2023-123 California’s Systems of Public Higher Education
Streamlining the Community College Transfer Process Could Increase Access to Bachelor’s Degrees
Published: September 24, 2024Report Number: 2023-123
Audit Recommendations Disclosure
When an audit is completed and a report is issued, auditees must provide the State Auditor with information regarding their progress in implementing recommendations from our reports at three intervals from the release of the report: 60 days, six months, and one year. Additionally, Senate Bill 1452 (Chapter 452, Statutes of 2006), requires auditees who have not implemented recommendations after one year, to report to us and to the Legislature why they have not implemented them or to state when they intend to implement them. Below is a listing of each recommendation the State Auditor made in the report referenced and a link to the most recent response from the auditee addressing their progress in implementing the recommendation and the State Auditor’s assessment of auditee’s response based on our review of the supporting documentation.
Recommendations to California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office
Recommendation 1
To assess and improve the State’s efforts to help community college students transfer, the CCC Chancellor’s Office should establish by September 2025 a goal transfer rate and a process for measuring and reporting that rate as it applies to the statewide system and to individual community colleges. The process for measuring the transfer rate should include identifying the proportion of transfer-intending community college students who ultimately transfer successfully by using a methodology that the Chancellor’s Office determines best captures students’ intent to transfer and allows for timely analysis. The Chancellor’s Office should also incorporate this goal into any key strategic plans for the system.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
September 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office is reevaluating its past models for identifying transfer intending students. Historically, the Chancellor’s Office has used either behavioral intent, such as completing 12 units and Math or English coursework, or educational goals to identify transfer intending students. In order to establish a rate of transfer, the Chancellor’s Office is using machine learning tools to identify those characteristics which are most associated with 3- and 6-year transfer. This research will help identify the students who should be incorporated into a denominator for a transfer rate. At this time, the Chancellor’s Office is building a dataset from variables in the common application (CCCApply) and elements that are reported to the Chancellor’s Office Management Information System (MIS). Preliminary analysis will likely be complete by January 2025 and recommendations vetted internally by the end of February 2025.
6-Month Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office is in the process of revising the various methodologies used in the past to identify transfer intending students. Current review shows that all current descriptors (education goal, 12 units, 6 units and math/English completion) have high rates of false positives and false negatives. Moreover, preliminary analysis shows that many students transfer regardless of their initially stated education goal. The Chancellor’s Office is exploring using multi-level modeling and machine learning (decision trees) to better identify the characteristics that are associated with transfer seeking students.
The planning timeframe for this continuing work will include further internal vetting by May-June 2025 with a goal of recommendation for inclusion in the system’s Vision 2030 by July 2025.
Recommendation 2
To help community colleges improve their transfer rates, the CCC Chancellor’s Office should establish a process by September 2025 for identifying any specific best practices at community colleges that have had a measurable impact on the colleges’ transfer rates and sharing these practices with all colleges.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
Preliminary research related to the recommendation’s intent has begun. One initial interview with a community college with improved transfer rates has occurred. Investigation into relevant research studies and colleges that have promising transfer practices continues along with outreach to the Guided Pathway Project. This initiative has created a framework of integrated, institution-wide reforms that assist students in reaching their academic goals. That framework has produced a “playbook” that offers a series of briefs which includes actionable, student-centered and equity-focused strategies, resources and examples from the experiences of 34 participating California community colleges that can assist in advancing transfer outcomes. All of these resources will be influential in creating the necessary guidance this recommendation intends.
Input from the Guided Pathway Project and any relevant transfer rate data should be accomplished by March 2025. We plan on identifying one or two other successful colleges to be interviewed by the end of April 2025 (in consideration of the college calendar). The collection of information will progress throughout the spring along with any necessary follow-ups. Guidance development will occur in the summer and distribution to the system will occur by the September 2025 due date.
6-Month Agency Response
The Guided Pathway framework provided an established construct to proceed with three general interviews. The indication found was that each community college (CC) attends to their specific transfer student community needs with corresponding specific solutions. Consequently, the continuation of this process has leveraged the U.S. DOE Raise the Bar initiative’s Postsecondary Success Recognition Program which used evidence to identify transfer exemplars across the country that included several CCs. The Research, Analytics and Data (RAD) team designed a mixed-methods assessment which included visiting some of these identified institutions as well as selected CCs that endeavor to improve transfer rates by interviewing key personnel and transfer students. Through a qualitative analysis this anticipates a compare-and-contrast model to share promising transfer practices.
Five site visits are scheduled or are being scheduled with the colleges identified by the Raising the Bar framework and two colleges identified through their transfer rates and who agreed to participate. Site visits include at least one focus group with key personnel from Student Services, Counseling, Transfer Center, Academic Senate, and/or cultural resource centers/programs, as well as a tour of the transfer center. Recently transferred students as well as students active in the transfer process at the participating colleges will also be interviewed in Zoom focus groups to gather their experiences. Invitation for CC participation in this assessment occurred 1/9/2025. Completion of the assessment and a preliminary report is anticipated by March-April 2025. Anticipated sharing of the results through a distributed report, September 2025.
Recommendation 10
To ensure that a lack of course articulation is not a barrier to transfer, the three systems should collaborate by September 2026 to analyze articulation data and develop a plan for addressing the gaps in articulation that most negatively affect community college students. For example, the analysis could identify the articulation gaps that are most likely to reduce students’ chances of admission or to add to students’ total number of units or amount of time to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
By September 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
By September 2025, the Chancellor’s Office and the four-year public higher education institutions will collaborate to identify and address gaps in course articulations that hinder student progress toward a bachelor’s degree. The three systems have begun sharing and will aggregate data from available sources such as ASSIST, TESS, or other institutional databases that track course to course articulation including critical major preparation courses. Coupled with the course data analysis, the systems will examine the statewide and individual institutional policies that impact articulation by college, department, and major. Collective understanding of how the lack of articulations force students to repeat courses that lead to excess unit accumulation and increased time to earn a degree, prepare the public higher education institutions to systemically plan how to address articulation gaps.
