By Michael Burke for EdSource
Originally published on April 28, 2026
Top Takeaways
- Under a new pilot program, UCLA will give priority consideration to some students seeking to transfer from nearby community colleges.
- The program, which will eventually expand to more campuses, launched this academic year and is required by legislation passed in 2023.
- It’s not clear how effective the program will be, as UCLA has not clarified how much of an advantage applicants will get. Admissions decisions are typically due to transfer students in late April.
Some Southern California community college students can now get priority consideration for transfer to UCLA under a new pilot program, a limited first step toward expanding transfer access to the University of California.
Fall 2026 marks the first admission cycle for the program, available to students who complete an associate degree for transfer (ADT) in one of a handful of majors, such as geology and mathematics. The pilot was created under 2023 legislation, Assembly Bill 1291, which also requires the program to expand to four additional UC campuses by 2028.
Advocates and community colleges see the pilot as a potential precursor a broader transfer pathway between community colleges and the UC system, similar to what already exists for the 22-campus California State University system, where any community college student who completes an ADT is guaranteed admission to a CSU campus.
Officials hope a similar program at UC could simplify California’s transfer system, which critics say is overly complex because of admission requirements that often vary widely by campus and program. Just 1 in 5 students who intend to transfer successfully do so within four years, a 2024 report by the California State Auditor found after analyzing students who began community college between 2017 and 2019. That report recommended that UC consider adopting the ADT model used by CSU to streamline the process for students.
Still, some educators and advocates are skeptical that the UCLA pilot will make a meaningful difference, noting that it is limited to students in certain majors at a limited number of colleges: Antelope Valley in Lancaster, Bakersfield, Compton, Crafton Hills in Yucaipa, Cypress, East Los Angeles, Oxnard, Rio Hondo in Whittier, San Bernardino Valley and West Los Angeles.
Additionally, while participating students are supposed to get priority consideration, their admission won’t be guaranteed. Students who aren’t admitted to UCLA but meet the admission requirements will, however, get redirected to another campus.
Transfer directors at participating community colleges say they have received little clarity on how much of an advantage students will actually get. UCLA declined requests for an interview for this story.
It’s also unclear how many students are participating in the pilot this year. Transfer admissions decisions are released in late April, but data will likely not be available until 2027.
“We have looked at the pilot legislation as an important first step after years of inertia, but it’s insufficient,” said Jessie Ryan, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity. “Unless we learn from the pilot and then commit to scale it across the UC system, we’re missing a golden opportunity to better serve students who are on transfer pathways.”
Ryan also serves on the Associate Degree for Transfer Intersegmental Implementation Committee, a state committee that oversees the ADT program.
Her organization in 2023 sponsored Assembly Bill 1749, which would have required UC to automatically admit any transfer applicants with an ADT in the same way that CSU does, only with a higher grade point average requirement. The bill did not advance to a Senate vote.
Ryan and other supporters argue that CSU’s utilization of the ADT provides a more effective and streamlined approach for students.
Students who earn an ADT and apply to the CSU system aren’t necessarily guaranteed admission to their campus of choice, but they are guaranteed a spot in the system. They are also more likely to be admitted to their local CSU. Because all CSU campuses accept the ADT, the process is relatively straightforward: Students can earn an ADT and know they are eligible for admission to any campus that offers their major.
Transfer pathways to UC, meanwhile, are far less consistent. Six of the system’s nine undergraduate campuses offer transfer admission guarantees, but requirements vary by campus and by major.
“That is one of the things that holds students back. The transfer process is complicated, and it requires you to understand how all these systems work together, especially when you’re trying to apply to private colleges, UCs and Cal States,” said Kassidy Camilleri, transfer director at West Los Angeles College.
The UC system has resisted adopting a systemwide transfer guarantee. In fact, it opposed AB 1749, saying at the time that it was “concerned that guaranteeing admission solely on the basis of the courses students take and what grades they receive, ignores the many other important factors that make a student who they are.”
Assembly Bill 1291 emerged as the compromise, requiring UCLA to designate eight majors in the initial pilot. Those programs are anthropology, atmospheric and oceanic sciences, enviromental science, geology, history, mathematics, philosophy and public affairs.
By 2028, UCLA will be required to expand the program to four additional majors, and UC will have to designate four additional campuses to participate in the program.
The law also requires UCLA to prioritize admission for students who earn the ADTs, but it doesn’t specify what that process should entail.
A task force created by UCLA’s Academic Senate was tasked with creating recommendations for the pilot program, but a 2024 report provides only a vague reference to the priority consideration element. “Priority consideration allows UCLA to use the completion of an ADT at a participating CCC to be considered as an additional supporting factor in the competitive holistic review and selection process,” the report states.
Community college staff interviewed for this story said they also are unsure what priority consideration will mean.
“We asked that question,” said Moises Del Real Viramontes, director of the transfer center at Cypress College. “They emphasized that their admission review is a holistic process and that for students that are completing a degree in the program, their application will be reviewed thoroughly. But that was as far as an explanation as we received.”
Janice Wilkins, articulation officer and counselor at San Bernardino Valley College, said that the meaning of priority consideration “hasn’t been explained in great detail” and that “more clarity would be great.”
Not having that clarity can make it difficult for counselors to promote the program to students, who often consider multiple four-year campuses for transfer.
“We just have to make sure that students understand it’s going to give them priority review, which is better than nothing, but we have to really be clear about that because we don’t want to mislead them,” Wilkins said.
More will be known by Feb. 1, 2027, when the Legislative Analyst’s Office will be required to submit an interim report to the Legislature on the pilot program with details on admissions.
Even though the program has limitations, Camilleri of West Los Angeles College said she welcomes it as an option because nearly “every student” at West Los Angeles wants to transfer to UCLA. “I am always open to colleges giving us different options, especially for these really high-impact campuses,” she said.
“It would be great” if the program were eventually expanded across UC and available in many more majors, she added. “But I don’t really see the UC system loving that whole concept.”
