He sees in blue and gold. She sees in crimson and gold. They see green. Some don’t see color at all.

At least not yet anyway.

But 19-year-old communications major Zoe Bibb sees two colors many don’t see on the spectrum of colleges and universities.

Bibb, taller than the average woman with brown skin and dark eyes hidden behind a pair of round glasses, sat outside of the library, smiling as the wind whipped through the air.

“I’m trying to get out of California,” Bibb said. “I want to go to New York.”

Bibb isn’t the only one with dreams of escaping EC.

There are many others who are eagerly await the time to kiss the college goodbye and this time serves as their final chance of the year to do so.

The Transfer Center at EC is busier than ever as the counselors work tirelessly to help students move into the next stage of their education, whether they remain in California or end up as far away as New York City.

Last time she was in the Transfer Center, Bibb was anxious to get a plan together so she could get going and figure out where exactly it was she would go.

A lot of students attending EC who end up transferring seem to go to schools in California, whether it be California State University, Long Beach, California State University, Northridge, California State University, Dominguez Hills, or University of California, Los Angeles.

“I think I would’ve liked to go to Northridge or CSULB but I wanted to go somewhere different,” Bibb said.

But the thing is that students are not just seeing color anymore. They’re seeing green dollar signs. At least many of them are.

Tuition for schools, especially in California, has drastically increased over the last ten years. According to a report released by the College Board last month, tuition at colleges nationwide is more than three times higher now than it was 30 years ago, even when adjusted for inflation.

“The four-year schools are expensive. That’s why I came here,” Jacob Taylor, 19, graphic art major, said.

Kimberly Santaella, 21, business major, like many others, has visited the Transfer Center with the hope of getting a bit of direction.

“I didn’t know what I wanted,” Santaella said. “I still don’t know. And financial aid doesn’t pay for my school. I didn’t want to waste money not knowing at a four year.”

Bibb found herself in a similar situation. She is part of the middle group in terms of financial aid, the ones who make too much to get assistance but cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket for a big four-year institution.

This is a major reason why she decided to attend EC and her parents have supported her decision.

“My dad was actually the one to tell me to go here,” she said.

Alexis Ferguson, 19, business major and student worker in the Career and Transfer Center, has seen the center at its craziest and can speak on the madness that comes with transfer season.

“It does get busy,” she said. “Transferring can be hard if you don’t study hard.”

Ferguson added that if the student can stay on top of it, transferring “should be a breeze.”

She has dreams to transfer to UCLA or UC Berkeley to study business and economics and sees the traditional blue and gold in her future.

Bibb plans to skip the California universities completely and attend City University of New York to continue her communication studies.

“I like the cold, I like the culture, I just want to get away,” Bibb said. “I’ve always wanted to go to New York. Why not do school there?”