The California Community College system and nine historically black colleges and universities have created transfer agreement guarantees that will be available Fall 2015.

De Anza College students must maintain a GPA of 2.5 or higher and complete the IGETC.

The nine institutions involved in the partnership are Stillman College, Talladega College and Tuskegee College in Alabama, Philander Smith College in Arkansas, Dillard University in Louisiana, Lincoln University in Missouri, Bennett College in North Carolina, Fisk University in Tennessee and Wiley College in Texas.

“Any time you can get a large entity like the California Community Colleges to say that people of color, and black students, in particular, matter, that’s always a positive,” said Julie Lewis, chair of African-American studies and adviser to the Black Leadership Collective.

Students in the collective have previously transferred to Stillman College, and current members have also expressed interest in
historically black colleges and universities.

Collective member Brandon Davis, 23, communications and dance major, said he believes the transfer agreements with historically black colleges and universities should have been created sooner.

“This should have been done years ago,” agreed De Anza’s chair of African-American studies Pauline Wethington.

She coordinates the Sankofa Scholars Program at De Anza, which provides students, specifically African-American students, with resources to succeed academically.

“Through programs like the BLC and the Sankofa Scholars, there’s resources, but there can always
be more done to ensure minorities and marginalized people are supported,” Davis said.

This partnership will introduce and encourage a number of students in California to attend historically black colleges and universities and remind others that there are transfer options east of the state, Wethington said.

“I think a lot of African-American students in this area, and in California in general, don’t know about HBCUs,”
Lewis said.

The agreements are open to all students in the California Community College system as these historically black colleges and universities seek to increase attendance at their institutions.

The U.S. Department of Education has distinguished the nine colleges and universities, along with 98 others, for their establishment before 1964 and their principal mission of educating black students.

“It’ll allow some students to think about campuses that are just as important and prestigious as the Stanfords and Yales,” said Lewis. “I’m really looking forward to the possibility that this connection will improve the opportunities for our students.”