Transfer Academy is an educational and preparation program that’s coordinated by the transfer center and they had its regular Information Session on Jan. 25 at 4 p.m. in the Social Science Building.

“We provide more emphasis on making sure students know what it takes to actually have a good scholarship application and have a good university application,” Marvelina Graf said, a counselor and co-director of the transfer center on campus.

Graf hosted an information session and went over what the academy was about, the benefits and the commitment of both the students and the academy’s side.

Any student who has a goal of transferring to a four-year university can participate and join a community of students who also have a goal of transferring.

Theophilus Trim, a nursing major who plans on transferring to Cal State Long Beach said, “What I hoped to gain was to learn more information regarding scholarships and how to apply. I had a little bit of trouble contacting counselors so I was hoping I can have a way of easily doing that with this program.”

“There is a very particular curriculum for Transfer Academy, in addition to the community,” Graf said, “It would provide students with that extra support and have easier contact for students to reach out to all of the transfer center counselors.”

If students only want to transfer to a CSU, the academy will still introduce students to the UC Pathway, in case they might be interested in applying to a UC.

The six universities that are offering guaranteed options are UC Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Davis.

What differentiates the Transfer Academy from the Transfer Center is that the Transfer Center, they’re not keeping track or specifically send announcements to students, they also don’t provide in-depth workshops on certain topics.

The Transfer Center does provide workshops but they’re not as in-depth or catered to a specific topic.

As for the Transfer Academy, Graf said “It’s very dedicated and any time we get resources from universities we try to promote it first to our academy group,” Graf said.

Graf gave an example, UC Berkeley, which they have a mentoring program for students who are still at the community college.

Even if a student plans on transferring to a Cal State University, if they’re interested in the mentoring program, they would get that announcement through the transfer academy canvas only.

The academy also promotes the foundation scholarship, “We promote that one a lot because it only requires one application and from that application, the foundation office will take a look at which scholarships you are minimum eligible for,” said Graf.

“They forward your application to those committees and then those committees get to review your application for their scholarships, so it’s possible that students may be eligible for four (scholarships) but they’re only submitting one application.”

Students can access the transfer academy canvas by submitting an application to join, once students are in the canvas, they’ll also get notifications for upcoming workshops which can be online or in person.

The last information session for Transfer Academy will be held via Zoom on Feb. 6 at 11:30 a.m. Students need to register for it first to be able to attend the last information session.