By September 2026, the three systems will have a coordinated plan for addressing articulation gaps that will be shared among the segments. The plan will focus not only on closing gaps and connecting courses, but how the segments will continue to collaborate on creating clear pathways to transfer for students.
6-Month Agency Response
Due to the intersegmental nature of this recommendation the Chancellor’s Office leveraged an existing relationship through the management structure of the ASSIST platform. A request was devised and accepted so that the ASSIST team began identifying the “no articulation” information within that database. A report is anticipated at the end of May 2025. That is when intra-segmental analysis of those results can commence. Simultaneously at that point in time it is the Chancellor’s Office intention to request the creation of an intersegmental team to leverage any analysis and drive additional needed collaborative understandings (e.g., definitions, benchmarks, cooperation). With that it is planned to have some information ready to analyze intersegmentally by September 2025.
It is the Chancellor’s Office intention to establish a reasonable baseline for the various types of articulation in which to build discussions and to propose a regular meeting cadence with the segments to address the collective effort.
Recommendation 13
To help close existing gaps in the ADT’s availability and impact within its system, the CCC Chancellor’s Office should document a process by September 2025 for requesting and analyzing specific rationales from community colleges that have decided not to offer the ADT for a particular transfer model curriculum. This process should also include taking the following actions:
- Review a selection of the rationales for not offering the ADT, with a focus on the areas in which it would most benefit students to have an available ADT pathway.
- Using criteria such as whether other community colleges are able to offer the ADT, and consulting with the systemwide academic senate or other faculty as necessary, determine whether the selected rationales are reasonable and make recommendations to the colleges as appropriate.
- To the extent its reviews identify specific challenges in offering the ADT in certain subject areas, notify the appropriate committee or group so that it may consider those challenges when revising transfer model curricula.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office has conducted a preliminary analysis that compares the list of Associate Degrees for Transfer (ADT) with those offered at all colleges statewide. While there are multiple reasons for colleges not to offer an approved ADT, in conversation with a group of college leaders at the November 2024 North Far North Regional consortium meeting, the challenges fell into 3 categories: Low course enrollment leads to cancelling or not offering required courses, Faculty are not available to teach all the required courses, and Not enough funding for classroom equipment, such as laboratory equipment.
The Chancellor’s Office is working with small colleges to address this barrier through a collaborative and through utilizing the California Virtual College (CVC) to provide access to online courses. The Chancellor’s Office is proposing a demonstration project—Rural College Transfer Collaborative Demonstration Project.
The preliminary analysis, from conversations with specific colleges and districts, and in consultation with the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, also outlines that many multi-college districts may elect to not offer all possible ADTs in order to concentrate resources with a single college. This is an outcome of comprehensive planning and responsible resource utilization in order to ensure regional access to a program, which may not be possible by diluting resources and students across multiple colleges.
By April 2025, the Chancellor’s Office will have surveyed all the colleges/districts as to why they are currently not offering all of the available ADTs.
6-Month Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office created a survey for dissemination to each of the California Community Colleges to gather a status update on the ADTs currently offered at each college and, for the ADTs not offered, a rationale as to why. The survey will be distributed to college chief instructional officers with instructions to include appropriate faculty and staff in responding to the survey. The Chancellor’s Office in collaboration with the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) will notify college academic senate presidents and curriculum chairs to ensure there is faculty participation in survey responses. Survey dissemination is scheduled for the end of March 2025 or beginning of April 2025 with completion required by the end of April 2025. Analysis of the survey responses will begin in May 2025.
In addition, the Chancellor’s Office is in the process of launching a collaborative of rural serving institutions to address capacity barriers for ADT access to rural and place-bound students. This Rural College Transfer Collaborative is an emerging demonstration project that was identified in January 2025. It seeks to increase the number of ADTs offered through course sharing agreements, utilizing the California Virtual College (CVC). In order to fully respond to the recommendation, the Chancellor’s Office will work with the ASCCC and consider outcomes regarding ADT access in the Rural College Transfer Collaborative. The Chancellor’s Office will scale the successful protocols established through this demonstration project to increase access to ADTs statewide for rural and place-bound students.
Recommendation 16
To help community colleges provide students with the information they need to transfer, the CCC Chancellor’s Office should disseminate guidance to districts and colleges by September 2025 that includes the following:
- Specific actions that districts or colleges should take to ensure that as many transfer-intending students as possible receive counseling and have a current, comprehensive education plan. For example, these actions could include routinely identifying and reaching out to schedule counseling appointments with the specific students who do not have a current, comprehensive education plan.
- Guidance about the format and content of education plans, including how districts or colleges can ensure that the plans are accessible online and contain a student’s potential transfer destinations. The guidance should also include any ways in which online education planning systems could assist districts or colleges in meeting the objectives we include in this recommendation.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The 2025-2028 Student Equity Plan template, which is required for colleges, includes a new section on Comprehensive Education Plans (CEP). The template will be released to colleges in mid-December 2024. CEPs include all courses required for a student’s educational goal, including coursework for transfer pathways. Colleges will be directed to use internal data for cohorts of incoming students, examining how many students received CEPs in their first semester or by the end of their first year. Colleges will be directed to disaggregate the data to identify disproportionate impact in the rate of CEP completion and develop strategies to close equity gaps in timely CEP development. As part of the Student Equity Plan, colleges will be asked for their plan and strategies to ensure all students receive CEPs within their first year.
