A review process similar to the one used to determine
eligibility to the University of California will also be used for
students who will be offered a transfer agreement come April.
Eligible students might be offered a chance to participate in
the new Guaranteed Transfer Option program, which will assure them
a spot at a UC campus provided they have completed their lower
division courses in a community college.
The program will be implemented to reduce the damage done by a
10 percent cut to UC enrollment, which will go into effect in
2004-2005 and affect over 3,000 students in the UC system.
Hanan Eisenman, a spokesman for the UC Office of the President,
said it will be up to the individual campuses to determine to whom
they will offer the transfer agreement.
“All eligible students who are not admitted as freshmen
will get letters indicating that they have an alternate option
available to them,” he said.
In mid-March students who have applied to the UC system as
freshmen will begin receiving acceptance letters.
Letters to eligible students who did not get accepted to one of
the UC campuses will indicate that they will receive alternate
admission offers in April.
Starting April 15, students will begin receiving their alternate
admissions letters which will guarantee them a spot in the UC
school of their choice or an alternate campus, as long as they
complete all the necessary course work at a community college.
Students already taking part in the Dual Admissions Program will
also be a part of those eligible for the GTO.
The DAP was implemented at the beginning of the current academic
year, and it offers an admissions guarantee for students who were
in the top 12.5 percent of their high school class but not fully
eligible for UC enrollment.
Students eligible for direct admission to the UC fall in either
the top 12.5 percent of graduating seniors in the state, or in the
top 4 percent of their individual high school. Dual Admissions
students fall somewhere between the top 4 and 12.5 percent of their
high school.
In his recent budget proposal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said
he will eliminate the budget for the DAP.
The over 500 students currently taking part in the DAP will be
automatically redirected to the new GTO program.
Legislative experts praised the governor’s guaranteed
transfer proposal.
A report released in February by the Legislative Analyst’s
Office, a nonpartisan organization which provides fiscal and policy
advice to the Legislature, recommended that the Legislature follow
the governor’s proposal to establish a way for a number of UC
and California State University students to spend their first two
years in the community college system.
“In order to preserve college access, we recommend the
Legislature establish a policy (similar to that proposed by the
governor) whereby the University of California and the California
State University would admit qualified freshmen but redirect a
portion of them to enroll in specific community colleges for their
lower division coursework,” the statement read.
Many community colleges students and officials, however, have
expressed concern over the GTO process.
Celina Luna, a second-year anthropology student at El Camino
College and secretary of the California Student Association of
Community Colleges, said she finds the governor’s proposal to
be highly unfair to the students already enrolled in the community
college system.
“This is my very last term. I am scheduled to transfer to
a four-year school in the fall. Now I’m stuck since UCs and
CSUs are accepting (fewer) students, and my fees are going up while
the transfer agreement students might have their fees waved,”
Luna said.
The Legislature is currently reviewing the governor’s fee
waiver proposal under which students who have accepted deferred
enrollment will have their community college fees eliminated.
Additionally, the governor pledged to give $1.6 billion to set
up counseling services targeted toward those in the GTO
program.
Even with all the financial perks, community college officials
are not confident their system will be able to accommodate the
influx of students expected for next year.
“The truth is neither UC nor the governor consulted with
the community colleges in terms of how their decisions will impact
our capabilities to educate additional students in the
system,” said Cheryl Fong, a spokeswoman for the Community
College Chancellor’s Office.
About 8,000 students are expected to take part in the GTO
program from both the UC and CSU systems.