The chancellors of the California State University and the California Community Colleges have signed a memorandum of understanding between the two systems that will make it easier for students to transfer from the CCC to the CSU. The agreement outlines collaborative and comprehensive efforts to increase by five percent annually the number of students who are eligible to transfer from community colleges.

"Providing opportunities for more California students to earn bachelor's degrees is one of California State University's highest priorities. It is a great benefit for students that the California State University and the California Community Colleges are working closer than ever to make access to quality education easier," said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. "Increasing the number of transfer students by five percent is an ambitious goal that will help a great many students and eventually strengthen the state's economy."

"The memorandum of understanding commits our two systems to successfully prepare and serve thousands and thousands more transfer students," said CCC Chancellor Thomas J. Nussbaum. "We do so not only by expanding traditional efforts, but also by pursuing creative approaches such as dual admission and joint facility use."

Annually, the CSU enrolls about 50,000 new transfer students from California community colleges or more than three-fourths of all the transfer students in the state. Under the California Education Code, CSU's top admission priority is transfer students from the state's community colleges. In fact, two-thirds of all incoming CSU students are transfer students.

The agreement includes the following:

• The CSU and CCC will work together to ensure that students will not lose credits or repeat coursework by offering courses that are comparable in content, rigor and outcomes, and therefore more easily transferable.
• Faculty at CSU campuses will work together with CCC faculty on common core courses for individual major programs. Emphasis will be placed on those programs in which there are a large number of transfer students such as business, or in academic majors in which there is a shortage of prepared individuals such as teaching and nursing.
• There will be efforts to develop a two-year degree which will be accepted by all CSU campuses as the completion of all lower division general education requirements and specified lower division major course requirements.
• More CCC initial undergraduate education courses to better prepare students for enrollment in formal teacher preparation classes at the CSU.
• Continuation of a statewide repository of articulation and transfer information so students can better plan and meet their transfer goals.
• CSU campuses will establish by the fall of 2001 transfer agreements that would ensure admission for all community college students, if the students complete with at least a "C" average specified lower division general education and major requirements.
• Establishment of a dual admission status so CCC students committed to attending a CSU campus will be entitled throughout their community college enrollment to additional CSU services like the library, free admission to athletic events and opportunities to cross enroll in CSU courses.
• More effective promotion of the campus transfer information centers, and improvement of outreach activities to encourage more students to transfer.
• More remedial education courses for CSU students offered by CCC campuses.
• Expansion of the joint use of facilities between the CSU and CCC campuses to use limited space more efficiently.
• Annual reports on the success of the initiatives.

The CSU is the largest four-year public higher education system in the nation. It includes 23 campuses, 360,000 students and 40,000 faculty and staff.

The California Community Colleges is comprised of 107 two-year learning institutions. These campuses, which are organized into 72 districts, together serve more than 1.5 million students and comprise the largest system of higher education in the world. Preparing students for transfer is one of the primary missions of the system.

Contact: Ken Swisher at the CSU at, kswisher@calstate.edu, (562) 951-4806
Or Kyle Orr at the CCC at korr@cccco.edu, (916) 327-5025