Qualifying California community college students will now have a chance of guaranteed transfer admission into a select few University of California campuses.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which was announced on April 11, 2018, will guarantee admissions to students who follow the UC pathway and meet the GPA requirements, beginning in the fall of 2019.

California community college students already have the option of signing a Transfer Admission Guaranteed agreement, otherwise known as a TAG agreement. The TAG agreement is offered for six different UC campuses, excluding UCLA, UCSD, and UC Berkeley; this will stay intact.

The MOU is not the same as the TAG agreement though there is not much information available about the MOU agreement. However, the Transfer Center in Building 2 is aware of the new agreement and is preparing for any information they receive.

“We have no details with the new agreement. It’s a waiting game to see what the UC’s rollout,” Lucy Jovel, a Skyline College Counselor/Transfer Center Coordinator said. “Until we have more information on the new agreement we can’t plan, but we can prepare and stay on top of it.”

The University of California website shows that for the fall 2017 semester, 164 Skyline College students enrolled in the UC system; however, this data does not represent the number of applicants or admitted students. Jovel stated, that based on the information that the Transfer Center tracks currently 33 percent of students have signed TAG agreements.

In an attempt to increase the accessibility of UCs for community college students, the MOU has outlined a series of steps and efforts for students to reach their goal of higher education.

“There is a push to get more of our community college students because we know that our community college students are filled with bright young minds,” Jovel said. “A good majority are students of color that we need to get up to the UC level.”

In addition to UCs receiving a higher number of transfer students, Jovel shared that community college students will get a chance to get some breathing relief.

“The benefits are endless if you have a guarantee then you could take a deep breath,” Jovel said. “With this guarantee, it is guaranteeing that they have that option, they have the capability to see that it is accessible it’s not something that only a certain group of students can do.”

The Transfer Center hosts a number of UC workshops that assist with student preparedness for the application season. In addition, the Transfer Center brings in representatives that are advising students throughout their transfer process

“Transfer starts day one,” Jovel said. “I know that it gets overwhelming … come into the transfer and you don’t need to do transfer alone.”

Since the implementation of the MOU won’t begin until fall 2019 students who are transferring this fall and/or spring the MOU won’t be an option.

Daniel Imseeh, a business student at Skyline, was not aware of this new agreement and while he is almost done so he is not encouraged to follow the UC path he does think it will be easier for future transfer students.

“It easier for students to transfer than for them to stay in trouble and have to retake classes,” said Imseeh.

Cindy Amaya, a psychology student at Skyline, believes that new agreement is beneficial for students; however, she herself didn’t follow a UC Pathway.

“A lot of students study really hard to get into a UC, and then sometimes they don’t and it’s really upsetting,” Amaya said. “The reason I’m not applying is that I would have to stay longer. If I knew that I was going to get in I probably would have followed the IGETC (Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum) path because, in the end, I would just know it would be worth it.”