Wednesday, October 28, 1998
Regents expand outreach plan to increase number of
admissions
PROGRAMS: Community colleges, UCs unite to facilitate transfer
process
By Edina Lekovic
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
By pouring $15 million into community colleges, the UC Regents
will further expand academic outreach programs to California’s 110
two-year institutions.
The board’s outreach task force projects a 33 percent increase
in the number of community college students who will enroll at the
University of California by 2005. The total number of transfers
currently hovers around 10,000 students.
"I am cautiously optimistic that outreach is reaching the core
of the mission of the UC," said Karl Pister, who is heading the
system-wide effort to increase the number of "educationally
disadvantaged" students in the UC.
Pointing to their success, community college officials said that
90 percent of students who transfer from community colleges to UCs
were not UC eligible when they graduated from high school.
Of the over 100 community college campuses in California, only
22 to 30 consistently send students to the UC (roughly 180 to 500
students), while the other 76 send about three students
annually.
In addition, transfers to the UC comprised one-third of all
underrepresented groups from local community colleges.
In response to these numbers, the majority of the $15 million
will be used to expand programs designed to increase the transfer
rate and initiating partnership programs like those being created
on the high school level.
These partnerships will facilitate the early identification of
potential UC transfers and the engagement of those students in
academic support and mentoring programs, such as summer "bridge"
programs, the MESA Community College program and the Puente
Project.
MESA, the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement Program,
is designed to increase the number of disadvantaged students who
attend college and pursue majors and careers in math, engineering,
computer science and other mathematics-based fields. All of last
year’s MESA participants became UC- eligible.
The Puente Project operates in 39 community colleges and aims to
increase the transfer rate of these students to four-year colleges
and universities. Ultimately, the goal is for these students to
return to their communities as mentors and leaders.
"No doubt, student-run programs have success dealing with
holistic needs of students," said student regent Max Espinoza.
"University students are closer to the communities from which they
come," he said.
Partnerships also include the articulation and dissemination of
transfer requirements and expectations, faculty exchange programs,
graduate teaching fellowships, and dual admission programs which
guarantee admission to selected students.
Espinoza, however, emphasized the disparity between community
colleges, even in the Los Angeles area.
Rather than attending a community college in Southeast Los
Angeles where articulation agreements are rare, Espinoza said
students intending to transfer to a UC are more likely to attend a
community college where clearer support programs exist, such as
Santa Monica College.
"All of the campuses not doing well are in low-income and
minority areas," Espinoza said. "Those schools need to be targeted
in outreach programs."
Regent Tom Sayles recognized that the challenges for community
college students are often larger than just academic problems.
"We’re going to need a much more integrated approach," Sayles
said. "The kids need a lot more. For many of these kids, their
problems go beyond academic problems."
UC Berkeley doctoral student Amy Cammer, who transferred to
Berkeley as an undergraduate, testified to these dilemmas.
"When I graduated from high school in 1986, I was unable to go
to college because of money," Cammer said.
"Although the two years I had spent at City College of San
Francisco, I was unsure how I would do at Cal. This self-doubt was
the hardest aspect," she said.
However, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl attributed these
shortcomings to the university’s limitations.
"There are certain limitations to what we can and cannot do,"
Berdahl said. "We are focusing heavily on the academic side because
that deals with eligibility."
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