Transfer Program Updates

Focus on Transfer Programs and Services in the California State University

Click here for Print Friendly Version

The California State University system is charged with reaching transfer students in all of the California Community Colleges and with encouraging and facilitating their movement into the CSU system. Each year about 53,000 students transfer from the California Community College system to the CSU system of 23 universities across the state of California.

Reaching transfer students and ensuring their successful movement to the CSU is one of its primary functions. Many programs and resources exist and can be used as tools in the transfer process. Over the past five years, more than 230,000 students have transferred from a California Community College to a California State University, and we hope to continue to grow this number and to enhance the ease, accuracy, and expediency of the transfer process.

In an effort to continue to augment transfer success, the California State University undertakes a variety of efforts to educate students, counselors, and staff about the processes and issues involved in transferring from a California Community College to a CSU. Examples of CSU's efforts are listed below in alphabetical order:

Articulation Agreements and Curricular Information:

• California Articulation Number (CAN) System - located in Sacramento on the CSU Sacramento campus, CAN is specifically designed to allow common core lower-division transferable, major preparation courses to be listed for use across CSU campuses. A CAN course is viewed, within the CSU system, as transferable to any CSU and can meet local CCC articulation agreements. This allows students to move more easily between community colleges and the CSUs and between the CSUs.

• Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) & General Education (GE) - These course patterns allow community college students to plan their general education requirements for the efficient completion of a bachelors degree. The IGETC can be used at either the University of California or the California State University. GE patterns are unique to the CSU only. Transfer students following either of these patterns can complete any or all of their CSU general education requirements while attending the community college. Completion of the IGETC or GE patterns can allow the transfer student to move more directly into upper division and major specific courses when transferring to the CSU.

• Intersegmental Major Preparation Articulation Curriculum (IMPAC) - The goal of IMPAC is intended to aid CSU, UC, and CCC faculty in reaching a common understanding of lower division, major preparation and the course descriptions for each of the lower division, major preparation content areas that serve as prerequisites to upper-division work at California State University and University of California campuses. This community college led project involves CSU and UC faculty in the development of common curricula. The transfer student is aided via a more common curriculum across the community colleges and the CSUs.

• Lower Division Common Core - This continuing project is guided by State legislation, which requires that 20 high demand majors have systemwide articulation agreements. Transferring courses from community colleges and between CSUs is facilitated for transfer students. These articulation agreements are and will be held between the CSUs and the California Community Colleges in their respective geographic service regions. Currently, 9 major projects are underway, and 4 more new major projects are being pursued.

• OSCAR (Online Services for Curriculum and Articulation Review) - Presently in beta testing with CCC volunteers, OSCAR will afford online submission and review of community college course outlines for IGETC and GE inclusion. OSCAR is intended to enhance the scope, quality, and efficiency of the transfer curriculum between the CCCs and the CSU.

Educational and Training Efforts:

• Articulation conferences - Presentations of CSU transfer programs and initiatives at intersegmental conferences addressing articulation including CIAC, CAN and ASSIST are frequent. Counselor and articulation officers gain valuable transfer information in these settings.

• Consultation - CSU provides continuing consultation to the CSUs and the CCCs on transfer-related issues. Participation in systemwide committees, phone and e-mail, consultation, report preparation, and professional conference/association involvement are some of the methods used to work toward more efficient and effective transfer processes.

• Fall Counselor Conferences - The CSU Chancellor's Office works in concert with CSU campus hosts to plan and implement a series of counselor conferences each fall. The counselor conferences train participants about many aspects of the CSU including: teacher preparation, career trends, technology, financial aid, admission practices, and campus specific information. Held annually throughout the state, these conferences are attended by thousands of high school and community college counselors and articulation officers. Special conference sessions are planned to address transfer specific issues.

Enrollment Options:

• Concurrent Enrollment - This option allows an admitted community college student to concurrently take courses at a CSU with which that community college has an agreement.

• Disenrolled Students - Programmatic details have been developed with the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office to address student needs when they are given an educational leave from the CSU and need to address remediation at the CCCs. Students are aided in their completion of remedial courses at the California Community College in order for them to more readily return to the CSU.