In January 2025, planning will commence to design a memo to the field regarding the format and content of education plans, including the importance and strategic value of online education planning systems. By September 2025, the guidance memo will be sent to the field.
6-Month Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office continues to make progress and is on track to fully address this recommendation. Following the 60-day response, on December 17, 2024, the 2025-28 Student Equity Plan (SEP) Memo (https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/docs/memo/eslei-24-72-2025-28-student-equity-plan-memo-a11y.pdf) was sent to the field, and the SEP is due from colleges by November 30, 2025. In the 2025-28 SEP Template (https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/docs/plan/2025-28-student-equity-plan-template-a11y.pdf), colleges are directed to use internal data for cohorts of incoming students, examining how many students received timely Comprehensive Educational Plans (CEPs)—in their first semester and by the end of their first year. Colleges must disaggregate the data to identify disproportionate impact across student populations in the rate of CEP completion; colleges are asked to delineate strategies they will employ to close equity gaps in CEP development. Colleges must plan and develop strategies to ensure all students receive CEPs within their first year—including students intending on transfer.
By September 2025, a guidance memo will be sent to the field regarding the format and content of education plans, the timeliness of providing comprehensive education plans, and the importance and strategic value of online education planning systems. Additionally, guidance will be provided on the newly refined student educational planning MIS data element tracking and reporting, which should provide clearer data for colleges to identify and follow up with students needing comprehensive educational plans.
Recommendation 17
To help evaluate and improve colleges’ efforts to advise students about transfer, the CCC Chancellor’s Office should develop a method by September 2026 for community colleges to monitor and report the percentage of their transfer-intending students who have a current, comprehensive education plan and the percentage who have received timely counseling services. For example, the Chancellor’s Office could refine the data that it collects and publicly reports to ensure that it shows these types of metrics. Further, the Chancellor’s Office could consider following up with districts or colleges that have low percentages of such students to help them improve.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The 2025-2028 Student Equity Plan template, which is required for colleges, includes a new section on Comprehensive Education Plans (CEP). The template will be released to colleges in mid-December. CEPs include all courses required for a student’s educational goal, including coursework for transfer pathways. Colleges will be directed to use internal data for cohorts of incoming students, examining how many students received CEPs in their first semester or by the end of their first year. Colleges will be directed to disaggregate the data to identify disproportionate impact in the rate of CEP completion and develop strategies to close equity gaps in timely CEP development. As part of the Student Equity Plan, colleges will be asked for their plan and strategies to ensure all students receive CEPs within their first year.
As part of its regular refinement of the Chancellor’s Office Management Information System (MIS), the Chancellor’s Office is evaluating the current data element to collect information about educational planning. Once completed, the Chancellor’s Office will release additional guidance regarding the changes to the MIS elements and provide training related to the accurate reporting of said information. The documentation is usually released in the first week of April each year with training occurring in April and May.
6-Month Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office continues to make progress and is on track to fully address this recommendation. The Chancellor’s Office has updated the MIS (Management Information System) data element (SS09) for comprehensive education plans (CEPs) to include more details on the required content and format of education plans. This MIS data element update will help colleges more accurately monitor, track, and publicly report on CEP data. Per Recommendation 1, the Chancellor’s Office is evaluating its methodology for defining “transfer-intending students,” which will support strategic efforts for the system and colleges to ensure these students receive timely student educational planning and advising.
As noted in the response for Recommendation 16, the 2025-28 Student Equity Plan (SEP) Memo (https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/docs/memo/eslei-24-72-2025-28-student-equity-plan-memo-a11y.pdf) and the 2025-28 SEP Template (https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/docs/plan/2025-28-student-equity-plan-template-a11y.pdf) were sent to colleges in December 2024. In the new plan, colleges must identify disproportionate impact across student populations in the rate of CEP reception. Colleges must also develop strategies to ensure all students receive timely CEPs within their first year—including students intending on transfer.
By September 2025, guidance will be sent out on updates made to MIS data element (SS09), which will be in effect for 2025-2026 and beyond. The updated MIS data element should help to provide clearer data for colleges to identify and follow up with students needing comprehensive educational plans. Guidance will also include details on the required format and content of education plans, the timeliness of providing comprehensive education plans, and the importance and strategic value of online education planning systems.
Recommendation 18
To help ensure that community colleges have the staffing necessary to assist transfer-intending students, the CCC Chancellor’s Office should establish a process by September 2025 for identifying community colleges with staffing levels that are insufficient to provide necessary transfer-related guidance and taking follow-up action when warranted. For example, using existing staffing criteria and information it already collects, the Chancellor’s Office could identify colleges that lack sufficient transfer center staffing or have inadequate counselor-to-student ratios. It could then notify or follow up with officials at these colleges to help advocate for increasing their staffing levels or to support the colleges’ efforts in other ways.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office will design and implement a data-driven survey by May 2025, which will focus on (1) local and state-wide transfer rate goals, (2) educational planning goals, and (3) staffing, technology, and processes related to “transfer-related guidance” (including transfer center staffing and counselors). The survey will include space for colleges to report strategies designed to address these areas. The survey will request supports needed from the Chancellor’s Office, including areas such as technical assistance, professional development, and building innovative processes. By September 2025, the Chancellor’s Office will engage the survey data and design a process for follow up with colleges that need assistance in transfer support infrastructure and processes.
