Nearly half, 41.82 percent, of Roseville High School’s 2016 graduating class went on to attend a community college last year. According to counselor Graciela Fernandez, many of these students go with the intention of transferring to a four-year university. However, according to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO), only 4.2 percent of Sierra community college students enrolled in the cohort 2008-’9 school year transferred after two years of attendance, and 3.4 percent of American River college students transferred the same year. The CCCCO does not have statistics for subsequent years.

According to some high school and community college counselors, the problem stems from students inability to chart their own educational path and unwillingness to seek help. American River College Transfer Center director Joe Rust, believes that students who don’t utilize their counselors miss out on important guidance for those looking to transfer.

“A lot of students don’t take advantage of the counselors,” Rust said. “They don’t have enough confidence going into community college and feel they aren’t transfer worthy.”

RHS counselor Graciela Fernandez said the drastic change in individual responsibility that occurs in a student’s first year of college accounts for students’ ineligibility out of a community to transfer to a four-year.

“Students in high school are used to having a counselor they can check in with and that will call them in all the time to say, ‘Hey I noticed you struggled in this class. What’s going on? What can we do? How can we work with the teachers who are there to support you?’” Fernandez said. “While in college it’s really up to the student to do that themselves. You lose that counseling safety net.”

RHS alumnus Logan Stahl attended ARC for two years after graduating high school in 2014 to pursue his passion in running. Eastern Washington university recruited Stahl to compete in cross country as well as track and field while he attended ARC.

According to Stahl, students getting distracted and frustrated leads to difficulty transferring.

“The biggest thing is that people get caught up and they don’t know what they’re doing,” Stahl said. “They don’t declare a major. They don’t figure out what classes they need to take. They aren’t super active in making sure they’re taking the classes they need to. They’re not going in and seeing counselors.”

A student must complete 60 units of transferable semester units or 90 transferable quarter units, meet a minimum GPA, as well as fulfill the specific requirements for their respective desired major and/or school to transfer from a community college to a CSU or a UC.

According to Fernandez, students should finalize their decision of their major earlier when planning to transfer from a community college to a four-year due to the the individual transfer requirements for each degree.

“Use the time you have in high school to explore all the different types of electives and find a career choice that maybe you’ve never thought about [because] it’s that first year of community college where kids can get lost, because the safety nets they had in high school are gone,” Fernandez said.

RHS alumnus Chris Anderson discovered his passion for environmental science during his time in high school. He is currently studying at University of California, Santa Barbara.

“I took an AP Environmental Science course my senior year,” Anderson said. “I really enjoyed it, excelled in it and I was hooked and that’s still my major today,”

Anderson began his first year at UCSB as a junior. He completed his first two years of college at Sierra.

According to Anderson, counselors guide students in the right direction toward their education and career goals.

“I would suggest going to counseling once a semester to get help determining which courses to take specific to your major and specific to the school you want to transfer to,” Anderson said. “You just have to really utilize the resources you have at your availability [and] at the end of the day you’re paying, with your student fees, for those counselors to give you the information you need to succeed.”

According to Anderson, the counselor at Sierra college provided him with tools and websites such as Assist.org, an online student-transfer information system that shows how course credits are transferred between California public colleges, that helped plan out his path to transferring to the school and major of his choice.

“I could use those websites and really plan out and schedule the courses I was going to take and sign up for when I had the opportunity to,” Anderson said.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ research indicates that public university tuition is up by more than 60% in California since the 2007-2008 school year. Fernandez said students who choose community college over a four-year for financial reasons will be affected by increased tuition, narrowed course selection, and higher student/faculty ratio due to budget cuts. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the California community college budget was cut more than $1.5 billion from 2007-2012. These budget cuts concern teachers, students and parents considering the consistent population increase in the California community college system each year.

Fernandez said students should be concerned with the continuous growth in community college enrollment and lack of adequate funding for the growing amount of students.

“When I went [to community college], not as many classes were so impacted,” Fernandez said. “Any time I needed to make an appointment with my counselor, I could go in that morning and have my appointment that same day, as opposed to now. Students will go in and not be able to see their counselor for a couple weeks.”

Rust hopes that community college will move to a statewide assessment to further streamline the transfer process.

“We have an assessment in English, Math, ESL, and Chem, to place them in classes,” Rust said. “It doesn’t appropriately assess them, and some students get frustrated and drop out.”

According to Rust, some UC schools looks to make the transfer process for students easier and more efficient by standardizing requirements for different majors to provide more opportunities for community college students.

“For the top twenty one majors — they’re going to make all the transfer requirements the same to streamline the process,” Rust said.

Fernandez acknowledges the appeal in students starting their post high school careers at a community college.

“There’s students that maybe they’re not quite sure what they want to study or where they want to go,” Fernandez said. “It makes sense to pursue their general education at a community college where it’s a lot less expensive than a four-year university.”

According to Stahl attending a community college to chase your dreams is nothing to be ashamed of.

“I think there’s kind of a stigma of going to a [junior college], when all your friends are going to bigger schools,” Stahl said. “But I feel like if you’re going to a JC to do a sport you love then it’s not a big deal to focus on what you’re doing and not anyone else, JC gives you a couple more years to expand on your skills.”

According to Anderson students should not disregard the opportunities that a community college presents.

“Don’t overlook the opportunity to go to a junior college, it’s definitely a time where you can improve your situation and save up a lot of money, perhaps graduate a four-year with no debt,” Anderson said. “Even if you see your friends having a really great time and you happen to be going to a community college just know there is still time to experience that.”

Proposition 30 temporarily increased personal income taxes on the highest earners following the 2012 election and funded public schools’ goal of increasing the standard of education in the state.

The California Extension of Proposition 30, Proposition 55 is geared towards the same goal and will be voted on through the November 8 ballot.