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<DIV>In a message dated 3/28/2011 11:08:17 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
papasconchesse@hotmail.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2 face=Tahoma><A
title=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/18/ucsds-new-transfer-standard-roils-community/
href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/18/ucsds-new-transfer-standard-roils-community/">http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/18/ucsds-new-transfer-standard-roils-community/</A><BR> <BR> <BR>
<DIV id=storycontent>
<H1 class=headline>UCSD policy limits community college students</H1>
<H2 class=subhead>Raising GPA requirement to 3.5 will exclude many students
from program</H2>
<P class=byline os_excluded="true">By <A
title=http://www.signonsandiego.com/staff/pat-flynn/
href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/staff/pat-flynn/">Pat Flynn</A>
<P class=date os_excluded="true">Originally published March 18, 2011 at 6:30
p.m., updated March 18, 2011 at 7:16 p.m.</P>
<DIV class="inline text_inline inline-left ">
<DIV class=text_inline_inner>
<H4 class=title>Transfer agreement applications to UCSD</H4>Local community
colleges for fall 2011<BR>Cuyamaca: 61<BR>Grossmont: 204<BR>Imperial:
19<BR>MiraCosta: 257<BR>Palomar: 237<BR>City: 105<BR>Mesa: 363<BR>Miramar:
128<BR>Southwestern: 152<BR></DIV></DIV>
<DIV class="inline text_inline inline-left ">
<DIV class=text_inline_inner>
<H4 class=title>Explosion in applications at UCSD</H4>2008: 408<BR>2009:
1,946<BR>2010: 3,427<BR>2011: 8,715<BR></DIV></DIV>
<DIV class="inline text_inline inline-left ">
<DIV class=text_inline_inner>
<H4 class=title>Guarantee transfer requirements</H4>UC San Diego: 3.5
GPA<BR>UC Santa Barbara: 3.2<BR>*Other UC campuses: 3.0<BR>*UCLA and Berkeley
do not have TAG programs<BR></DIV></DIV> <BR>With transfer applications
soaring and budget cuts looming, the <A class=onespot_autolink
title=http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/University_of_California,_San_Diego
href="http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/University_of_California,_San_Diego">University
of California San Diego</A> is raising the threshold on a guaranteed admission
program for the state’s community <A class=onespot_autolink
title=http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/Student
href="http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/Student">college
students</A>.<BR>For years, community college students who took specific
courses and obtained a 3.0 <A class=onespot_autolink
title=http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/Grade_(education)
href="http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/Grade_(education)">grade-point
average</A> could count on admission under the program called Transfer
Admissions Guarantee, or TAG.<BR>But faced with growing demand and limited
capacity, UCSD officials in recent weeks have notified community college
officials statewide that for guaranteed admission in 2012 and beyond TAG
students will have to earn GPAs of 3.5 or better.<BR>Mae Brown, assistant vice
chancellor and director of admissions at UCSD, said that TAG applications have
grown from 443 five years ago to 8,715 for fall admission this year.<BR>“We
saw the exponential growth in TAG applications — this is a guarantee — and the
obvious issue is we don’t have the capacity,” Brown said. “Given the severe
budget situation, and the university (statewide) taking a $500 million or more
budget reduction, if we are going to guarantee, we should be guaranteeing
admissions to the best prepared.”<BR>UCSD’s program started in the early 1980s
and involved only two-year schools in <A class=onespot_autolink
title=http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/San_Diego
href="http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/San_Diego">San Diego</A> and
Imperial counties. Later, UCSD entered agreements with 33 colleges around the
state. And since 2009 it has offered the program to all 112 <A
class=onespot_autolink
title=http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/California_Community_Colleges_System
href="http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/California_Community_Colleges_System">California
community colleges</A>.<BR>Brown said applications spiked dramatically for
2011 largely due to a new computer-based process that makes it easier for TAG
students to apply to multiple campuses. Still, she said, the trend was already