6-Month Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office continues to make progress and is on track to fully address this recommendation. The Chancellor’s Office will employ the following process to identify and support community colleges with staffing levels that are insufficient:
(1) By July 2025 (and subsequent years), the Chancellor’s Office will utilize the annual Transfer Center Report (TCR) to survey colleges and obtain a better understanding of colleges’ staffing, local and state-wide goals related to transfer, and current implementation status of the required services listed in Title 5, Section 51027 – Transfer Centers: Minimum Program Standards. (Note: the TCR will be sent to the field in July 2025 rather than the May 2025 survey date in the previous 60-day response to this recommendation.)
(2) The Chancellor’s Office will analyze college responses shared in the annual Transfer Center Report (TCR) to ensure compliance with Title 5, section 51027 – Transfer Centers: Minimum Program Standards. The Chancellor’s Office will engage the TCR and other relevant report data to design and provide intentional support for colleges needing assistance in meeting regulatory requirements, curating transfer support processes, and developing transfer support infrastructure.
Recommendation 19
To ensure that colleges are making effective efforts to close equity gaps in student transfer rates, the CCC Chancellor’s Office should update its equity plan template or its related equity plan annual report template by September 2025 to require colleges to report outcomes related to their established goals. The Chancellor’s Office should also provide guidance to help colleges address the root causes of their transfer-related equity gaps and to evaluate the effectiveness of their initiatives designed to reduce those gaps
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The 2025-2028 Student Equity Plan template, which is required for colleges, includes a section on transfer rates, with goals of (1) eliminating disproportionate impact in transfer and (2) Vision 2030 Goal 1, Outcomes 2d and 2e: to Increase with equity the number of California community college students who transfer to a UC, CSU or non-profit/private independent four-year institutions. Additionally, colleges will be able to set additional local goals related to transfer. Colleges will examine disaggregated transfer rate data, with identified disproportionately impacted student populations, and will be required to develop strategies to close equity gaps and increase transfer rates to meet established goals.
The 2025-2028 Student Equity Plan template, which is required for colleges, includes a new section on Comprehensive Education Plans (CEP). CEPs include all courses required for a student’s educational goal. Colleges will look at cohort-based data for cohorts of incoming students, examining how many students received CEPs in their first semester or by the end of their first year. Colleges will be asked to disaggregate the data to identify disproportionate impact in terms of CEP rates and develop strategies to close equity gaps in timely Comprehensive Education Planning. Additionally, colleges will be asked for their plan and strategies to ensure all students receive CEPs within their first year.
By September 2025, a guidance memo will be sent to the field regarding how colleges can address the root causes of their transfer-related equity gaps and how to evaluate the effectiveness of their initiatives designed to reduce those gaps.
6-Month Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office continues to make progress and is on track to fully address this recommendation. An updated Student Equity and Achievement (SEA) Annual Report Template (https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/docs/plan/2025-28-student-equity-plan-template-a11y.pdf) was released to the field with a due date of December 31, 2024. The updated SEA Annual Report required colleges to update, report, and narrate their progress on the goals and outcomes developed in their current Student Equity Plan for all five student success metrics (Enrollment, Persistence, Transfer-Level Math and English, Completion, and Transfer).
As noted in the response for Recommendation 16, the 2025-28 2025-28 Student Equity Plan (SEP) Memo (https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/docs/memo/eslei-24-72-2025-28-student-equity-plan-memo-a11y.pdf)and the 2025-28 SEP Template (https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/docs/plan/2025-28-student-equity-plan-template-a11y.pdf) were sent to colleges in December 2024. Colleges are required to develop strategies to close equity gaps and increase rates to meet established local and system goals for Enrollment, Persistence, Transfer-Level Math and English, Completion, and Transfer.
By September 2025, guidance will be sent to the field regarding how colleges can address the root causes of their transfer-related equity gaps and how to evaluate the effectiveness of their initiatives designed to reduce those gaps.
Recommendation 20
To improve outreach efforts and help students transfer, the three systems should establish formal agreements by September 2025 to share information for outreach and recruitment purposes about transfer-intending students in a manner permitted by FERPA and any other applicable privacy laws. The agreements should:
- Ensure that the information that CCC shares with CSU and UC is specific, detailed, and timely enough to allow CSU and UC campuses to conduct tailored outreach to students to help them transfer. In particular, the CCC Chancellor’s Office should evaluate its options for determining students’ intent to transfer and work with CSU and UC to ensure that the data it shares is useful for their campuses’ outreach purposes.
- Specify that CSU and UC will also regularly share information with CCC about their students who successfully transferred, in a format and level of specificity that allows community colleges to assess the effectiveness of their transfer efforts.
Agency response status:
Fully implemented
Date of implementation:
April 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Partially Implemented, Department did not address all aspects of the recommendation
60-Day Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office currently maintains data sharing agreements with the CSU and UC to facilitate transfer and student communication related to transfer. However, there is limited ability to provide real time contact information. Instead, a combination of application information and college enrollment data to provide the directly information must be used. The Chancellor’s Office has several ongoing projects that are being developed to better support transfer and transfer outreach.
As a component of the Vision 2030’s Central Valley Transfer Pathways demonstration project, the Automated ADT Matriculation Project will streamline the transfer process for California Community College (CCC) students completing an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) and transitioning to the California State University (CSU) system. By February-March 2025, the project seeks to establish a near-real-time data-sharing capability between the CCC’s Common Cloud Student Data Platform and CSU systems. This initiative is designed to simplify student transfers by automating the sharing of ADT completion data, reducing administrative barriers, and ensuring timely and accurate information flow to CSU. The system will proactively identify and support ADT completers, minimizing delays and enhancing student success.
