Transfer applications from California community colleges to University of California campuses declined by about 5 percent from last year as community colleges have felt the impact of state budget cuts.
The number of freshman applications to UCs for fall 2012, however, was higher than it has ever been, according to admissions data released earlier this month. As a campus, UCLA saw a 6.5 percent decline in transfer applicants from California community colleges.
The reduction in transfer applicants to the UC may be attributed to the dwindling state support for community colleges, said Chely Gonzalez, program coordinator for the UCLA Center for Community College Partnership.
“The biggest challenges our (community college) students are facing now is the budget and how it has drastically impacted their time at the community college,” Gonzalez said.
To transfer to a UC, prospective students must fulfill all general education requirements, as well as the prerequisites for the major of their choice, according to the UC admissions website.
Cuts in state funding result in less classes and space for students, Gonzalez said. This makes it more difficult for students to get into the required classes they need in order to transfer in two years.
“Oftentimes, we see students having to attend multiple community colleges at once in order to complete their requirements,” Gonzalez said.
Like many others, Brian Jasper, a second-year student at Fullerton Junior College, had trouble getting the classes he needed his first year, especially while trying to quickly decide on his major.
Jasper took “Orange County Geology” ““ a class he did not want ““ in order to gain units and maintain full-time student status.
Fulfilling transfer requirements have become increasingly difficult as state funding for community college dwindled, Jasper said.
“(The general education courses) are impossible to get in if you don’t already have some sort of units in order to get priority (registration),” he said. “But it’s hard to get priority when you don’t have units as a first-year. It’s sort of a Catch-22.”
The decline in funding comes at a time when California community colleges are proposing policy changes they say would streamline the transfer process and get more students in the classes they need.
If the proposed changes are approved, first-year students would get priority enrollment, and common transfer requirements for all the UC campuses would be established, according to the Student Success Task Force report, which was approved by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors on Jan. 9.
In addition, students not showing academic progress would lose access to fee waivers and priority registration for classes.
Students would also be required to set up education plans, such as pursuing an associate’s degree or a transfer admission to a four-year university, which research has shown helps students succeed, said Paul Feist, vice chancellor of communications for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.
“Changes to the community college system are important because they’re designed to improve completion rates, designed to help students complete education roles on time,” he said.
Feist added that these changes will help low-income students the most, since incoming students represent a much more diverse demographic than students already enrolled.
“In the 2009-2010 academic year alone, 133,000 students were turned away. … This diverse demographic is being crowded out by policies that favor continuing students,” Feist said.
But Gonzalez said basing financial priority on student performance rather than need is harmful to the most disadvantaged students.
“A lot of these students have other life challenges. They have to work full-time and part-time jobs, so they have less time to allocate to their studies,” Gonzalez said. “A low-income student with these challenges is going to have a much more difficult time than your middle-class student.”