With the Cerritos College fall semester just four days away the California State Assembly Committee on Appropriations unanimously voted to approved the Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act, Senate Bill 1440.
If the initiative passes and is signed into law it will give community college students a streamlined process of transfering to a California State University by fall 2011.
“If this bill passes we are going to be able to get more students through the system,” said Cerritos College Transfer Councelor Marvelina Barcelo. “It is still unclear how it will help, it might just reinforce our partnership with Dominguez Hills.
But if it opens the doors to Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State, it would really help,” Barcelo said.
As of now each of the 112 community colleges have their own independent requirements for graduating and each of the CSU campuses determine the prerequisites for accepting community college transfer students.
Bill 1440 will change both systems by establishing a system that guarantees acceptance to transfer students with a 2.0 G.P.A while giving them junior status and an associates degree.
” It is good for future students, but personally its too little too late for me, if this bill would have been in effect a year ago I wouldnt have to take a whole semester off, but it is a step in the right direction,’said Rick Gomez, a former Cerritos College student who has been forced to wait until spring to transfer.
Many students like Gomez have believed that the Cal State system is easier to enter, but Barcelo insists that, that is not always the case, “currently it is actually more difficult to get into Cal States than U.Cs.
The bill, authored by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), is strongly supported by the California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott and California State University Chancellor Charles Reed.
“Students attending our colleges often express concerns about the complex and confusing transfer process,” said Chancellor Scott. “This transfer initiative will put an end to the confusion and serve as a student passport to the California State University system.”
During the hearing the California Department of Finance estimated the transfer changes will generate approximately $75 million in cost savings annually for the California Community Colleges and $85 million for the CSU system.
The bill has not seen opposition in the Legislature. It was approved by the California State Senate in a 35-0 vote June 1, and by the Assembly Higher Education Committee in a 9-0 vote on June 22.
Students like Paola Guerrero, who is currently enrolled in the pharmacist program at Cerritos is happy to see such a bill near passing, “I think it is awesome, now I won’t have to break my head with applications or wait to see if a four-year accepts me.”
The bill will now head to the Assembly and Senate where it will be heard before August 31 and is expected to go to the governor’s desk to sign into law in September.
