UCSB has modified its Transfer Admission Guarantee requirements, potentially reducing the number of California community college transfer students to be admitted to the university in Fall 2011.

A steady increase in transfer applicants to UCSB over the last few years, coupled with the state budget deficit has forced the university to adjust its TAG stipulations for next year’s transfer applicants. In order to be admitted to UCSB, students must now maintain a 3.2 GPA — rather than 3.0 — while enrolled at a California community college.

Assistant Director of Transfer Services Blia Yang said TAG was created to make the UC an attainable goal for transfer applicants.

“TAG was an effort to reach out to students in order to make UCSB tangible by providing specific criteria for guaranteed admission to transfer students,” Yang said.

Seven UC campuses — UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz — currently guarantee admission to community college transfer students who meet certain academic requirements.

While UCSB’s TAG policy originally mandated that applicants achieve a 2.8 GPA in order to obtain admission, the requirement was increased to 3.0 in the early 2000s. Aside from receiving students of increasing merit, the admissions office said this GPA boost could provide an academic guideline for the university to honor.

According to UCSB Director of Admissions Christine Van Gieson, 2010 saw a decrease in overall enrollment rates as a result of decreased state funding.

“We enrolled roughly 1,150 less students this year at UCSB,” Van Gieson said. “We enrolled 867 fewer freshman and 280 fewer transfer students.”

Additionally, Van Giesen said the university intends to maintain this year’s target enrollment levels — 1,500 transfers and 3,900 freshmen — for the 2011-2012 academic year.

According to Yang, the issue is a simple case of supply and demand.

“There has been an increase in the number of applicants and a decrease in enrollment targets making it that much harder to attain admission,” Yang said. “We have to look at what’s realistic for us to accommodate.”

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