A nascent transfer degree plan that streamlines the path from California customs colleges to California Land University is gaining basis, but nonetheless simply accounts for iii percent of community college degrees awarded last year, according to a new study from Sacramento State University researchers that was released by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Nearly 5,400 students at the state's 112 community colleges earned an associate degree of transfer in 2012-xiii, the second twelvemonth the degrees were offered. That number is up from 800 degrees the starting time twelvemonth. But information technology'due south barely a ripple in reaching the main goal of the transfer degree program, which is to encourage more students to transfer to a four-year college and earn a available'due south caste.

"The goal should be to increment the number of students who can do good from this pathway, and then see whether additional approaches tin be devised to meliorate serve those who may not be able to accept advantage of it," said Nancy Shulock, executive director of the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy at Sacramento State and co-author of the report.

The transfer degrees were established nether Assembly Bill 1440 in 2010, and given more teeth terminal year through Senate Pecker 440.  They required the customs college system and CSU to agree on general education requirements and courses in about two dozen majors. Students who earn those transfer degrees are guaranteed acceptance into Cal State as juniors with the assurance that they will simply need another 60 units to earn a bachelor'due south degree.

The number of associate degrees for transfer jumped from 800 in 2011-12 to nearly 5,400 in 2012-13, but that still averages to only about 55 for each of the 112 California community colleges. Source: California community college chancellor's office

The number of associate degrees for transfer jumped from 800 in 2011-12 to almost five,400 in 2012-13, just that still averages to just about 55 for each of the 112 California community colleges. Source: California community college chancellor's office

Prior to the legislation, the transfer process was confusing and oft varied by college. In a 2010 study, Divided We Fail, the Institute plant that six years afterwards enrolling, 70 percent of "degree-seeking" community higher students had not transferred to a four-year college or academy, or completed a community college certificate or caste.

Shulock and co-author Colleen Moore suggest several reasons why more students aren't enrolling in one of the transfer caste programs; amongst them is there hasn't been enough publicity. They conducted a survey of elected student authorities leaders on community higher campuses and the statewide student senate and found that more than a third didn't know almost the new degrees. The authors recommend the Legislature corroborate funding to publicize the degrees.

Another hurdle is that a number of CSU campuses accept been irksome to approve some of the customs college degrees that are similar to, merely not precisely matched with Cal State majors.  Four CSU campuses don't accept the transfer degrees in informatics and geology.  Other community college majors, such as general business organisation, are so broad that some Cal Land campuses won't guarantee that transfer students can complete a specialized bachelor'south degree in business administration with just another 60 credits.

"The new degrees were created with the laudable goal of establishing consistent transfer requirements throughout the land to increase transfer rates and better serve students," Moore said. "Progress on this goal has been steady and remains promising, but implementation faces multiple challenges."

Shulock and Moore call for better coordination between the community higher and CSU chancellors' offices and recommend expanding the transfer degrees to include the Academy of California and some private colleges.

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