Effective June 30, 2011, the Transfer Center’s two employees are to be laid off, and have their position put on “hold” respectively. All spending for the DVC Transfer Center has been reduced heavily for the 2011-2012 academic calendar.

As of deadline, the Transfer Center’s summer hours have been eliminated, with fall hours taking a big hit as well, but not being completely eliminated, says Senior Academic and Student Services Manager Nicola Place.

“The state budget crisis is so dire, that we have to rethink how we do what we do,” said Place.

Part of that process means relying on the counseling department to provide a much-needed lift in assisting students who need information on transferring.

According to Counseling Dean Terry Armstrong, the new proposed plan is being called “transfer services”. The new model that is being worked on by Armstrong, Place and several others is being shaped to avoid having to go through such severe cuts.

“It will be a collaborative effort led by [Nicola] Place, and will include, but not limited to, several counselors, the counseling front office supervisor and myself, with the goal of prioritizing key services,” Armstrong said in an email interview.

During the summer, Place said that herself and other staff members will be working on how they can allocate time and staff to assemble transfer services for fall students applying for transfer acceptance.

“What we need to do now is find out what are the services that the students need most,” said Place.

For students, losing a key part of their school has been difficult, considering not all of them have access to someone who can help them.

“It sucks. The Transfer Center is an important building here,” said psychology major Molly Bettencourt. “The regular counselors don’t know as much about the specifics.”

Former Transfer Coordinator Bianca Estrella, whose job has been put on hold, says that the Transfer Center serves as a resource to assist students with navigating all of the critical information and deadlines.

“I think students would try to get more assistance from counseling or from navigating different information resources on their own,” Estrella said.

Student interaction is key to the success of the rebuilding needed to establish the new transfer services program, and Place has said that she encourages students to send in their feedback.

“The most important part is to get students what they need,” said Place.

“The Center has provided amazing services over the years, but even before these devastating cuts, reduced operating budgets have forced us to continually pare down what was once the model center in the state,” Armstrong said in an email interview.

Note: Nicola Place is welcoming student feedback for the transfer services program. Emails with the subject line “transfer center” should be sent to [email protected]