This initiative sets the stage for broader improvements in California’s higher education data-sharing ecosystem, benefiting transfer students statewide. Following the initial steps with the CCC and CSU data sharing efforts, the CCC will seek collaboration with UC for comparable data sharing.
6-Month Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office has existing data sharing agreements with both the CSU (signed 04/09/2024) and UC (signed 03/01/2024) system offices to provide student contact information for the purposes of recruitment. The UC has exercised the agreement since spring 2024. The CSU and the Chancellor’s Offices are in the process of enacting the data exchange outlined in the signed agreement. The Chancellor’s Office meets periodically with UC and CSU Enrollment Management staff to evaluate the available data for recruitment purposes. The primary limitations are related to the current CCC system data infrastructure and not related to the absence of data sharing agreements. The Chancellor’s Office is working on two projects, pending funding, that will expand the availability of more timely data. Currently, the Common Cloud Data Platform is in development with 11 colleges and should be able to provide “real time” data for recruitment in the 2025-26 academic year. Additional funding is necessary to include additional colleges to the platform or to enact a statewide common technology platform.
Public Reasoning Behind State Auditor Assessment
The CCC Chancellor’s Office provided data sharing agreements it has developed with the UC and CSU systems, and it provided additional evidence that it has received and shared relevant data with the UC system. The CCC Chancellor’s Office also provided documentation indicating that other improvements, such as the Common Cloud Data Platform, could make it easier to share helpful data in the future. However, the CCC Chancellor’s Office and the CSU Chancellor’s Office are still in the process of carrying out the type of data exchange our recommendation intends. To conclude that this recommendation has been fully implemented, we will look for evidence of such a data exchange and agreement from both systems that this recommendation is complete.
Recommendations to California State University
Recommendation 3
To ensure that its campuses and degree programs adequately prioritize transfer students, the CSU Chancellor’s Office should establish and begin implementing procedures by September 2025 for monitoring and publicly reporting the ratio of community college transfer students to other undergraduates in its system, campuses, and specific disciplines, programs, or majors. The procedures should establish the following:
- A specific goal for adequate representation of transfer students among all undergraduates, such as a goal that transfer students represent at least one-third of new enrollees or graduating degree-earners. The system should work toward meeting this goal at the system level and, where feasible, at the campus level and at the level of campuses’ specific disciplines, programs, or majors.
- A formal and documented method to identify when campuses or their specific disciplines, programs, or majors are below the goal and, when appropriate, to work with those campuses or programs to determine the possible causes for the low transfer representation and document plans for increasing it. For example, these plans could include the campus or program enrolling additional transfer students by expanding its upper-division capacity or adjusting its enrollment targets, if doing so is feasible. In carrying out this process, the CSU Chancellor’s Office should prioritize following up with the campuses or programs whose admissions processes may be denying qualified transfer applicants.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office is developing procedures for monitoring and reporting the ratio of community college transfer students to other undergraduates in its system, campuses, and specific disciplines.
6-Month Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office is developing dashboards and procedures for monitoring and reporting the admission and enrollment of community college transfer students to other undergraduates in its system, campuses, and specific disciplines.
Recommendation 5
To best position the CSU system to admit and enroll more transfer students into its preferred degree programs, the CSU Chancellor’s Office should establish a formal process by September 2025 for identifying the specific disciplines, programs, or majors where capacity increases at campuses would be most valuable. It should then prioritize those areas for future capacity increases. For example, the CSU Chancellor’s Office could use transfer representation data or data from its redirection process to identify majors in which additional capacity would enable more transfer students to enroll.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
As part of a coordinated systemwide response and in close collaboration with university presidents, the CSU Chancellor’s Office has developed a multi-year enrollment target and budget allocation framework and principles to better align current and future resources with the realities of student demand and enrollment trends. The Chancellor’s Office is currently evaluating how to incorporate capacity increases which could enable more transfer students to enroll.
6-Month Agency Response
As part of a coordinated systemwide response and in close collaboration with university presidents, the CSU Chancellor’s Office has developed a multi-year enrollment target and budget allocation framework and principles to better align current and future resources with the realities of student demand and enrollment trends. The Chancellor’s Office is currently working with campuses to incorporate capacity increases which could enable more transfer students to enroll in high demand campuses and programs.
In February 2025, the Chancellor’s Office sent enrollment target letters to each university reminding them that in alignment with the California State Auditor’s recommendations on student transfers, universities should balance new undergraduate enrollment between first-time, first-year students and transfer students, including those in high-demand majors.
Recommendation 11
To ensure that a lack of course articulation is not a barrier to transfer, the three systems should collaborate by September 2026 to analyze articulation data and develop a plan for addressing the gaps in articulation that most negatively affect community college students. For example, the analysis could identify the articulation gaps that are most likely to reduce students’ chances of admission or to add to students’ total number of units or amount of time to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office is working to determine how to best analyze articulation data and develop a plan for addressing the gaps in articulation. In addition, the Chancellor’s Office reached out to ASSIST to find out more about possible requests from universities about articulation gaps. This information will be discussed at bimonthly Executive Management Oversight Committee meetings with the ASSIST program director.
6-Month Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office is working to determine how to best analyze articulation data and develop a plan for addressing the gaps in articulation. In addition, the Chancellor’s Office reached out to ASSIST to find out more about possible requests from universities about articulation gaps. This information will be discussed at bimonthly Executive Management Oversight Committee meetings with the ASSIST program director.