• Dual Admission - Regional dual admission efforts are in place between several CSUs and neighboring California Community Colleges. This process allows students to enroll at a CSU and a community college at the same time. Dual Admission may be used for the purposes of transitioning fully into a CSU. General education courses and remediation courses as well as a variety of other courses can be taken at the community college while the student is also enrolled at the CSU.

On-line/Web Based Transfer Resources:

• Analytic Studies - The Office of the Chancellor continually studies the number and progress of transfer students coming into the CSU. Reports on upper and lower division transfer students are available through the CSU Office of the Chancellor's website (www.calstate.edu) and are used to enhance our services to these students.

• ASSIST - Articulation System Stimulating Interinstitutional Student Transfer (www.assist.org) is California's official statewide repository of transfer information, offering easy access to a single database. ASSIST can help students determine if they will receive credit for courses they have already taken and how those courses will apply to specific academic goals.

• Californiacolleges.edu - This is a very powerful, online tool that allows students to explore colleges, admissions, financial aid, and career information. Transfer students can employ the Transfer Planner; it is designed for California Community College students to track and plan work to meet CSU and/or University of California general education (GE/IGETC) requirements (www.californiacolleges.edu).

• Calstate.edu - This is the official web site for the Office of the Chancellor (www.calstate.edu) and provides links to each of the 23 CSUs within the state system. Systemwide information on many areas such as admissions, impaction, enrollment, community service learning, degrees offered, extended university, fellowships, financial aid, international programs, fees, and summer arts programs is also available on this site.

• CAN - California Articulation Number System (www.cansystem.org) - this course identification system is used for common core lower-division transferable, major preparation courses commonly taught on CCC and CSU campuses. It allows for CAN participating institutions to compare their local courses with the same CAN designators to meet local requirements. Additionally, CSUs can use the CAN courses for students transferring within the CSU system.

• CSUMentor - this web site (www.csumentor.edu) is designed to lead students through the application process for the CSU system and to provide a wide array of information on the CSU system. The application process for all CSUs is standardized and key information is provided such as campus majors, web links to CSU campuses, and related resources, which are of use to transfer students applying to any CSU. Additionally, students can ask questions of an expert online.

Outreach and Admission Efforts:

• CSU Campus Outreach Visitations and Information - Each CSU campus has admission and outreach efforts designed to reach both community college counselors and transfer students. These visitations and the printed information provided, are intended to provide critical information on the movement of students from the California Community Colleges and to the CSU system.

• Intersegmental Efforts - Numerous planning and programmatic efforts are made in concert with the California Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) to engender successful transfer. The CCCCO and CSU work closely on a wide variety of legislated and Master Plan goals to address transfer student needs and enhance the flow of transfer students from the CCCs to the CSU.

Transfer Information and Publications:

The CSU realizes that students must be reached personally to ensure their successful transfer from the community college system. To that end, a number of resources are available to students to learn about the transfer process and the steps they must take to make their own transition a smooth one. These efforts include in the following:

California Community College Transfer Guidelines - This poster document is distributed to thousands of community colleges and CSU counselors. It is posted on campuses and distributed at each community college and CSU. This document provides basic information on general education patterns, campus exploration, and educational planning pertinent to all students seeking to transfer to the CSU system. This document can be reviewed at www.calstate.edu.

• CSU Review - This document is published fall, winter, and spring of each year by the Office of the Chancellor and is distributed electronically to all subscribers. This document is designed as a key source of information related to entrance into the CSU and is a document which will continue to feature the most current news from the CSU system as well as resources for counselors. You can find all CSU Reviews at www.calstate.edu.

• Office of the Chancellor Publications - The CSU Office of the Chancellor publishes a wide variety of publicly distributed documents on the CSU system and its resources. These documents are widely distributed to high school and community college counselors and students in an effort to provide easy points of reference for counselor and transfer students with regard to CSU information. You can find the CSU Review and other publications at www.calstate.edu.