Historic Transfer Project spurs statewide movement to increase transfer rates

CVHEC Summit Oct. 20 features Central Valley Transfer Project/Mapper update

BY STAN CARRISOZA, CVHEC Regional Coordinator
President-emeritus – College of the Sequoias

At left, CVHEC Regional Coordinators Stan Carrisoza and Tom Burke present the Transfer Project (Burke is now serving as interim chancellor of the Kern Community College District).

As we enter the third phase of the Central Valley Transfer Project, we are pleased to report great progress has been made ranging from its infancy two years ago to nationwide interest —  including possible expansion into another region of California in the near future — as our team is invited regularly to present at state and national conferences.

A presentation and update will be given at the upcoming  Central Valley Higher Education Consortium’s 2023 Summit Oct. 20 in Fresno, as well as at conferences in November and December.

Originally born out of dissatisfaction with Central Valley community college transfer rates to University of California, Merced, this effort has spurred a statewide movement at multiple levels to increase the number of successful community college transfers to four-year institutions.

The state budget allowed CVHEC to help the community colleges secure state funding to purchase ongoing access to the software element of the project known as Program Pathways Mapper (PPM).

Recent reporting regarding the California State University and the UC Board of Regents has energized efforts to increase community college transfers and mobilize around successful transfer strategies.

Successful strategies are the foundation of the CVHEC Transfer Project. We have codified simple, straightforward activities for CC and CSU/UC faculty to convene and collaborate to map accessible transfer pathways in numerous discipline majors. In a breakthrough effort by UC Merced, its faculty agreed to review and build on the already successful CSU transfer patterns approved in the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADTs).

Following the pilot project in 2021 with UC Merced, Bakersfield College and Merced College, the CVHEC/UC Merced Transfer project has grown to include several more CVHEC colleges including Porterville, Reedley, Madera, West Hills Coalinga, West Hills Lemoore, Modesto, San Joaquin Delta, Yosemite and Columbia. The project has also included Central Valley four-year institutions CSU Bakersfield and CSU Stanislaus.

Over the past year the project has piqued the interest of the Aspen Institute, the Public Policy Institute of California, the  Chief Student Services Officers Association, College Futures Foundation and Complete College America.

Interviews and conferences with these organizations have brought broad exposure to the project and this fall CVHEC will initiate the SoCal Transfer Project being planned to emanate from the North Orange County Community College District. These plans include NOCCCD colleges Fullerton and Cypress to engage with UC Merced, UC Irvine and CSU Fullerton.

As previously reported, early results from the first 5,000 incoming freshmen at Bakersfield College in 2022 shows a strong positive impact from the Transfer Project.

At the core of the project is the Program Pathways Mapper software platform. The ease of access for students, counselors, advisors, HS counselors and parents has proven to be the key factor in success versus other degree auditing software systems.

Among those first 5,000 freshmen tracked, students using the PPM vs. their counterparts not using PPM eliminated the achievement gap among underrepresented students in their On-Path Percentage of courses successfully completed. This significantly reduced their number of units to degree.

We invite interested colleagues and partners to join us in this movement to increase successful transfers by attending our scheduled presentations this fall and winter. In addition to our summit in Fresno later this month, you will find CVHEC’s Transfer team sharing the project at the annual Community College League of California  Conference in November and at the Complete College America Conference in December.

For more information:  contact Stan Carrizosa at scarrizosa44@gmail.com or visit the Central Valley Transfer Project page on the CVHEC website.

See our full list of Transfer Project stories:  Central Valley Transfer Project Archives

See the Central Valley Transfer Project page.