Unit
increase planned for transfer students
By Maritza Diaz
On-line Forty-Niner
The
California State University Board of Trustees
has approved to increase the number of transfer
units required for a student to be eligible
for admission to the California State University
system.
The proposal was brought to the trustees’
attention and passed with a unanimous vote,
said Clara Potes-Fellow, public affairs
spokeswoman for the CSU system.
Beginning in fall 2005, students will be
required to complete a minimum of 60 transferable
units to be eligible for upper-division
admission, according to the trustees’ agenda.
Currently a student may transfer to Cal
State Long Beach with a minimum of 56 units
as an upper-division transfer but technically
still be a sophomore, lower-division class
standing.
A major consideration for this new amendment
had to deal with “avoiding confusion among
students and counselors with regard to financial
aid eligibility and classification by CSU
as juniors or sophomores,” Potes-Fellow
said.
A junior class standing requires a student
to have completed a minimum of 60 units.
Although transfer students who have completed
the minimum of 56 units are considered upper-division,
the CSU system considers them sophomores,
which may cause some inconveniences.
“[Students] may receive a lower priority
for course registration in upper-division
classes,” Potes-Fellow said.
This new change will also help CSULB students
in regards to the kind of financial aid
available for their class standing.
“Junior standing affects the maximum amount
a student can take out under the Stafford
Loan Program during that year,” said Tom
Enders, assistant vice president of Enrollment
Services.
Dependent students who are classified as
sophomores may apply for a loan of $3,500.
A dependent student who is a classified
as a junior may apply for a loan of $5,500,
according to the CSULB enrollment services
Web site. The different loan guidelines
may affect how a student manages his or
her money.
The new development, which is still two
years away, is not expected to cause any
major problems in the way transfer students
are admitted to CSULB.
“It will align the entrance requirements
with both the requirement to be a ‘junior’
for class standing and to be a ‘junior’
for financial aid purposes,” said Enders.
“We will obviously have to communicate the
new requirement to students and the campus.
We will have to make minor changes to the
computer system for this change as well
as update our procedures for the staff who
actually admit students.”
The decision to increase the units was supported
by CSU student and campus organizations
and is not expected to create any negative
reactions, Potes-Fellow said.
Upper division transfers have risen since
1998 from 2,764 to 3,523 in 2002, according
to the Institutional Research Web site.
Some current CSULB students do not consider
the four-unit increase to be a problem.
“I had 70 units when I transferred. I took
a lot of classes that I wanted to take and
they all happen to be transferable,” said
Israel Agustin, a junior computer science
major who transferred from Santa Monica
College.
Erwin Julian, a senior majoring in graphics
agrees that the increase is a good idea.
“In a way it is good. It reduced the number
of people on campus. They can take more
classes at a junior college before transferring,”
Julian said.
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