Collaboration aims to offer guide to most popular UC majors
On March 21, the University of California (UC) and the California Community Colleges (CCC) announced that both systems are collaborating to expand outreach and support for students aiming to transfer to a UC.
The collaboration stems from the renewed Transfer Pathways Program, a program that provides community college students with a guide to the most popular major courses at any UC campus. It outlines the set of courses students should take to be competitive in one of the 21 most popular majors at every campus.
“This center represents a collaboration focused on strengthening one of the most important routes to postsecondary schooling in our society,” said Michal Kurlaender, a UC Davis professor of education, chancellor’s fellow and chair of the Graduate Group of Education. “Our hope is to provide unique opportunities for professional development and training among community college leaders and to leverage the expertise of faculty at the School of Education from across the UC Davis campus and beyond to build a research base on some of the most critical issues facing community colleges today.”
Hyun Kang, a third-year economics and statistics double major, transferred to UC Davis from De Anza community college through the Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) program. She is grateful for programs in which California community college students receive help in getting into one of the UCs.
“I thought they were great,” Kang said. “We find out [about] our admission results [faster] and we know what classes we need.”
The program will focus on students who might not have access to a UC education, such as those from low-income backgrounds, foster homes and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups as well as veterans and active-duty members of the military.
With $2.6 million in funds granted to the collaboration by the CCC Board of Governors, the program plans to execute new ideas that will help make the transfer program run more smoothly. Weeklong summer bridge programs will be offered for 1,500 students at three UC campuses, outreach representatives will be deployed to disadvantaged regions of the state to serve students pursuing UC transfers and support will be provided to CCC counselors through training and workshops.
Kiera Silva, a third-year biology major and transfer student, thinks this type of program can really help students.
“I transferred from Santa Monica Community College, and I, like many others there, worked hard to get into a UC,” Silva said. “A program like this sounds like an excellent source for better chances of getting in and succeeding with your transition to a four-year university.”
The UC is aiming to enroll more transfer students as part of its effort to increase California resident enrollment. It has committed to adding 10,000 more California undergraduates over the next three years, about a third of whom will be transfer students.
Written by: Demi Caceres – campus@theaggie.org
