SOLID ROCK GYM
SHINING WALK-ON
TALKING ‘JACKASS’
Learn where to rock climb like a pro.
Sophomore Casey Klein has made the most of minimal playing time. page 6
A revealing interview with the cast members of ‘Jackass 3-D,’ opening Friday. page 4
dailyaztec page 3
the
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
w w w. T h e D a i l y A z t e c . c o m
Vol. 96, Issue 27
San Diego State University’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1913
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Bill Crotty thought he had his college life planned out. Crotty, a journalism major, was to attend Grossmont College for two years then transfer to San Diego State where he
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would get his bachelor’s degree. But Crotty soon found out things don’t always go as planned. He now attends Ashford University because he was denied admission into San Diego State, not once, but twice. Three years ago, SDSU first announced it was going to reduce its enrollment size. Since then, transfer admission denials have been a reoccurring theme. This semester, transfer rates plummeted to a record low. According to statistics compiled by SDSU’s Analytic Studies & Institutional Research, a total of 62,721 applicants applied to SDSU. The bulk of the applicants were freshmen with 44,746 applicants. Of those, only 13,404 freshmen were admitted. The rest were transfer applicants with 16,721, with 4,000 of which were transfer applicants from a San Diego service area college, and 3,035 total transfer students were admitted. Statistics show there was a record of 45,407 student denials, a 10 percent increase from last year.
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TODAY @ STATE SDSU fights hunger food drive “she: in her teens and twenties” Art Exhibition 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. University Art Gallery
Tw i t t e r : T h e D a i l y A z t e c
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Community college students struggle SDSU turned away nearly 500 Southwestern College transfer students. Richard Dittbenner, director of public information and government relations for the San Diego Community College District said SDSU rejected 1,076 transfer students from SDCCD, which includes City College, Mesa College and Miramar College. Dittbenner said students who were rejected from SDSU were advised to pursue their higher education at other institutions. Dittbenner said he has seen an increase in area enrollments in the University of California system, University of Phoenix and National University. Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs Sandra Cook said the reason for low student enrollments and transfer rates has to do with funding. “However many dollars you have determines your enrollment,” Cook said. Jaime Salazar, Interim Transfer Director at Southwestern College said funding is not the only issue at hand. He blames numerous factors for the increase in transfer denials such as the complications of the supplemental application, the changes made to the Transfer Admission Guarantee program and the service area colleges. SDSU’s use of the supplemental application sparked criticism because the application had technicalities and computer glitches, which Salazar said was a tactic used to throw students out of the pool of applicants. He went on to say the supplemental application was the “biggest fiasco” in the history of transfer centers. Cook acknowledged there were computer glitches with the supplemental application and because of this she said students who fulfilled all the transfer requirements and filed an appeal based on the technicalities and computer glitches automatically won their appeals and were admitted into SDSU. Additionally, Cook said there have been improvements made to the supplemental application. In an effort to make the admissions process more competitive, SDSU made changes to its Transfer Admission Guarantee program. Salazar said SDSU raised the TAG GPA from 2.0 to 2.4. He also said the TAG program now only applies to students in the service area,
which he feels is not fair. The service area colleges include all community colleges south of Highway 76, according to Dittbenner. These institutions include Grossmont College, Southwestern College, City College, Mesa College and Miramar College. The reasoning behind the service area colleges is to help Cal State San Marcos grow and to cut down on student enrollment at SDSU, according to Cook. He also said although Palomar College is no longer one of the service area colleges, SDSU still accepted students from there.
“ ... the community colleges in the region don’t really have input into the decision making ...” — Richard Dittbenner, Director of public information and government relations for SDCCD Because of the changes to the transfer admissions policies, community colleges across the San Diego region are calling for transparency in the enrollment process, which is something the UC system has with all community colleges in San Diego. “The UC works collaboratively with the community colleges to try and maximize the number of transfer students,” Dittbenner said. “With San Diego State, however, they inform us of what they’re going to do and then the community colleges for the California State University part are told ‘this is how it’s going to be.’ So the community colleges in the region don’t really have input into the decision making leading up to the decision.” According to Cook, transparency is not necessary. “The community colleges just want transparency because, for whatever reason, they just don’t trust us,” Cook said. For the first time in three years, SDSU will now accept local transfer and readmission applications for next semester.
Courtney Jackson / Staff Photographer
Although SDSU will accept spring transfers for the first time in three years, transfer rates for the university are at an all-time low. Some community college students have had to change future plans because of the changes.