Cal State LA has once again been named a Pathway Champion for its work in strengthening the transfer process between community colleges and the university.

The university is among 40 California State University (CSU) campuses and California community colleges receiving this year’s honor from the nonprofit Campaign for College Opportunity.

The awards were presented during “Pathway Champions: Celebrating Colleges Building Seamless Paths to Student Success,” a virtual event held yesterday, Oct. 22, in recognition of National Transfer Week.

“Transfer students bring individual talent, experience, and determination that strengthen our shared Cal State LA community,” President Berenecea Johnson Eanes said. “I’m grateful to our community college partners for helping students build on their achievements and carry that momentum toward a bachelor’s degree.”

The Pathway Champion awards honor campuses implementing equitable placement reforms under Assembly Bills 705 and 1705, which aim to maximize student success in transfer-level courses at community colleges, and strengthening Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) pathways, which streamline transfer from community colleges to CSU campuses.

The awards recognize achievement in four categories: Pathway Champion of Placement, Pathway Champion of Placement Equity, Pathway Champion of Transfer, and Pathway Champion of Transfer Equity. The placement categories recognize community colleges, while the transfer categories recognize both community colleges and CSU campuses.

The nonprofit recognized Cal State LA as a Pathway Champion of Transfer for campuswide ADT implementation, and as a Pathway Champion of Transfer Equity for ADT implementation for Latinx students.

Pathway Champion of Transfer 

Cal State LA earned the campuswide ADT implementation honor because more than half of its incoming 2025 undergraduate transfer students from California community colleges were ADT earners, and more than half of those ADT earners were on a guaranteed pathway.

Pathway Champion of Transfer Equity 

Cal State LA earned the ADT implementation honor for Latinx students because more than half of its incoming 2025 Latinx undergraduate transfer students from California community colleges were ADT earners, and more than half of those ADT earners were on a guaranteed pathway.

“The CSU Transfer Champion award recognizes CSU campuses who have been successful at enrolling transfer students on ADT guaranteed paths,” said Jessie Ryan, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, in a congratulatory letter. “The Transfer Champion for Latinx Students highlights universities who have been successful at enrolling Latinx transfer students on ADT guaranteed paths. This achievement underscores the extraordinary efforts of your faculty and staff to ensure all students, especially those historically underrepresented, have the opportunity to succeed.”

According to the nonprofit, for California to thrive, students need clear and equitable pathways to and through higher education. The organization reported that 64% of California students attend a community college. It also cited that only 19% of transfer-intending community college students do so within four years of initial enrollment. The four-year transfer rates were just 16% for Latinx students and 13% for Black students.

The Campaign for College Opportunity is a California-based nonprofit that champions student-centered higher education policies and works to dismantle inequitable systems, eliminate educational, income, and wealth inequities, and achieve racial equity and economic justice for the state’s students.