LEAF Lens: Why is transferring from a California Community College is difficult for Latinx?

With the recent commitment from California’s legislative and higher education leaders to increase enrollment of California Community College (CCC) students to California Universities, it feels like as good of a moment as ever to recap on the maze that is the CCC Transfer system. 

The system is riddled with confusing processes, an overwhelming amount of choices, educational paths that differ between universities, and a significant lack of student support. All coming together to ensure that only 19 percent of CCC students with a stated intent to transfer do so in 4 years.

These stats become even more troubling when we dig deeper into the differences between demographic and income groups. For Latino students, a mere 10 percent are maneuvering their way through the transfer maze and transferring from a community college to a four-year university within four years. 

Considering that almost half of all Latino college students are enrolled at a 2-year institution, it begs the question- Why are so few Latinx students able to transfer? 

Enrollment: Many Latinx students are constantly struggling to pay for their education, housing, food, and everything in between, often resulting in a need to work during college. This need often forces them to enroll in college on a part-time basis. And although Latinx students enroll part-time at similar rates as their peers, their completion rates still lag significantly - meaning they often take longer to make it out of the CCC system. Not to mention, Latinx students are more likely to be placed into remedial coursework, which means they are spending time taking coursework that often does not count towards their transfer unit requirement.  

Unclear and Confusing Pathways: Despite promising data post-implementation of the Associate Degree for Transfer framework (ADT), the CCC transfer system contains confusing and unclear pathways. Students are forced to make rigid decisions about where they want to go to school and what they want to study very early on - or they run the risk of not completing the right requirements for their program of interest. A lack of agreements amongst University systems makes the process unclear, which is evident in the unequal transfer rates amongst Latinx students to CSU vs. UC campuses. 

Student-Level Support: Difficulties associated with the CCC transfer process only exacerbate the need for quality student-level support; however, capacity issues at the high school and community college levels can make getting quality and timely advice and guidance next to impossible. 

There are some bright spots in this issue, as many bay area colleges and student support organizations have focused efforts on this troubling data. Most community colleges have dedicated transfer centers on campus and specific transfer pathway agreements with the top public universities in the state. Several Edtech organizations have begun to release platforms to further assist students in tracking their progress towards transferring. As higher education costs continue to rise and degree attainment remains essential in the bay area job market, we hope that this issue continues to be a focus for all stakeholders involved.