TRANSFERTRANSFER
Tideline
one source of transfers to Uni-
versity of Southern California
and the number one source on
the west coast for Columbia
University.
Additionally, as part of his
proposed American Families
Plan, President Joe Biden is
pushing for two years of free
community college. The plan
not only allocates $109 billion
toward community college,
but also has provisions for
directing $80 billion toward
Pell Grants and $62 billion for
“completion and retention ef-
forts” at predominantly minori-
ty-serving colleges, according
to The Daily Press.
It is possible that this devel-
opment may make community
college free in the coming years
and decrease the cost of attend-
ing post-transfer institutions,
increasing retention rates forstudents who are in the most
need.
Despite all of its advantag-
es and optimistic future pros-
pects, Pali’s College Center
does not highlight transferring
as an option for the vast majori-
ty of students.
“We do not emphasize this
to students,” said Karen Ellis,
Pali’s Director of College
Advising. “Two-year college
is an option if they are seeking
to obtain a higher GPA before
transferring to a four-year (it
opens more doors for them)
or if they are looking for cost
saving routes to a four-year
college.”
Ellis continued, “It is totally
up to the student and what
their plans are for college.”
While the College Center
acknowledges the beneficial
reasons for transferring, itassumes
that stu-
dents can
make a ful-
ly informed
decision
— barring
the fact that
the only option
consistently present-
ed to them from the
moment they stepped onto
Pali’s campus is the traditional
four-year college experience.
Torrents of information-
al meetings, college visits
advertised on Schoology and
casual conversations regarding
the future point in this direc-
tion. Because they have been
spoon-fed this college narra-
tive, teens may be more willing
to swallow the five-figure price
tags that come with it.
The option of transfer-ring, and other alternatives
in general, are tacked on as
an afterthought to those who
have already subscribed to this
mode of thinking. The burden
is placed on the student to
not only research their alter-
natives, but to also mentally
distance themselves from the
four-year-college-oriented
culture perpetuated by both
students and the College
Center.
For the Class of 2021 in
particular, it feels as though
the College Center has left
students on autopilot. Receiv-
ing little to no guidance due
to distance learning, students
have had to navigate the col-
lege process almost entirely on
their own.
“Students have not been
able to benefit from in-person
workshops and informationalses-
sions normally
given by the College Center,”
Ellis stated. “College visits
from representatives are all
done virtually rather than
in-person.”
She continued: “I feel that
distributing information to
students has been challenging
because students do not always
check Schoology messages.
We have tried many waysto distribute information to
students and it seems that they
still don’t all receive it.”
While in-person counsel-
ing may have presented extra
options, the online transition
has stripped Pali’s counseling
model to its most basic skele-
ton — four-year college above
all else. The vast majority of
the resources that students do
receive is all centered around
this idea. Students relied on
their gut instincts more than
tailored counseling during this
college cycle, as many students
were unable to meet their
counselors at all. And what,
other than years of emphasis
on going directly to a four-year
college, is going to inform this
gut instinct?
While the College Center
is not the root of this Hog-
warts-like mentality towardattending
the perfect
four-year
college, it
does little
to temper it.
This cycle must
be broken. The
College Center
should bring alter-
native routes to higher
education to the forefront
of the college conversation,
namely transferring. It should
frame community college not
as a last-ditch approach but a
pragmatic option open to all
students — not just those who
are struggling.
Now more than ever, it has
become essential that these
conversations take place to
eliminate stigma and
reopen various
avenues of
tack-ling
higher
education.
Pali needs to ac-
knowledge the problem
and do its part to deemphasize
the classic four-year college
standard.
We as students acknowl-
edge that the College Center
has been under significant
pressure due to the pandemic,
and we appreciate what they
have been able to achieve un-
der the circumstances. Still, the
issue cannot be pushed aside
any longer. Counselors move
on to a new batch of students
every year, but we are the ones
stuck with the decisions once
we leave. If Pali truly wants to
tailor its guidance to meet indi-
vidual student needs, it should
take immediate steps towards
restructuring its counseling
philosophy.More than 85 percent of junior
transfer students accepted
into the UC system
arrive from California
community colleges.