On Wednesday, the Senate Education Committee will consider a bill (SB 1440, Padilla) to guarantee community college students a place at the California State University if they complete their CSU general education requirements and a defined set of courses in their major area, to be determined by the community colleges. It's a simple idea that could have a phenomenal impact, saving the state up to $300 million and helping transfer students complete their education and enter the workforce one year earlier on average.

When California established its Master Plan for Higher Education fifty years ago, the vision was a seamless system of public colleges and universities, where three of every five college graduates started at a community college. But it never worked out that way. Instead the vast majority of students starting at community colleges don't make it to the finish line and earn a bachelor's degree. Many of them stumble at the point of transition between community college and university, tripped up by problems transferring units. It's a vexing process that's confusing, bureaucratic, and unfair.

Instead of systemwide agreements about what lower division courses transfer students should take, there are hundreds of institution-to-institution, subject-by-subject "articulation contracts." For students, it's nearly impossible to take the right classes to transfer unless they have just one CSU campus and department in mind. The problem is even more unfair to students now that overcrowding and budget cuts are forcing nearly all CSU campuses to turn transfers away. Students may do everything right to prepare for one university, then wind up at another with different requirements. For instance, a student could earn an associate degree in biology at a community college, yet still have to take a full-year's worth of additional freshman and sophomore biology prerequisites at the university.

It's a problem that generates enormous waste. On average:

• Transfer students take more than a full year of classes beyond the 120 semester units required for a bachelor's degree.
• Half of the extra units are being taken before transfer, as students attempt to meet the specific course requirements for one, two, or even a dozen CSU campuses, all of which may be different. Those extra units cost the public an estimated $150 million per year.
• The other half of the extra units are taken after students arrive at a CSU campus and find they need additional courses for their major that are specific just to that campus.  These extra units cost the state university $160 million and costs each student nearly $20,000 to spend an extra two semesters at the university. [source: California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office]

In the past, the "solution" to this complex and confusing articulation maze has been to give students more advice and counseling. But this latest Senate bill--proposed jointly by the chancellors of the California Community Colleges and the California State University--is a better, more efficient, and more student-centered answer because it actually reduces the complexity and confusion. The proposal simply says that a student who earns an associate degree in physics at a community college, completing the college's prescribed courses in both physics and general education, is guaranteed admission to CSU and given priority admission to the physics major, without having to take any additional freshman and sophomore classes. That's how most students think the system works when they first sign up for college, and that's how it should work.

It's a change that could streamline the transfer process, save money, and serve students better-one bright spot in a year that's been very dark for higher education.

--------
Christopher Cabaldon directs the Blueprint for Community College Student Success Project at the New America Foundation. Camille Esch directs the California Education Program at the New America Foundation. Both are available for further comment.

To speak with Mr. Cabaldon or Ms. Esch, please contact Elizabeth Wu at wu@newamerica.net or (510) 295-9859.