Courtesy photo.
SANTA BARBARA — Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) will host more than 70 colleges and universities on its West Campus Great Meadow on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., for its annual College Transfer Fair — a large scale example of the many ways the college has championed transfer success for its students, especially in recent years.
Students who are just starting their college education, plan to transfer to a four-year college in Fall 2024, or are somewhere in between, can explore their higher education possibilities with representatives from the University of California; California State University; and California private/independent, out-of-state, and international institutions. The Transfer Fair is a community event and all are welcome to attend.
Wednesday’s Transfer Fair is a unique opportunity for students to learn about admissions requirements, academic programs, financial aid and scholarships, and housing from SBCC representatives and visiting universities. The day’s events will also feature free food by Chef Rene Herrera (burgers, hot dogs, drinks and snacks), a photo booth, music, transfer games and prizes, and free university and SBCC swag.
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SBCC is known for its excellent transfer rates to four-year colleges and universities (see chart below), and the University Transfer Center (UTC) is a main driver of the college’s commitment to ensuring that students are provided every opportunity to succeed in both their academic and personal lives. This is done through partnerships with four-year institutions, a highly transferable curriculum, and a comprehensive University Transfer Center. The UTC’s services include supporting students in 1) exploring their transfer university options, 2) learning about transfer admission requirements, 3) creating a transfer plan, and 4) guiding them through the transfer admission application process.
The SBCC University Transfer Academy (UTA) and Transfer Achievement Program (TAP) are umbrella programs to the UTC, and work in partnership to guide students through the college transfer process.
Fulfilling its mission to ensure a “transfer culture” by providing comprehensive support services to empower, inform, and educate students seeking to transfer to a four-year institution, the SBCC University Transfer Academy (UTA) provides quality, holistic professional services responsive to students’ needs with the goals of increasing visibility, awareness of services, access to transfer information and building four-year Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) partnerships.
Through the UTA, the college offers guaranteed admission, more commonly referred to as a Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG), to a collection of universities that offer the transfer guarantee agreement, including six UC campuses — among them, the University of Santa Barbara (UCSB). Students registered in SBCC’s TAG program who meet and maintain stated admission and major requirements are guaranteed admission to one of these universities.
“The University Transfer Academy at SBCC is without a doubt one of the most beneficial programs on campus.” said former SBCC student Kate Feeter. “In addition to providing the best possible advice to its students, the University Transfer Academy gave me a support system which ultimately gave me the drive to succeed in all my classes. I can honestly say that without the continued support of the SBCC University Transfer Academy, I would not have been able to transfer to UCLA as a microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics major.”
The SBCC Transfer Achievement Program (TAP) is designed to assist underrepresented students who are planning to transfer to a college or university by increasing student involvement and responsibility in transfer-related activity to help them reach their transfer goals. In this way, college transfer goal attainment is approached as collaboration among students and transfer support services, which has been shown to be more effective in increasing transfer rates than individual and fragmented efforts.
“The Transfer Achievement Program was instrumental and invaluable in my transfer process,” said SBCC and Stanford University class of ‘24 alumni Ezekiel Contreras-Forrest. “The TAP program helped me realize my dream of transferring to the best university in the country. I remember going on campus visits with TAP and by doing so I was able to visualize myself in these spaces. JennyErika (Barko, Ed.D) and her team always made sure I was ahead of the deadlines and even went the extra mile to help me revise my applications before I submitted them. When I set my intention to transfer to a prestigious university like Stanford they made sure I took the necessary steps to make sure that my goal was in reach. Not only did they guide me in the process but they also pushed me to take extra measures. They truly went above and beyond for all the students in our transfer class and I believe that’s what helped us reach our transfer goals.”