overtaxing the campus’ capacity.<BR>The university’s decision has prompted a
sharp response from officials of Southwestern College, which serves a
predominantly minority population in the South Bay.<BR>“We are very
concerned,” said Angelica Suarez, vice president for student affairs at the
one-college district. “It’s about access for our students. This is going to
narrow and reduce the number of students who can go to UCSD.”<BR>Suarez and
Jaime Salazar, Southwestern’s transfer center coordinator, said UCSD’s
decision directly contradicts university policies calling for the removal of
barriers for students from traditionally underrepresented groups.<BR>“They’re
always giving us lip service,” said Salazar. “They say they’re committed to
diversity, but it’s all lip service. It’s all about being the Ivy League of
the West, serving the elite.”<BR>Brown, who has met recently on the issue with
representatives of all six community college districts in San Diego and
Imperial counties, dismissed the notion that the change runs counter to the
university’s diversity goals. She said that when the TAG program was
implemented in the early 1980s — available then only to local two-year
colleges — it was meant to boost then-low transfers from community
colleges.<BR>“It had nothing to do with underrepresented minorities,” she
said.<BR>Brown noted that UCSD will continue to admit community college
transfers through TAG and the non-guaranteed transfer process.<BR>“Because
community colleges are so racially diverse, you automatically pick up more
diversity whenever you admit those transfers,” she said.<BR>Of the nine
University of California undergraduate campuses, seven have TAG programs.
Berkeley and UCLA do not offer guaranteed transfer admissions to community
college students.<BR>Nick Serrano, a Southwestern College student government
officer, disagrees with Brown’s contention that the decision is neutral in its
effect on minorities.<BR>“The change from a 3.0 to a 3.5 is huge,” said
Serrano. “To a lot of our students this is discriminating because minority
students do tend to have lower GPAs.”<BR>He added that many UC-eligible
Southwestern students can’t really consider other campuses in the system
because they can’t afford the cost of living away from home.<BR>“It’s an
access issue,” Serrano said. “It will limit a lot of our students, who can
only go local, from going to UCSD.”<BR>UCSD accepted 25 TAG students from
Southwestern in 2008, 46 in 2009 and 66 in 2010. It has received 152 TAG
applications for fall of this year.<BR>Brown said that based on 2010 data, she
estimates the 3.5 threshold would have reduced the applicant pool by about 50
percent.<BR>Administrators at other local community colleges are not as
distressed by UCSD’s decision as their counterparts at Southwestern.<BR>“I
agree that it’s a big jump (from 3.0 to 3.5,)” said Lynn Neault, vice
chancellor of student services for the <A class=onespot_autolink
title=http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/San_Diego_Community_College_District
href="http://topics.signonsandiego.com/topics/San_Diego_Community_College_District">San
Diego Community College District</A>. “As the demand for higher education
increases, they’ve got to manage budgets and manage enrollment just like we
do.<BR>“What we need to do is make clear to our students from the start that
they need to get as high a GPA as they can.”<BR>Neault estimated that the
higher GPA would disqualify about 45 percent of her district’s TAG
applicants.<BR>Southwestern College officials and others have asked UCSD to
modify its decision. They have suggested that students already in the program
be grandfathered in at 3.0 for 2012 admission.<BR>Other suggestions include
keeping the threshold at 3.0 for San Diego and Imperial county students while
raising it for others. Another is that the level be raised only to
3.2.<BR>Brown said the decision has already been made by the faculty’s
admissions committee. But the question of those in the pipeline, at least, is
open to discussion.<BR>“We’ve met with the community college vice presidents,”
Brown said. “And we’ve talked about ways to accommodate students in that
bind.”<BR></DIV>
<P class=post_story_blurb>pat.flynn@uniontrib.com • (619)
293-2083</P><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Educationforall
mailing
list<BR>Educationforall@lists.aktivix.org<BR>https://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/educationforall<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>