F
luttering gently
in the wake of
the countless
students flitting
in and out, colorful pennants
of name-brand colleges form a
kaleidoscope on the ceiling of
Pali’s College Center.
Before the pandemic
turned classroom life into a
blurred memory, the tiny room
on the edge of campus served
as the springboard for the next
stage of our lives. These dan-
gling reminders communicated
our purpose as students: get
good grades, get into a good
college.
This culture permeates Pali
and its neighboring affluent
communities. From the college
decision Instagram pages to
the alumni car license plates
that line surrounding streets, it
is plain to see that a four-year
college is considered the gold
standard for higher education.
Every AP class, every all-night-
er — all to attain this glimmer-
ing ideal.
Enter 2020. The corona-
virus wreaked havoc not only
in death toll, but on people’s
paychecks and mental health.
For many students and their
families, money and morale are
both running dangerously low.
To add insult to injury, the
removal of the SAT require-
ment created an application
influx, causing 2021
acceptance rates to
plummet.
The real-
ity, simply
put, is that
thousands
of these
students
opened
the dreaded “We are sorry to
inform you” on their screens
in March and April. With the
heavy emotional strain of appli-
cation season, many students
are asking themselves this
question: Is a four-year college
even worth all this?
For many, this traditional
course of action simply isn’t fea-
sible — certainly under these
circumstances. However, there
are plenty of viable alternatives
students may already be at least
vaguely aware of. For instance,
Cal State Universities typically
have lower GPA cutoffs, high-
er acceptance rates and great
pre-professional programs.
Trade schools offer a target-
ed education for real-world
careers. Community colleges
and other institutions grant as-
sociate’s degrees that can open
the door to a multitude of newpossibilities. Invaluable tools
for social mobility, these routes
provide educational opportu-
nities for students pragmatic
about the costs and benefits of
higher education.
But for the students star-
ry-eyed at the thought of name-
brand colleges, what if there
was another way? What if you
could get a degree from your
dream college while saving
thou- sandsEditorialEditorial by Paige Snepp and Anouk Wijeratne
2222
of dollars?
Spoiler alert: It involves
Santa Monica College (SMC).
Yes, that SMC. The classic
mantra, “Please, anywhere but
SMC,” is the Pali equivalent of
the warning pushed by many
parents: “You don’t want to
end up flipping burgers at
McDonald’s, do you?”
This sentiment surges in
popularity during college appli-
cation season and is steeped
with elitist implications that
few bother to unpack. Stu-
dents bound for SMC are
typically met with veiled conde-
scension or outright derision
from their peers bound for
top-tier institutions.
Community college emerg-
es as a rusty spoke on the post-
high school wheel, ingrained
into the teenage psyche as in-
herently inferior. Ironically, thevery students perpetuating this
harmful cycle of stigmatization
are the ones who would benefit
from community college. Or
rather, transferring from one.
Transferring, a practical
and accessible option, is rarely
touched upon in Pali college
discussions, meetings or pre-
sentations. As of now, it is an
easter egg passed on by word-
of-mouth, one that only the
most savvy students unearth.
And yet the concept is simple:
Spend one or two years at
community college bar-
reling through basic
requirements, then
transfer to a four-
year university
and receive
a bachelor’s
degree from
the more
“presti-gious” institution.
In the current climate, this
approach is increasingly benefi-
cial for an array of reasons.
Transfer acceptance rates
are typically higher than
freshmen acceptance rates at
most colleges (except for those
with very high retention rates,
such as Harvard or Stanford).
Thus, students can still reap
the benefits of alumni networks
and other perks that elite
colleges have to offer, all at half
the price.
For those whose finances
were battered by the pandem-
ic, the proximity and affordabil-
ity of two years of community
college allows these students
to support their families and
ease spending. Students can
also improve their GPA in
those two years to elevate their
chances at a college that mayhave been out of reach during
their senior year of high school.
No matter their back-
ground, Pali students consider-
ing transferring stand to bene-
fit from a tremendous resource
right at their fingertips: the
aforementioned SMC.
The oft-scorned commu-
nity college is the number one
transfer college to University of
California (UC) schools. SMC
has forged agreements with
all of the UC schools to make
the transferring process as
seamless as possible (viewable
on websites such as ASSIST.
org). In general, more than
85 percent of junior transfer
students accepted into the UC
system arrive from California
community colleges. SMC
also fosters a feasible pathway
to a number of highly-ranked
institutions; it is the numberTRANSFERTRANSFER
No matter their
background, Pali students
considering transferring stand
to benefit from a tremendous
resource right at their fingertips:
the aforementioned SMC.