California Community College Students Guaranteed UC Admission

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that, under a new agreement between the California Community College system and the University of California system, students who attend community college would be guaranteed transfer to a UC campus.

The agreement will take effect with students who enter community college in fall 2019, which is likely also the year that free community college for first time, full time community college students takes effect. In order to qualify for transfer, students would have to excel in classes partially developed by UC faculty.

Forbes Lists “Best Value” Colleges

Forbes Magazine recently published its 2018 ranking of “Best Value Colleges.” The top ten are, in order, University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Berkeley; Brigham Young University; University of California, Irvine, University of Washington, Seattle; Harvard; Stanford; Princeton; University of California, San Diego; and Amherst. The magazine says that the ranking is based on the net price (20%), net debt (20%), quality of the school (20%), graduation rates (10%), and Pell grant recipients (10%).

DoJ Tries to Shed Light on Elite Colleges’ Admissions Processes

The Boston Globe reports that the Department of Justice is investigating elite colleges for potential antitrust violations in their early decision admissions. When admitted, early decision applicants are required to attend that college and are supposed to withdraw pending applications from other universities. Some admitted students try to game the system, which is why colleges allegedly share information about which applicants have been admitted. Such sharing agreements could constitute antitrust violations.

Making College Accessible to More Students

Former New York City public school Chancellor Harold Levy penned a thought-provoking opinion piece on college accessibility in the New York Times Sunday Review. He argues that colleges are two-faced, on one hand implementing programs to make universities accessible to low-income students while on the other favoring the wealthy in the admissions process. He makes the argument for meritocracy and against legacy admissions, urges readers to stop donating to their alma maters, and calls for comprehensive reforms to college admissions.

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