New admission program helps community college students who transfer to Cal State schools

California State University is launching a new dual admission program in partnership with California Community Colleges in the hopes of helping more students easily transfer to its system.

The program, Transfer Success Pathway, will guarantee CSU admissions to high school graduates who first choose a community college and then commit to transferring to a state school.

The CSU system, which has 23 campuses across the state and nearly 500,000 students, announced the new program during its March Board of Trustees meeting.

The program is the university’s response to AB 132, a bill passed in 2021 that pushed both state university systems — CSU and the University of California — to begin offering dual admissions programs by 2023.

About 95% of CSU transfers already come from one of the state’s 116 community colleges. And about 40% of CSU undergraduates transfer from California community colleges.

But 20,000 fewer community college students applied for a transfer to the CSU system in 2020 than in 2019, a decline of about 14%. In 2020, CSU received more than 122,000 applications from community college students for transfer. Enrollment of transfer students was down this year, as well, with about 46,300 transfer students — the lowest number in seven years.

And officials say there is a gulf between students who plan to make the transfer and those who do eventually land at a CSU.

To help close the gap, the program intends to assist students who were either not CSU eligible when they graduated high school or chose not to attend a CSU for financial or personal reasons, according to university officials.

In another benefit, students in the new program will have access to counseling, libraries and other services offered at the universities they intend to transfer to or at the CSU campus nearest their residence. Students will also receive financial aid information from the CSU campus.

Transfers have a high graduation rate once they end up at a CSU, according to college data. About 40% of CSU transfer students graduate within two years, and about 80% of students graduate within four years.

“Our community college transfer students are an integral part of our Cal State community, and we are excited about the opportunity to work more closely with them earlier in their journey,” said April Grommo, CSU’s assistant vice chancellor of Strategic Enrollment Management.

“The Transfer Success Pathway is the CSU’s promise and commitment to those who don’t take a direct route to a four-year degree, particularly those who face academic, geographic or financial barriers. We want you to know that the CSU counts you in, not out.”

About 75,000 students attend classes at the four Los Rios district colleges: American River, Cosumnes River, Folsom Lake and Sacramento City. About 19% of the 2 million California community college students planning to transfer actually do so within four years, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Although all CSU campuses will participate in the dual admission program, some programs that have capacity issues that require limiting the number of seats available will be excluded from the agreements. For example, Cal State L.A., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or San Diego State could create additional requirements, such as a GPA minimum, for the agreement because all of their undergraduate programs see more qualified applicants than the number of available spaces to admit them.

Sacramento State ranked fifth for best undergraduate teaching by U.S. World and News Report, which identified it as a school that emphasized high-quality instruction.

Students at Sacramento State can choose from 60 undergraduate degrees and more than 40 master’s programs. In-state tuition and fees are about $7,800, and out-of-state tuition and fees are nearly $17,000. The campus serves nearly 29,000 undergraduate students. The university has an acceptance rate of 94%, according to U.S. News.

Transfer planner

The CSU system is also debuting a new transfer planner to launch this August on mobile and online. The planner will allow students to research campuses, programs, determine their eligibility and enter into a dual admission agreement.

By the end of this year, the new planner will also allow community college students to enter their classwork and track how their progress aligns with CSU’s general education and major-specific requirements.

The next challenge will be advocating for more financial aid dollars for these transfer students, trustee Julia Lopez said, adding that total Cal Grant eligibility is four years, much of which might be spent at community colleges.

“If we’re going to get them and they use their Cal Grant eligibility in those three years in the community college, then we’re going to get them with only one year of Cal Grant,” she said. “As we get real ambitious and as we break down barriers, in some ways, it’s that financial need that ends up ultimately being the last hurdle that we have to figure out.”

EdSource’s Ashley A. Smith contributed to this story.