With Community college enrollment numbers reaching “pre-COVID” status, transferring may become more competitive, but are students following through and transferring to 4-year institutions?
Cal Matters, a nonprofit & nonpartisan news source, reports that although the overall community college transfer rate in California is still growing, the number remains low.
Cal Matters writers Adam Echelman and Erica Yee report the trends in certain populations that are and are not transferring, one of those being the student’s age and another being the college’s location.
“Students at rural community colleges are less likely to transfer to a four-year university than students who attend school in affluent parts of Ventura County, Orange County, the San Fernando Valley, and Bay Area suburbs like San Bruno, Pleasant Hill, and Redwood City,” Echleman and Yee said.
“Younger community college students were most likely to transfer, and the rates drop off the older a student gets,” Yee and Echelman said.
The 2021 – 2022 Riverside City College (RCC) Annual Transfer Report rates illustrate that only 2,185 students transfer to universities. Of these students, there are trends in what universities they choose to transfer to.
“The top transfer institutions are similar to previous years with California State University San Bernardino, University of California Riverside, California State University Fullerton, California Baptist University, and Cal Poly Pomona ranking as the top five,” the report states.
These five universities are in or surround the city of Riverside, a reasonable option for students to transfer to. It seems more students are opting to attend California State Universities (CSUs) over Universities of California (UCs)
The report said, “Over the past three years, there has been an increase in the number of students who transfer to CSU institutions (75.8%), while transfers to UC institutions have seen a decrease, especially in the most recent year (-26.5%). ”
RCC offers an associate degree for Transfer (ADT,) which was shown to assist students in transferring out of community college.
“The has been an increase in ADTs earned at RCC, which has probably helped led to the recent increase in transfers to CSU institutions.” states the transfer report.
A 19-year-old, second-year psychology major, Evelyn Castelan, reports on her experience working towards an ADT and preparing to transfer to a 4-year institution, claiming it can be difficult to transfer, especially when interested in multiple universities.
“Overall, it is tedious since I get multiple perspectives, rearrange my schedule, and choose which classes are the best for me at the time and my transferring process.” Reports Castelan.
With access to student support resources on campus, Evelyn has had a smooth transfer process.
“Thankfully, I had a lot of support during these last two years.” Evelyn expresses.
Castelan reports that student resources such as the LHSS Engagement Center, La Casa, EOPS, TRIO, and the Promise Program were all factors in her success at RCC, helping her successfully transfer in 2 years.
Transfer rates are not decreasing, nor are they increasing. With resources offered by RCC such as the ADT and student support centers on campus, the transferring process can be made smoother for every student. Factors such as the location of the school and the age of the student can be combated and raise transfer rates in California.