Recommendation 14
To help close existing gaps in the ADT’s availability and impact within its system, the CSU Chancellor’s Office should document a process by September 2025 for requesting and analyzing specific rationales from CSU campuses that have decided not to accept the ADT for a particular transfer model curriculum as similar to their related majors or concentrations. This process should also include taking the following actions:
- Review a selection of the rationales for not accepting the ADT, with a focus on the areas in which it would most benefit students to have an available ADT pathway.
- Using criteria such as whether other CSU campuses are able to accept the ADT, and consulting with the systemwide academic senate or other faculty as necessary, determine whether the selected rationales are reasonable and make recommendations to the campuses as appropriate.
- To the extent its reviews identify specific challenges in accepting the ADT in certain subject areas, notify the appropriate committee or group so that it may consider those challenges when revising transfer model curricula.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office started working with various internal stakeholders to develop a process for requesting and analyzing specific rationales from CSU universities that have decided not to accept the ADT for a particular transfer model curriculum as similar to their related majors or concentrations. The stakeholders include articulation officers, associate vice presidents, and deans at the 23 CSU universities. The implementation of a new common general education pattern with 5 fewer lower division units will necessitate reviews of ADT alignment for many disciplines. The Chancellor’s Office notified the stakeholders that this information will be collected. The Chancellor’s Office is also developing an information collection tool which it plans to distribute by Spring 2025.
6-Month Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office started working with various internal stakeholders to develop a process for requesting and analyzing specific rationales from CSU universities that have decided not to accept the ADT for a particular transfer model curriculum as similar to their related majors or concentrations. The Chancellor’s Office developed an information collection tool which it plans to distribute by Spring 2025.
Recommendation 21
To improve outreach efforts and help students transfer, the CCC Chancellor’s Office and the CSU Chancellor’s Office should establish a formal agreement by September 2025 to share information for outreach and recruitment purposes about transfer-intending students in a manner permitted by FERPA and any other applicable privacy laws. The agreement should:
- Ensure that the information that CCC shares with CSU is specific, detailed, and timely enough to allow CSU campuses to conduct tailored outreach to students to help them transfer. In particular, the CCC Chancellor’s Office should evaluate its options for determining students’ intent to transfer and work with CSU to ensure that the data it shares is useful for CSU campuses’ outreach purposes.
- Specify that CSU will also regularly share information with CCC about its students who successfully transferred, in a format and level of specificity that allows community colleges to assess the effectiveness of their transfer efforts.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Partially implemented
60-Day Agency Response
The Chancellor’s Office will work with the CCC Chancellor’s Office to establish a formal agreement to expand the sharing of information for outreach and recruitment.
The Chancellor’s Office has already established a formal agreement with the CCC Chancellor’s Office that outlines the protocols for sharing confidential student data to facilitate the collection and reporting of information regarding student transfers between the two institutions.
6-Month Agency Response
The CCC Chancellor’s Office provided data sharing agreements it has developed with the UC and CSU systems, and it provided additional evidence that it has received and shared relevant data with the UC system. The CCC Chancellor’s Office also provided documentation indicating that other improvements, such as the Common Cloud Data Platform, could make it easier to share helpful data in the future. However, the CCC Chancellor’s Office and the CSU Chancellor’s Office are still in the process of carrying out the type of data exchange our recommendation intends. To conclude that this recommendation has been fully implemented, we will look for evidence of such a data exchange and agreement from both systems that this recommendation is complete.
Public Reasoning Behind State Auditor Assessment
The CSU Chancellor’s Office and the CCC Chancellor’s Office have a data sharing agreement in place but have not yet provided evidence of a related data exchange taking place. To conclude that this recommendation has been fully implemented, we will look for evidence that a data exchange has occurred that aligns with the intent of our recommendation.
Recommendations to University of California
Recommendation 4
To ensure that its campuses and degree programs adequately prioritize transfer students, the UC Office of the President should establish and begin implementing procedures by September 2025 for monitoring and publicly reporting the ratio of community college transfer students to other undergraduates in its system, campuses, and specific disciplines, programs, or majors. The procedures should establish the following:
- A specific goal for adequate representation of transfer students among all undergraduates, such as a goal that transfer students represent at least one-third of new enrollees or graduating degree-earners. The system should work toward meeting this goal at the system level and, where feasible, at the campus level and at the level of campuses’ specific disciplines, programs, or majors.
- A formal and documented method to identify when campuses or their specific disciplines, programs, or majors are below the goal and, when appropriate, to work with those campuses or programs to determine the possible causes for the low transfer representation and document plans for increasing it. For example, these plans could include the campus or program enrolling additional transfer students by expanding its upper-division capacity or adjusting its enrollment targets, if doing so is feasible. In carrying out this process, the UC Office of the President should prioritize following up with the campuses or programs whose admissions processes may be denying qualified transfer applicants.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The Multi-Year Compact Between the Newsom Administration and the University of California (https://dof.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/352/Programs/Education/UC-Compact-May-2022.pdf) provides that “Undergraduate enrollment growth during the term of the agreement will occur in accordance with UC’s existing systemwide goal to enroll one new California resident transfer student for every two new California resident freshmen.” As part of compact implementation and reporting, UC has been tracking the 2:1 goal by campus and progress is reported in the UC reports to the Legislature on the Compact and will continue to do so through the life of the compact.
As a result of this audit and this recommendation, UCOP is looking at the best way of reporting on the ratio of transfers to first-year students by discipline. Recently, UCOP published a dashboard that allows users to see first-year admission rates and enrollment numbers by discipline (https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/freshman-admission-discipline). UCOP also published a dashboard on transfer enrollments by major (https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/about-us/information-center/transfers-major). UCOP will convene a group to develop a set of dashboards that would allow public users to easily look at the 2:1 ratio by discipline and/or major at each UC campus.
