[Editor’s Note: This story originally was reported yesterday in the Pasadena Star News.]
Re “Feared PCC Fiasco – Still Another Rocha Backfire – Spring Credits May Be Rejected”
Dateline Pasadena – At least 88 community college students who were admitted into four-year universities for Fall 2013 may have their dreams deferred because of a snafu involving Pasadena City College spring semester transcripts.
PCC last Thursday sent an email to students, saying its newly invented “extended spring session no longer would be included in spring transcripts, as the school had initially promised. Instead, those classes would count toward summer grades.
Both California State University and University of California systems, the schools where most PCC students transfer, require incoming juniors to finish prerequisites by the spring semester, before fall enrollment.
Alyssa Nunez, of Covina, thought she had met those requirements, but now her provisional admittance to UC San Diego is jeopardized because instead of having the required 60 units, she has 58. Three others are linked to a U.S. History class she took in the extended spring session.
Student Is Blameless
“I had been responsible,” said Ms. Nunez, 19, who had a 4.3 GPA when she graduated from San Dimas High School. “I had planned ahead. The school keeps disappointing me. I've gone from being very excited to being very afraid that I'm going to get my admission revoked.”
She said her life is in limbo because she can’t search for an apartment around UCSD or follow up on conditional employment offers because she does not know if she will be in San Diego come fall. She even had to cancel her fall orientation.
Ms. Nunez had to make these last-minute changes because PCC had promised that extended spring classes will be recorded on spring transcripts.
“These classes have been added to help our students complete their degrees or transfer to a four-year institution,” said a March 15 letter from Dr. Robert H. Bell, PCC's senior vice president and assistant superintendent of academic and student affairs. “This will meet the needs of students who submitted applications to the University of California and California State University and still need to complete a requirement for fall admission.”
Then things changed. Part of the reason PCC decided to allocate extended spring grades into summer transcripts is because not doing so would imperil about $7.6 million in state apportionment funds, said Juan F. Gutierrez, a spokesman for PCC and President Mark Rocha.
Quang Cao, who took an extended spring course, said PCC is not considerate of students' lifestyles. In addition to going to PCC, Cao also works at Bank of America.
“They don't think about how we feel,” said Mr. Cao, a 27-year-old El Monte resident. They ask themselves “what's the bottom line? Are we making money?”
While Mr. Gutierrez declined to admit PCC made a mistake, he did say transfer regulations are complicated.
“When you’re interpreting educational code, it’s open to several interpretations,” he said. “The reason extended spring was created came from a good place to help students transfer in the fall. It’s all about helping the students move on to what they want to do.”
Warning Signs
Yet as early as last August, students who were on PCC's student advisory boards told the administration they worried four-year universities would not accept the extended spring change, said Kevin Clinton, who was an associate chief justice of the Supreme Council, meaning he reviewed the associated student government's documents.”
“We told the Board of Trustees and the administration that there would be all of these issues,” said Mr. Clinton, 26. “They said they could do it. They could change the calendar. Dr. Bell is not doing his job in regards to making sure students transfer. Everything he does is reactionary.”
Dr. Bell did not return several phone calls or an email seeking comment.
The controversy began PCC's Board of Trustees voted to eliminate its six-week winter intersession. Many students complained that the new schedule wouldn't allow them to take enough credits to be able to transfer in the fall.
So PCC officials started extended spring, a six-week intersession tacked at the end of spring semester, which started earlier than usual this year. More than 9,000 students registered for extended spring, and at least 88 students will be affected by the change, Mr. Gutierrez said.
“We are working with the universities to have them honor and admit the students pending the passing of an extended spring class,” he said. “We don’t expect that this will impact our transfer students in the fall. We will make sure their transfer process is smooth.”
Two universities have already said they will accept extended spring grades even though they will be included in summer transcripts, Mr. Gutierrez said, but he declined to reveal the names of these institutions.
PCC learned about the transcript change in the first week of June, Mr. Gutierrez said. Given that time line, the college waited at least 11 days before informing students via email.
The notification came after PCC students had already walked in their commencement ceremonies, a fact that made some students upset.
“The administration should inform the students on what's happening or what they're planning to do,” said Ben Nguyen, who took extended spring courses but does not plan to transfer in the fall. “And not letting the students know…it’s a little messed up.”
However, Mr. Gutierrez said the administration used that time to determine the students who would be affected by the spring-to-summer transcript change. Mr. Gutierrez initially told this newspaper that PCC administrators determined only 41 students would be affected but later said another 47 students notified the school that their transfer status was at-risk after they received PCC's June 20 email.
Ms. Nunez, who had a 3.6 GPA at the end of Fall 2012, said she is hesitant to trust what PCC officials have to say because the college has already given her “a false answer and a false hope.” Ms. Nunez said PCC’s late cancellation of winter intersession forced her to take 17 units in the spring semester because she had already paid more than $400 for college admission applications.
She initially planned a lighter load because she knew she would need to put extra time into her statistics class because math is her weak point and because she works about 12 hours a week at an ophthalmologist's office. Nunez eventually dropped her comparative politics class, a requirement for transfer into UCLA, because the load proved too heavy, Ms. Nunez said.
Although PCC’s website shows that on March 15 Dr. Bell announced that continuing students would be able to register for extended spring classes, Mr. Cao said the college didn't communicate well. Many students thought only students who planned on transferring in the fall could take extended spring classes, he said.
“They told us at the last minute,” Mr. Cao said. “I feel like they just tossed in an intersession without planning it out just so they could say they provided the extra intersession that they promised.”
Any PCC student whose provisional fall acceptance letter is in jeopardy should email complete@pasadena.edu. PCC has formed teams that will make sure students matriculate smoothly, Mr. Gutierrez said.
Follow Zen Vuong at twitter.com/zenreport
