach, the UC Board of Regents is focusing on easing the
complexity of the transfer dilemma.
In response to the board’s $70 million outreach program unveiled
last month, community college representatives addressed the board
Thursday, asking for simplification of the transfer process.
California Community College student body president Michelle
Bonz described the process as "unusually complicated and extensive,
to say the least. "
Students pointed to the difficulties of conforming with
ever-changing articulation agreements between community college
campuses and state universities.
With 10,497 community college students transferring to the UC
annually, students argued that the regents should put more funds
toward further development of formal written agreements defining
which classes are transferable to campuses at CSU and UC.
Regents repeatedly emphasized their commitment to improving the
transfer process. Because the item was only up for discussion at
the last meeting, however, no concrete steps have been taken
yet.
"This is a major boost for programs that are a very high
priority for the Board of Regents and for this administration, "
said UC President Richard Atkinson.
Officials claim the complexity can be positive because it offers
students options; however, they acknowledge that it can also lead
to confusion, inefficiency and frustration.
Bonz herself experienced the crunch last year when she enrolled
in classes at two local community colleges. She assumed that an
English class that was transferable at one of those campuses would
also be acceptable if taken at the other community college campus.
She only found out that it was not when she approached her
articulation counselor months later about her transfer status.
The problem is not uncommon, said Bonz, who asked the regents to
create a uniform numbering system for all community college
classes. UC Davis is the only UC campus currently utilizing this
method, which would eliminate the difficulty of taking classes at
multiple community college campuses.
A similar program is the Intersegmental General Education
Transfer Curriculum (IGETC), which can be used to fulfill lower
division general education requirements at any CSU or UC
campus.
"If transfer is improved through these methods, we will see an
increase in the transfers to UCs, " Bonz said.
"Most of these students are first- generation college students
who become very discouraged. (These improvements are) going to get
students out of college faster and into the work force. "
Brenda Johnson-Benson, an articulation officer at Santa Monica
College (SMC), said that while the UC has come a long way in
articulation, there is still room for further development of
articulation agreements.
While SMC has far more major articulation agreements than most
community colleges, some campuses do not show articulation as an
institutional priority.
She called for all UC campuses to articulate their top 10
transferring majors with all 170 community colleges in California
as a first step to alleviating the problem.
"I have seen many changes in my 15 years (as an articulation
officer), " said Johnson-Benson. "Before IGETC, major articulation
was almost non-existent and information was hard to access. "
Funding is the greatest barrier to improving articulation,
officials said.
Even the inadequate funding does not recognize the breadth of
the work involved. With staffing shortages and a lack of access to
technology and administrative resources, inconsistencies are
created between campuses.
With over half of community college students over 25 years old
and 80 percent working, the board’s goal of increasing the number
of transfers from community colleges to UCs by 33 percent will
focus on students who clearly intend on transferring.
"Whichever the approach, to one day have all majors at the UC
articulated with all 170 community colleges is the goal, " said
Johnson-Benson.
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