6-Month Agency Response
All the comments from the 60-day update are still applicable.
Institutional Research and Academic Planning will develop a 2:1 by campus by discipline dashboard that will be reviewed by UCOP stakeholders and shared with campuses for comments and suggestions. The goal is to have UCOP and campus review completed before the summer commences. Refinements will be made over the summer with the goal of publishing the dashboard in the fall.
Recommendation 6
To best position the UC system to admit and enroll more transfer students into their preferred degree programs, the UC Office of the President should establish a formal process by September 2025 for identifying the specific disciplines, programs, or majors where capacity increases at campuses would be most valuable. It should then prioritize those areas for future capacity increases. For example, the UC Office of the President could use transfer representation data or data from its transfer referral process to identify majors in which additional capacity would enable more transfer students to enroll.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
President Drake’s response to the audit says “We share report’s goal of increasing transparency about how campuses and disciplines are making progress toward these targets. Campuses use many factors to determine enrollment targets appropriate for their respective departments and majors. These factors include student demand, faculty and staff levels, and physical space, and are unique to every campus. UCOP does not have the same level of local information or expertise to make these decisions on their behalf.”
Consistent with this response, UCOP will continue its current practice of asking for future year enrollment proposals and targets from each campus that adhere to the Compact goal of achieving the 2:1 ratio on a systemwide basis. UCOP intends to ask the campuses to consider the goal of this recommendation by ensuring that adequate transfer representation by discipline, program, or major is a consideration when campuses establish their future enrollment plans.
6-Month Agency Response
UCOP continued its practice of requesting future year enrollment proposals and targets from each campus that adhere to the goal of achieving the 2:1 ratio on a systemwide basis. In February, President Drake sent out the annual enrollment proposals letter that included systemwide progress on 2:1. During the monthly campus-UCOP enrollment planning consultations, UCOP reminded campuses to evaluate transfer representation by discipline, program, or major as they establish their future enrollment plans.
Recommendation 12
To ensure that a lack of course articulation is not a barrier to transfer, the three systems should collaborate by September 2026 to analyze articulation data and develop a plan for addressing the gaps in articulation that most negatively affect community college students. For example, the analysis could identify the articulation gaps that are most likely to reduce students’ chances of admission or to add to students’ total number of units or amount of time to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
September 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
UCOP will continue to collaborate with CSUCO and CCCCO representatives to ensure that lack of course articulation is not a barrier, now or in the future. Central to this goal are continued efforts to coordinate processes to ensure that the introduction of Cal-GETC and the roll-out of common course numbering do not present lasting articulation challenges.
As a contributing member of ASSIST’s Executive Management Oversight Committee as well as the fiscal agent for ASSIST, UCOP will collaboratively lead efforts for the ASSIST program to improve data reporting, articulation gap analyses and up to date transfer pathways data that can inform the alignment work underway as well as the strategic and on-going assessment of the most relevant articulation gaps.
6-Month Agency Response
UC continues to strategically partner with CSUCO and CCCCO to manage a seamless first review period for Cal-GETC, and as much as possible, ensure that CCCs systemwide will have full Cal-GETC offerings by fall 2025.
UC continues to participate in the Common Course Numbering Council, Development Workgroup and Technology Workgroup. Additionally, UC is monitoring the progress of Phase 1 CCN-template-aligned courses as they make their way through the Cal-GETC cycle. This is the planned “proof of concept” year per the CCN Steering Committee charge. Review outcomes for Phase 1 courses will be analyzed and any findings communicated back to ASCCC to enable them to include relevant feedback in future template development. UC faculty and staff continue to participate in advisory capacities in Phase 2 and Phase 3 template development for CCN.
Planned Data and Reporting Enhancements:
- ASSIST’s “No Course Articulation” tool is under development (with a slated release December 2025). This tool enables admin and users more easily identify the biggest articulation gaps (e.g. CCC courses in ASSIST that have no articulation with any UC or CSU).
- ASSIST’s “Single Course Search” tool is under development (with a slated release by September 2026). This tool enables broad searches across all participating institutions in ASSIST, allowing students to quickly assess how a specific course articulates at multiple destination universities).
- These tools will also enhance ASSIST’s ability to support comprehensive UC and CSU articulation gap analyses.
- UC has created 10 new transfer pathways, which will be entered into ASSIST’s database by fall 2025.
By 2026 these enhancements will enable holistic gap analyses of transfer pathways articulation, holistic gap analyses of Cal-GETC courses, and holistic gap analyses of available major preparation courses at CCCs to greatly improve the capacity of UC and CSU to report on and illustrate systemwide articulation successes and challenges.
Recommendation 15
To streamline and simplify campuses’ lower-division course requirements for transfer applicants in the most popular UC majors, the UC Office of the President should work with its Academic Senate and campuses to develop and begin implementing a plan by September 2026 for reviewing and updating the UC Transfer Pathways. Specifically, the plan should include the UC Office of the President taking the following actions for each UC Transfer Pathway:
- For pathways in which related ADT transfer model curricula exist, identify and publicly post which UC campuses agree to accept the ADT as sufficient coursework to be competitive for admission and to be able to earn a bachelor’s degree within a specified amount of time or units after transferring.
- For the UC campuses that do not accept the ADT as sufficient coursework, and for those pathways in which no related ADT transfer model curricula exist, update the pathway by establishing the community college courses that a student must complete before transferring to be competitive for admission and to be able to earn a bachelor’s degree within a specified amount of time or units after transferring. The Office of the President should limit the pathway to those courses that all participating campuses agree are reasonably necessary, and it should consider aligning these courses with any relevant ADT transfer model curricula.
