Rethinking Higher Education

Graduates of two-year community colleges deserve a crack at California’s public universities. About 45,000 community-college graduates annually move on to state universities, but fewer than 5,000 move to the campuses of the University of California.

A proposal by the Commission for the Review of the Master Plan for Higher Education would encourage universities to make more room for transfer students by aiming for a student-body mix that is 40% freshmen and sophomores and 60% juniors and seniors. That is a reasonable goal. The formula is not new, and was a way of life before so many freshmen began bypassing community colleges and going directly to four-year campuses.

The commission hopes that its plan would also encourage the community-college system to create an academic atmosphere more attractive to students whose real goal is a bachelor’s degree. Al that will take is money and vigilance.

Gov. George Deukmejian has been generous with the universities, but they need another $200 million a year just for new buildings to accommodate all eligible California students.

The governor has been stingy with the community colleges, but that is changing. Two-year colleges have suffered more than other campuses have under the tax reductions of Proposition 13, but current budget proposals would provide a more reasonable 7.4% increase--with $14 million specifically designated for a comprehensive assessment and placement process.

What the community colleges need more, however, is a funding formula to replace the antiquated system under which their income is based on their enrollment. A measure--AB 1725, sponsored by Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara)--would change the financing formula, require more full-time faculty members and mandate a stronger transfer program in exchange for more money, $100 million. We support the measure, and so should the Legislature and the governor.

Community colleges, with their more than 1 million students, must work harder, but they cannot do it alone. Four-year campuses also must make room for more transfer students. UCLA and UC Berkeley, the preferred campuses, now guarantee that students who qualify but are steered to other campuses will have a place in their junior class if they make the grade at neighboring community colleges. Other campuses should adopt that policy. The UC system should also adopt a state college policy that allows transfers by students who follow curriculum guidelines that are in place when they start community college, even if the requirements later change.

California has a system of public higher education without peer in the nation. The University of California is second to none. The state colleges provide strong undergraduate experiences. To round out the system, community colleges need shoring up--not at the expense of the rest of the system, but as partners in the master plan.