Transferring to a California State University will be much easier as soon as fall 2011, now that the governor signed SB 1440 last week.
“This is historic! SB 1440 will fundamentally change higher education in California,” State Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, said.
The new law guarantees that students who earn an associate’s degree are automatically admitted to CSUs.
“It’s a pretty good idea because of the benefits that it offers,” Lena Yamaguchi, 18, psychology major, said.
One of the historic barriers to students transferring is the “inconsistent, duplicative and ever-changing coursework requirements” that they must face, which adds to frustrations and discouragement for these students, Padilla said.
Some students seemed excited about the new law.
“I don’t like that it’s not going into effect until next year because I’m transferring this year and if I don’t get into a college I want, I’ll be pretty upset about it,” I Nikki Ovelletter, psychology major said.
However, there are still a lot of uncertainties about the bill.
“It’s hard to tell yet about the bill,” Oda-Omori, said.
“What’s not clear is the implementation because there’s a part of the bill that’s a little vague. What does the guarantee that students with an associate’s degree actually mean?”
While most students agree that the bill is a good thing, there are some students who don’t like the bill because they believe it takes away from others who deserve a spot in CSUs.
“I’m really a social Darwinist. What I mean is I believe the people who work the hardest should get it,” Jameel Younis, 19, business major said.
“I believe if you fight for it, you should get it. It should go to the person who deserves it the most”, said Younis.
“The person who goes to high school with a 4.0 GPA, should get in and not a student who gets the A.A. in a community college. It’s going to kick a lot of kids out who deserves it,” he said.
There is also talk that this law is repetitive and doesn’t do anything special.
Sue Oda-Omori, Transfer Center coordinator, said she hopes that the law will make students in the community college system stay and try to get not only their general requirements done, but also do some of their major requirements.
“It just presents another transfer path to help students get prepared,” Oda-Omori said.
“However, that’s what we want students to do anyways. Maybe the bill and the guarantee, hopefully students will stay and be more prepared,” she said.