- Regularly monitor articulation for pathway courses at participating UC campuses to ensure that the articulated pathway courses are available and consistent across community colleges.
- Require and evaluate rationales from any UC campuses that neither accept the ADT as sufficient coursework nor participate in the pathway.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Sept. 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
UC recognizes the ongoing work required to continue to improve transfer preparation alignment and attainment. During the most recent academic year, UCOP worked with the Academic Senate and campuses to develop 10 new transfer pathways, mostly in majors that do not have a corresponding ADT, aligned with 99 degrees across the UC system. UC’s Academic Senate also revised the existing UC transfer pathways in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, affirming the courses reasonably necessary across applicable degrees in the UC system, further improving alignment with the ADT transfer model curricula in these areas. The 10 new transfer pathways and 3 revised pathways, launched in fall 2024, are now available for students to follow.
Additionally, the UC Academic Senate will continue to participate in Transfer Alignment Project work, identifying and improving alignment wherever possible between additional ADT transfer model curricula and UC’s now 30 UC transfer pathways.
Finally, in light of this alignment work, UC campuses with the support of UCOP will continue to explore and affirm appropriate ADT preparation, beginning with UCLA’s ADT pilot.
6-Month Agency Response
UCLA’s ADT pilot program is underway. The alignment between existing TMCs and UC transfer pathways is one factor that UCLA and other UC’s will continue to take into account as they plan for enhanced communications around ADTs as preparation for transfer to UC.
(See reporting on progress for Recommendation 12 for more detail on the planned enhancements that will support these efforts).
Recommendation 22
To improve outreach efforts and help students transfer, the CCC Chancellor’s Office and the UC Office of the President should establish a formal agreement by September 2025 to share information for outreach and recruitment purposes about transfer-intending students in a manner permitted by FERPA and any other applicable privacy laws. The agreement should:
- Ensure that the information that CCC shares with UC is specific, detailed, and timely enough to allow UC campuses to conduct tailored outreach to students to help them transfer. In particular, the CCC Chancellor’s Office should evaluate its options for determining students’ intent to transfer and work with UC to ensure that the data it shares is useful for UC campuses’ outreach purposes.
- Specify that UC will also regularly share information with CCC about its students who successfully transferred, in a format and level of specificity that allows community colleges to assess the effectiveness of their transfer efforts.
Agency response status:
Fully implemented
Date of implementation:
March 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Fully implemented
60-Day Agency Response
UCOP plans to engage with the CCC Chancellor’s office to determine the feasibility and timeline for establishing a formal agreement at the system-level to receive timely and detailed prospective student information for UC’s outreach and recruitment purposes. For the purposes of providing CCCs with information to assess the effectiveness of their transfer efforts and until an efficient system level process can be developed, this fall, UC is providing each individual college or district an opportunity to participate in a data sharing program in which UC provides the college/district with a list of current year applicants and admission outcomes. Participation is only allowed once the college/district submits their agreement to comply with relevant privacy guidelines.
6-Month Agency Response
UCOP and the CCCCO have an existing data sharing agreement that allows the CCCCO to provide student contact information to UCOP for the purposes of recruitment. UCOP currently receives data twice a year for our recruitment endeavors and looks forward to receiving timelier data beginning in 2025-26 once the CCC system data infrastructure is enhanced.
Additionally, through the existing data sharing agreement, the CCCCO regularly receives information from UCOP about students who successfully transferred by which the community colleges are able to assess the effectiveness of their transfer efforts.
Finally, the longstanding UC-CCC Data Sharing Program is also responsive to the California State Auditor’s recommendation to establish a formal agreement to share information for outreach and recruitment purposes about transfer-intending students in a manner permitted by FERPA and any other applicable privacy laws. All California community colleges are invited to participate in the UC-CCC Data Sharing Program, and the current participation rate is 45 percent.
Public Reasoning Behind State Auditor Assessment
The UC Office of the President provided a data sharing agreement and additional evidence that it has received and shared relevant data, including receiving contact information for potential transfer students. Officials at both the UC Office of the President and the CCC Chancellor’s Office indicated that this recommendation has been fully implemented.
Recommendations to the Legislature
Recommendation 7
To help create transfer pathways for students in majors that require a large number of units, the Legislature should amend state law to allow certain transfer model curricula for the ADT, such as in STEM fields, to exceed the existing lower-division 60-unit requirement, if both the CCC and CSU systems agree. The Legislature should include conditions for this unit expansion, such as when many community colleges or CSU campuses have demonstrated an inability to fit courses within the 60-unit requirement for that particular transfer model curriculum.
Recommendation 8
To ensure that community college students can centrally access the information they need to prepare for transfer, the Legislature should require all CSU campuses—and should request all UC campuses—to publish their existing articulation agreements and transfer requirements on ASSIST rather than only on their own external websites. Further, articulation agreements for preparation in each major should use a standardized format or common language to describe lower-division requirements so that it is clear to students whether taking specific courses will impact their chances of admission or the time it will take them to earn a bachelor’s degree after transferring.
Recommendation 9
To ensure that CSU, UC, and CCC continue to make progress on streamlining transfer requirements for students, the Legislature should consider appropriating funding and requiring annual status reporting for the following efforts:
- Developing or revising transfer model curricula and expanding the ADT’s use.
- Aligning CSU and UC transfer requirements.
- Identifying and reducing barriers to further articulation between community college courses and CSU and UC transfer requirements.
