Kevin McCarty. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)
Bill Aimed At Easing Community College to UC Transfers Meets More Academic Opposition
The current pathway for students looking to transfer to UC campuses from community colleges is too complicated
By Evan Symon, July 21, 2023 11:20 am
Opposition continued to grow against a bill this week that would make it easier to transfer from community colleges to one of the 23 campuses of the University of California (UC), with the UC continuing to lead the charge against it.
Assembly Bill 1749, authored by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), would specifically require that a student who earns an associate degree for transfer be deemed eligible for transfer into a University of California baccalaureate degree program if they meet certain requirements. In addition, the bill would require the University of California to guarantee admission with junior status to a community college student and would provide that a student admitted to the University of California pursuant to this act is entitled to receive priority over all other community college transfer students.
The “associate degree for transferring” (ADT) reorganization would come into effect during the 2025-2026 academic year, covering all students currently enrolled in community colleges. Academic requirements would also be required as part of the bill, with students needing art least a 3.0 to guarantee a spot in the UC system, with preference going to a closeby campus.
McCarty and proponents of the bill said that the current pathway for students looking to transfer to UC campuses from community colleges is too complicated, and that a single, uncomplicated path is needed.
“It’s too darn complicated to transfer from a community college to a UC or CSU. You shouldn’t have to have an advanced degree to figure out how to transfer,” said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty at a recent committee hearing. “We’ve been tinkering around the edges on this issue for decades. We’ve never come up with a simplified way where there’s one path, one process where you can transfer to UC or CSU from the community colleges. And that’s what we’re after.”
However, much of academia remains opposed to AB 1749, including the UC system itself. In their initial opposition letter earlier this year, the UC academic council noted that the new system would increase the time for degree completion due to the influx of students and differences between classes and major requirements, would lead to excess course credits, would go against inclusivity goals due to many students with higher GPAs coming from higher-income areas, and would severely reduce the number of new admissions to the Universities. Foremost, UC officials have said that an easy to transfer system is already in place, and that the new system under AB 1749 would only bring new problems.
“ADTs reduce capacity for new admissions to UC because an ADT guarantee program will admit some students without sufficient UC preparation who will therefore take longer to graduate after transfer as they make up their missing courses,” said UC Academic Chairwoman Susan Cochran last month. “Requiring ADTs and selecting ADT earners preferentially will disadvantage CCC students who are better prepared because they followed UC Transfer Pathways. We would also note that students who complete an ADT are already eligible for transfer admission to UC, and those with sufficiently high GPAs and meet other UC admission criteria are admitted.”
Continued opposition despite passing through Assembly
While the bill itself has continued to pass through the state Assembly and Senate, including a 80-0 unanimous vote in favor of AB 1749 by the Assembly in May, signs are pointing to Senators possibly starting to vote against the bill due to the increasing opposition of academia, with the pointing out of how different degree and class requirements are starting to get the attention of lawmakers.
“ADT programs don’t always require courses in certain majors that UC expects students to complete by the time they enter their junior year,” noted UC executive director for undergraduate admissions Han Mi Yoon-Wu on Thursday. “For example, UC biology majors are expected as juniors to have taken two courses in organic chemistry, something that isn’t required by the ADT. Our primary concern is that the associate degree for transfers, which were developed specifically for the CSU system, do not offer adequate preparation for many of UC’s majors, even if the major name is the same. The degrees are different.”
Others in academia agreed.
“Going to community college first, getting pre-requisite courses done at a fraction of the price, then going on to a University is done everywhere,” added Gabriel, a student advisor at a college in San Diego County, to the Globe on Friday. “But no lawmaker seems to think that this bill is pretty bad, even though it is. The system is set up right now for a reason and that is to ensure that students can ease in to their majors or their area of study and don’t wind up with double classes, redundant classes, and are just prepared to ease in to the new University. This just puts them in there without little thought, especially when majors are concerned.
“There’s a reason no other state really has a system like that. This is a trainwreck waiting to happen.”
AB 1749 is currently being heard in Senate committees.
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December 4, 2018 -
Bad idea!
Follow these facts;
Up to about decade ago, CCC’s required placement exams for college readiness english and math. Every year the numbers of entering CCC students that needed remedial english and math increased. Taking remedial english and math classes badly delayed their college career by years to reach those college course level readiness. And every year, the need for remedial english and math course work grew.
This created a huge black mark for California teacher union K-12 , who at the same time were bragging about their increasing high school graduation rates and their students improved grade point averages. However, the CCC college readiness testing proved independently K-12 was badly failing California students. Plus things were actually getting worse, not better in the skill levels K-12 was sending on to CCC’s.
This of course could not stand in this K-12 teacher union dominated state. So the teacher union cabal in the state legislature and education offices forced CCC’s to drop all readiness testing, remedial classes and courses pre-requisites.
Unprepared students now were expected to move immediately into college level course work, prepared or not. Ot the CCC’s would be accused of being racist and discriminatory. How dare they question the merits of the K-12 course work and high school diploma graduation rates?
Thus in the past decade, the CCC degree was no longer any mark of skills acquired, intellectual achievement, , merit, or value. CCC’s were no the place to make up credits that would earn a transfer to UC or CSU.
CCC’s, now like K-12 which preceded them ,simply became a free pass, a fake piece of paper and one more social graduation, devaluing the experience for everyone: the student, the instructors, the CCC reputation, and the target transfer institution. Let alone a total betrayal of state tax payers and the voter approved Prop 98 guarantee that K-14 automatically gets 50% of all state general funds, every single year, no strings attached. (K14 = K-12 + CCC)
Now demanding automatic enrollment for this badly cheapened CCC degree is just one more insult to the once prestigious California Master Plan for Higher Education. CCC’s were student’s second chance to earn the skills necessary to advance on in their education.
CCC’s were the jewels in the crown of the American Dream reaching down to anyone who applied themselves and wanted to move on to higher education. This automatic UC qualificatio, leap frogging a badly watered-down CCC degree is a total insult and a tax payer rip-off.
Anyone who earned a prior California higher education degree, and paid for it themselves, or worked their way through college because that degree was a valuable piece of earned education worth the personal sacrifice needs to protest this demand to dumb down California higher education, loudly and often. Draw the line. This is just one more blank check written to the teachers union cabal in this state.
Time to revisit Prop 98 – no group like the teachers unions should be automatically getting this annual stream of unearned money, with NO strings attached – 50% of the state general revenues and turning out a #45 ranked K-12 system and hiding the problem by drastically dropping all college readiness standards.