Tiffany Nyugen’s academic plans for the next two years
changed unexpectedly this summer when a finalized state budget
provided funding for her to enroll at the University of California,
San Diego almost two years earlier than she had originally
anticipated.
Along with over 7,000 other students systemwide, Nyugen was told
that an additional $12 million in enrollment funding from the final
state budget would eliminate the need for the Guaranteed Transfer
Option program of which they were a part.
Nyugen, a recent high school graduate from the downtown Los
Angeles area, was required to attend two years of community college
before being guaranteed a transfer to UCSD as a part of the
original transfer option offer Nyugen accepted from the school. She
did not receive her freshman admission offer from the school until
end of July, leaving her very little time to reexamine her academic
plans.
She eventually accepted the freshman transfer offer and since
she would only be going to community college for fall quarter,
Nyugen had to change her plans for the fall quarter. She decided to
enroll at Glendale Community College, a college closer to her house
instead of Santa Monica Community College.
“I was only planning to go to Santa Monica since my sister
goes to UCLA and I could live with her but since I’m only
taking classes for the fall, I didn’t want her to have to
find a bigger apartment to accommodate me,” Nyugen said.
Nyugen added though she was happy to receive the freshmen
admission offer she was “frustrated because I did a lot of
planning in the summer by visiting Santa Monica Community College
and talking to their counselors, making up my schedules so
I’ll have the right units to transfer.”
Because UCSD does not guarantee housing to GTO students, Nyugen
said her biggest concern with enrolling winter quarter is finding
housing.
“I probably would have to find an apartment. I really
don’t like the idea of an apartment during my first year
since it isolates me from the campus,” Nyugen said.
“It would have been nice to go in the fall since most of
the freshmen are going to be moving in, taking their classes and
getting used to one another. I felt that I would somehow lack that
experience by going to school later,” she added.
The transfer option was established earlier this year due to
proposed cuts in funding for enrollment by the state. The option
limited freshmen enrollment by deferring some UC-qualified students
to community colleges and guaranteeing transfer to a UC campus upon
completion of lower division courses.
Students who accepted the freshmen admission offer were given
the opportunity to enroll at a UC as a freshman instead of being
required to attend community college until they reached junior
status as their original GTO offers required.
According to the latest UC statistics, 1,538 students out of
7,792 students who received the freshmen transfer option accepted
the offer.
In a press release, Susan Wilbur, the UC director of
undergraduate admissions, called the number “a very good
response rate, particularly given that it is late in the year and
many students in the GTO pool had already committed to other
institutions.”
Like many other GTO students, this summer was not the first time
Nyugen had to make last minute changes to her plans.
In April, Nyugen had received letters of denial from UCLA, UCSD,
UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara and committed to going to a
California State University before she later received GTO offers
from all four universities.
“I was surprised to receive letters from them again after
I found out I didn’t get in,” said Nyugen. “I
felt happy but somewhat angry because I was already planning to go
to Cal State Northridge and I had to make up my mind again about
where I want to go.”
Though Nyugen said she had never considered going to a community
college before receiving the GTO offer, accepting the GTO made
sense to her because since she was going to attend CSU Northridge
with the same goal of transferring to a UC.
Nyugen said though the GTO offer “had its ups and downs, I
am very happy that I will attend SD this school year.”
The Guaranteed Transfer Option was established early this year
to limit enrollment in accordance with the 10 percent UC-enrollment
cut outlined in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s January state
budget proposal.
But the need to cut enrollment was eliminated this summer when
the final 2004-2005 budget included a provision to allow roughly
1,550 GTO students to enroll at a UC campus as freshmen.
Because the California budget was not finalized until the
summer, UCLA, like many other UCs, did not have time to enroll GTO
students for fall quarter, said Vu Tran, the UCLA director of
undergraduate admissions and relations with schools.
Tran said though the UC was aware that the legislature was
trying to reinstate funding for enrollment, the university had no
way of knowing how the final budget would turn out.
But thanks to the additional funding, “UCLA will be ready
to provide for those students in the winter and spring
quarters,” Tran said.