Transfer Students

The 3,000 or so community college transfer students promised university admission but then left at the closed doors of UCI are victims of more than a short-term budgetary problem. No one in the "post-secondary public education business" expects anything but increasing student demand for college classes and increasingly limited public resources to meet this demand. What is needed is a wholesale reformation in the way our public colleges and universities are defined, governed, and financed.

Former Orange Coast College students now attending UC Irvine outperformed the general undergraduate population there this fall, according to OCC officials. The 507 former OCC students enrolled at UC Irvine this fall compiled a grade point average of 2.95, according to the recently released UC Irvine student characteristics summary. That compares with a campus-wide undergraduate average of 2.90. The average for all community college transfers at UC Irvine this fall was 2.89.

Re "Our Sloppy Local Colleges," editorial, June 1: You are correct when you say that the governor is not funding the community colleges nearly enough to help transfer students. But you are under-researched on several points: Not all of California's community colleges require physical education to graduate. You didn't make it clear that a two-year associate's degree is not a transfer requirement. And transfer-ready students who take full transfer-class loads can easily transfer within two years if they choose to do so (and if the four-year university accepts them)

Arguing that UCLA admissions policies are being manipulated to circumvent the state's ban on consideration of applicants' race, a professor there has resigned from a faculty committee that he says refused to allow him to study the matter. Political science professor Tim Groseclose resigned Thursday from the Committee on Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools, saying high-ranking university administrators and fellow committee members are engaged in a "coverup" to block illegal activity from being discovered.

To suggest as Robert Oliphant does (Valley Commentary, March 19) that the elimination of lower divisions at all UC and CSU campuses is even possible, much less desirable, is absurd. A significant reason transfer students have higher grade point averages is the fact that a transferring student brings units and grade points to the university. Therefore, a transfer student with a community college GPA of 4.0 may maintain a GPA of only 2.1 at the university to "outperform" a four-year student maintaining a 3.0. In fact, transfer students have the highest rate of failure of all upper division categories.

Re "Deserted campus its own lesson," Oct. 22, and "College costs up in hard times," Oct. 21 The recent three-day class furlough at Cal State Fullerton provides only a small view of the impact of state budget cuts on higher education. Employee furloughs at Cal State Fullerton produced millions in savings this year, which saved hundreds of class sections for students. Additionally, student fees were sharply increased on short notice to help reduce the impact of cuts in state funding.

The Fullerton school board, in an effort to stem future overcrowding problems, has given preliminary approval to a policy that would extend the deadline for students wanting to transfer from schools inside or outside the district. If the policy wins final approval later this month, district officials would have four weeks after school starts to decide whether to allow a transfer student to to stay in the school they chose.

February seems to bring out the scandal-mongers in high school basketball. Just as the City Section playoffs begin, anonymous sources and others, who have been saving up their best material, start spreading the news, perfectly timed to knock teams out of the postseason. This month, Woodland Hills Taft had to forfeit six West Valley League victories and at least nine nonleague victories for using two ineligible players.

A public hearing will be conducted today on the Brea-Olinda Unified School District's proposed policy changes on student transfers. The meeting is at 8:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers of the Brea Civic Center. Beginning with the coming academic year, the Board of Education is proposing to ban intra-district transfers from Laurel and Olinda elementary schools. School officials hope to increase Laurel's enrollment from 285 currently to 400, and to keep Olinda's at 200 students.