Mentorship is a word you’ll hear frequently in the collegiate sphere. As undergraduate students, we’re always encouraged to seek out mentors – professors, club leaders, counselors, internship coordinators, and more --– to help shape us into the people we’re destined to become.
I’m a community college transfer attending the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and am currently spending my fall quarter interning and studying at Washington, D.C., through the University of California's Washington Program.To say that the mentoring and support I received had a profound impact on my life would be a huge understatement. I’m immensely privileged and grateful to have received dedicated guidance from my professors and counselors here at UC San Diego – and yet, as I intern with the Association of Community College Trustees, I find myself thinking back to the guidance that helped me discover my direction and transfer from my local community college in the first place.
Initially, I didn’t choose to attend community college. I had originally planned to attend a 4-year university right after high school, but I ultimately chose to attend Diablo Valley College and transfer to a UC of my choice just a week before the enrollment deadline. I knew that attending community college would allow me to effectively transfer the credits I’d accumulated through AP courses and dual enrollment, save money, and give me a better chance at getting into a UC – but beyond that, I didn’t know much about the transfer process.
The TAG allows California Community College students to receive guaranteed admission to one of six participating UCs, provided that their GPA remains above a certain threshold.
Although my decision to attend community college was a last-minute one, I was determined to make the most of my experience. Right after I graduated high school, I began to explore the different resources available to students. Finding these resources was a bit of an arduous process; I spent hours scouring online forums and websites to find the best and easiest resources available to prospective transfer students. Once I started attending classes at my community college, however, I quickly realized that there was a plethora of resources available to transfer students – such as college fairs, counseling, seminars, and college preparatory courses. Furthermore, my college also promoted publicly available resources to California Community College students – like Assist.org (a website that clarified course articulation agreements between CA community colleges and the California State University system), and the UC Transfer Admission Planner (UC TAP)-- a transfer planning tool for students planning to transfer to a UC.
UC TAP was an incredibly helpful tool in my journey. Not only did it allow me to plan out all my courses in community college, but it also provided me with valuable access to counselors at several UCs, peer mentors, and transfer guidance. Perhaps the most important benefit of UC TAP, however, was the Transfer Admission Guarantee, or TAG, system. The TAG allows California Community College students to receive guaranteed admission to one of six participating UCs, provided that their GPA remains above a certain threshold. UC TAP remains one of the most comprehensive partnerships between 2-year and 4-year institutions, and has enabled countless community college students to pursue a bachelor’s degree at some of the best universities in the nation.
UC TAP remains one of the most comprehensive partnerships between 2-year and 4-year institutions, and has enabled countless community college students to pursue a bachelor’s degree at some of the best universities in the nation.
Although the transfer process ended up working out in my favor, this unfortunately isn’t the case for many community college students. According to a2023 report by the Center for Community College Student Engagement(CCCSE), even though 83% of students attending a community college intend to transfer to a 4-year institution, only about 32% of community college students actually end up transferring. The study goes on to identify why students weren’t transferring – mostly because many students felt like the transfer process was difficult and did not know where or how to find accessible resources to help them on their journey. About half of the community college students included in the 2023 survey were not aware of the transfer resources available at their community colleges; furthermore, among the students who were aware of such resources, only around a quarter of those students ended up using those services. Ultimately, the transfer students who were able to successfully transfer to 4-year universities, according to the study, were those who already had prior knowledge about the transfer process.
This isn’t a new problem, but it is a concerning one. Even though community colleges offer transfer resources to their students, it’s important to note that the transfer process is a two-way street; a partnership between community colleges and 4-year institutions. According toJohn Fink, a senior research associate at the Community College Research Center (CCRC), the burden of facilitating the transfer process is often placed upon community colleges. Issues such as course articulation, financial aid, and transfer course requirements can be difficult for community colleges to effectively handle and communicate with 4-year institutions.
The transfer process, according to Fink, ought to be addressed collectively, with community colleges and 4-year institutions working together to ease the burden on students. Initiatives such as dual-admission partnerships and the Transfer Scholar Network allow community college students to interact directly with 4-year universities, learn more about what it means to be a student attending a university, and gain clarity on the transfer admissions process.
Something that can also be helpful for students is peer mentorship and conversations with former community college transfers. Peer mentorship, both before and after transfer, has been shown to help transfer students acclimate better to their university, and mitigates the impact of “transfer shock”(a phenomenon in which transfer students, often overwhelmed by larger class sizes and a difference in school policies, face an initial drop in their GPA). Personally, I can testify to the importance of peer mentorship. Although the transfer process was initially daunting to me, being able to speak freely with counselors and former community college students attending my target universities helped to assuage many of my doubts and fears. Learning about the academic and social environments at these schools further helped me identify tools and resources that would help me successfully adjust to a larger university environment, and gave me the confidence that I needed to flourish in a new setting.
At UCSD, I have had the opportunity to foster this relationship between 2- and 4-year institutions – only from the other side! As a Transfer Peer Mentor, I’ve spoken with many prospective transfer students, most of whom attend a California Community College. Each of these students come with questions and concerns regarding the (often overwhelming) transition between community college and the UC system – but all of them are eager to make the most of their transfer experiences.
Every time I speak to one of these students, it feels like I’m speaking to myself from two years ago. I’d like to think that, by providing some guidance and mentorship to these students, I’m doing my part to establish a stronger relationship between my university and community colleges; that I’m helping transfer students acclimate comfortably to a new environment and achieve their goal of obtaining a bachelor’s degree. Mentorship programs like the one at my university are so vital for community college transfers, and have made it clear to me that partnerships between 2- and 4-year institutions have real, tangible benefits for their students. My own lived experience has shown me that helpful resources exist at both the community college and university levels, and creating bridges between the two can help make the transfer process far more accessible to students. I firmly believe that, by establishing and maintaining strong transfer mentorship programs between 2-year and 4-year colleges, we can ensure that more students not only successfully transfer to a 4-year institution, but graduate from those institutions, enter the workforce, and fulfill their dreams.
Rakshithaa Jaiganesh is ACCT's Fall 2026 Public Policy Intern.
Photo: Rakshithaa, standing with her local state assembly member, Rebecca Bauer-Kahan. Rakshithaa interned with Asm. Bauer-Kahan in the winter of 2025 – an internship that Diablo Valley College helped her find through their career-building resources & connections.
