UPDATE: CVHEC increases transfers the Central Valley Way

Consortium Transfer Project moves from CCC

“demonstration” status to “Vision 2030” strategy

BY STAN A. CARRIZOSA, SR.
CVHEC Transfer Project Lead
(President-emeritus, College of the Sequoias)

The Central Valley Higher Education Consortium (CVHEC) is renowned for its effectiveness in fostering regional collaboration among all of the Valley’s higher education institutions.

Most notable, as evidenced by the recent Central Valley Higher Education Summit, is the ability to bring intersegmental partners together from the University of California, California State University and California Community college systems as well as independent/private institutions for the purpose of increasing access and success of Central Valley students in their higher education experience.

At the summit, a more recent and very powerful example of this was the presentation by Dr. James Zimmerman on the panel, “What the CVHEC is Happening in the Central Valley,” where he discussed the success of the Central Valley Transfer Project initiated by CVHEC in partnership with UC Merced (UCM), backed in practice by the testimony of successful transfer student Araceli Tilley’s convincing testimony in the student panel earlier that morning.

Determined to overcome the low number of community college transfers to UCM, this partnership set out to carve a new path in accelerating successful transfers.

Fully launched in 2020 the project focuses on streamlining and enhancing the process of transferring from community colleges to four-year institutions within California’s Central Valley. This project seeks to address challenges faced by students in navigating complex transfer pathways and aims to increase the number of students successfully earning bachelor’s degrees.

Historic firsts: faculty input/ CCC implementation statewide

It was an historic first when CVHEC brought UC faculty to the table alongside community college faculty in convenings structured to review and approve lower-division course patterns for successful transfer to UCM.

Dr. Zimmerman recalled the dynamics of this collaboration at the summit re-telling the message UC Merced conveyed to Bakersfield College to lay what would be the foundation of the Transfer Project:

“ ‘Our faculty want to partner with your faculty to make sure that the courses that you have on your campuses, will transfer to UC Merced with no problems’,” he said. “ ‘Can we have a sit down where your faculty talk to our faculty, and we start having a course-by-course listing that shows if they spend their first two years on your campus, they transfer to our campus for two years and they finish with a bachelor’s degree?’ That’s what the goal was.”

He noted that “the cornerstone of what makes this so powerful is the Program Pathways Mapper,” software app students can use with ease to align classes for transfer.

Enter student Aracelli. When Araceli speaks, college chancellors, presidents and university officials in the  Central Valley’s 10-county region – and throughout California — listen.

She first did so at the 2023 CVHEC Summit on the student panel testifying how the Central Valley Transfer Program’s Program Pathways Mapper helped her get from Merced College to the University of Merced the year before. We have also taken her to the California League of Community Colleges statewide conference to share her story.

“Because of the Pathways Program Mapper, I was actually able to graduate on time because I didn’t realize that the UC had different requirements for a communications class than the CSU system,” Araceli recounted during the student panel at the recent CVHEC Summit last month. “So on the pathways mapper, I saw that the class that I needed, I had to take at my last semester at Merced College. If not, I wouldn’t have been able to transfer to UC Merced.”

But this time she had some new developments to share underscoring the Transfer Program’s growth and success in the 18 months since her first summit appearance.

“Now, I work at Merced College in the Student Success Program, and I’m able to use it to help other students that come for help,” Aracelli said. “Just anyone that I run into, I’m able to help them navigate, maybe what college they want to go to because they can look at different requirements at different colleges or what the course load is going to look like, what classes they’re going to be required to take, depending on where they go. I always recommend the pathways mapper to them because they’re able to see what the different courses are going to look like, what their path is going to look like. So I’ve utilized it not only for myself, but to help other students that I come into contact with.”

As CVHEC Executive Director Benjamin Duran said at the summit: it’s one thing when adults talk about its value, it’s another when you hear the youngsters vouch for its usefulness.

These protocols were so successful that California Community Colleges Chancellor Sonya Christian adopted the Transfer Project as a statewide demonstration project in 2024. One year later the “demonstration” label has been lifted, and this process is now embedded in the Chancellor’s “Vision 2030” initiative.

Goals of the Project

The Central Valley Transfer Project is designed to:

• Simplify the articulation agreements between community colleges and universities.
• Enhance academic advising to guide students through seamless transfers.
• Improve the equity and accessibility of higher education opportunities.
• Reduce the time and cost associated with obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

Key Features

The project incorporates several strategies to achieve its objectives:

• Structured collaboration among faculty and staff from UC, CSU and community colleges.
• Development of clear and comprehensive transfer pathways in high-demand disciplines.
• Collaboration among multiple educational institutions to ensure alignment of curricula.
• Use of technology software to provide up-to-date resources and tools for students.

Impact on the Region

Also at the CVHEC summit May 9, Zimmerman demonstrated how the Central Valley Transfer Project addresses educational disparities in the region by fostering increased access to higher education for students in the Central Valley. It is part of a broader effort to promote workforce development, improve the economic well-being, and elevate the economic and educational profile of the entire Central Valley region.  He urged community colleges to make the most of funding that is available to them for implementation of the Program Pathways Mapper.

The project has now expanded beyond the Central Valley and is being embraced by higher education statewide. 

 Conclusion

The power of CVHEC’s longstanding expertise in promoting regional collaboration is paying huge dividends for Central Valley community college students through this latest effort to increase successful transfers to upper-division institutions. This strong tradition has been the catalyst for faculty and staff from the UC’s, CSU’s and CC’s to work together like never before, dispelling historical stereotypes of each other and building new collegial relationships focused on student success.

By creating smoother transfer pathways and reducing barriers to higher education, the Central Valley Transfer Project plays a crucial role in helping students achieve their academic and professional goals, contributing to the overall advancement of the Central Valley region.

Table 1 below shows the impact on successful transfers to UC Merced since the project began in 2020.

Table 2 below shows the change in percentage of successful completion of on-path courses to degree. The control factor among 5,000 incoming freshman to Bakersfield College is the use by students of the Transfer Project software platform, Program Pathways Mapper (PPM).

Table 3 below shows how the use of the PPM closes the equity gap among all students in the increased percentages of completing on-path courses to degree.

Table 4 below shows how participation in the Transfer Project keeps students on a clear pathway to completion and reduces the total number of units to degree.