OCC hits No. 2 in transfers

Deirdre Newman

The community college’s reputation as a high-transfer school was

further solidified Monday when statistics released showed it ranks

No. 2 out of California’s 108 community colleges in the overall

number of students it transferred last year to the nine University of

California campuses and the 23-campus California State University

campuses.

However, when looking at those school systems individually, Orange

Coast College tops the list of transfers to the Cal State system and

ranks No. 5 in transfers to the UC system, according to figures the

California Postsecondary Education Commission released Monday.

These numbers reflect a 5.7% increase of transfers to the Cal

State system and a 10.5% jump in UC transfers, both higher than the

state average.

The school has been channeling more resources into its transfer

center and the efforts are paying off, said Jim Carnett, OCC’s

spokesman.

“The center offers our own students opportunities every day to

talk with representatives from other four-year schools to check with

their progress and make sure they’re taking the right courses,”

Carnett said. “And we’ve made an effort to increase our transfer

numbers, which have always been high.”

The school’s efforts reflect a statewide initiative to increase

transfers to four-year schools, Carnett said.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.