In an effort to help its community college students continue their education while also improving the enrollment of HBCUs, California’s 112-campus community college system launched a new program that guarantees student admission to nine HBCUs if they graduate with an associate degree.
Under this
new deal, students with 60 community college credits will be eligible to transfer to any of the nine participating HBCU institutions as a junior. While the agreement is similar to the existing transfer deal between the community college system and the state’s university system, it expands the college options for students as there are no HBCUs in California.[Related: Apple to Donate More than $40 Million to Thurgood Marshall College Fund]
“It just seemed natural and the timing seemed right to say, let’s take a shot at applying that
pathway to HBCUs,” Bob Quinn, who handles transfer policy for the the state’s community college chancellor’s office. “Because we’ve been hearing for years how well our students do after transferring there.”In 2011 — the last year for which data was available — 500 California community college students transferred to HBCUs. With this new partnership, students will have easier access to transfer to the following nine schools: Bennett College, Fisk University, Dillard University, Lincoln University in Missouri, Philander Smith College, Stillman College, Talladega, Tuskegee University and Wiley College.