Guaranteed admission to a California State University  campus is granted to any California Community College student who complete their general education, major requirements and obtain an Associates for Transfer degree.

This was made possible by the Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act, SB 1440, which passed in late 2010.

According to DVC counselor Merv Maruyama, “of all of the community colleges in California, DVC offers the third most AS-T and AA-T degrees.”

Many Diablo Valley College students are unaware of the benefits of obtaining their AA-T or AS-T degree for their particular major as upcoming transfers.

According to the California State University website, these benefits include a guaranteed junior standing into a CSU campus, priority admission consideration over all other transfer students when applying to CSU bachelor’s degree program, a .1 bump up to your GPA in impacted campuses out of your local area, guaranteed completion of your bachelor’s degree with 60 semester units and eligibility for winter or spring admission for CSU campuses that require completion of the AA-T and AS-T.

DVC currently offers AA-T and AS-T degrees in the following subjects: administration of justice, geology, anthropology, history, studio art,  journalism, art history, mathematics, business administration, music, communication studies, physics, early childhood education, political science, English, psychology, geography and sociology.

DVC is trying to add many more approved AS-T and AA-T degrees to that list.

Maruyama also enthusiastically mentioned, “the best part of the degree really comes after you transfer. As long as you completed the major requirements, CSUs guarantee that after transfer they only require 60 more units to graduate.” This puts students on the fast track for graduation, all while saving students time, stress and money.

DVC engineering student Chris Mason is pursuing two AS-Ts in mathematics and physics.

“There are a lot of great things about the AS-T, it  streamlines you into what you are going to be doing,” he said.

DVC counselor Cheryl Carter stressed the importance of having an AS-T/AA-T degree for transferring to difficult and impacted campuses out of our area. The GPA boost provided by the degree has really supplemented the applications of students resulting in more students getting into competitive campuses such as Cal Poly and San Diego State University.

Sheeva Rostami, a communications major at DVC is currently completing her AA-T degree in communications studies.

“I think pursuing your AA-T is important, because it gives you a better understanding of what you need for your major, helps you stay on track with course planning, and when it comes time for transferring it gives you a little something more that other students may not have,” she said.