University of California President Janet Napolitano met with community college leaders in Northern California last week to plan ways to make it easier for transfer students to apply to and get more information about the University, the UC said in a press release Wednesday.
Though the UC and its campuses send admission representatives and information to students at colleges with low transfer rates, the transfer process remains top-heavy, with just a few community colleges supplying a majority of transfers to the University.
As of 2012, about 36 percent of transfer students at the UC came from just 10 community colleges, including Santa Monica College.
At the UC Board of Regents’ meeting in May, officials on the UC Transfer Action Team recommended the University improve its outreach to community colleges with low UC transfer rates.
Participants at last week’s meeting, including California Community College Chancellor Brice Harris, put forward a number of ideas, including sending information about the UC’s financial aid to and providing ongoing academic advising for high-achieving students and their families.
According to the press release, Napolitano said the UC is exploring how to make its transfer requirements consistent across campuses and how to expand programs that guarantee admission for transfer students to a particular UC campus if certain academic goals are met.
However, Napolitano said she thinks the effectiveness of these strategies depends on state funding, which she said is too low to allow the UC to enroll more transfer students for now. The UC has said a lack of state funding was the main reason for the recently proposed tuition increases of up to 5 percent annually for the next five years.
“We’re not competing with each other for more of the pie,” Napolitano said in the press release. “Our view is that the pie is too small, and that the pieces together make a better whole.”
In September, Napolitano met with leaders of community colleges in the Central Valley area, and the UC has said she will continue to hold meetings with community college leaders in the state in coming months.
Compiled by Jeong Park, Bruin senior staff.