By Victoria Gracie
Staff Writer

Over half of the students that attend Cuesta College have the intent to transfer to a four year university

Cuesta College is home to almost 7,000 students with 42.5 percent of them with a goal to transfer to a four year with an associate of art or associate of science and approximately 1,010, or 14.9 percent, plan on transferring without an AA, Cuesta’s transfer center web page states.

Around this time of year is when students are receiving letters from four year colleges informing them if they are accepted or not.

“It is exciting trying to figure out where you are going to go next, it is like a new chapter of our lives,” said William Ruiz, a second year Cuesta student.

There are many resources available here at Cuesta that prepare student to be top candidates when applying  and allow the transition of students to a new school to be smooth.

Cuesta has a student education plan, that allows the students to have an organized plan for the time period that they are going to school here.

Another resource Cuesta offers is the associate degree to transfer. This allows student to both get their AA and complete all of the classes that the four year requires.

The AA-T allows students to be higher candidates for schools when applying because they full fill both the classes that the institution wants as well has the student complete their AA degree

“I have applied to Cal Poly twice; the first time, I did not have my AA-T completed and did not get in and this year I completed my AA-T and got accepted,” said Austin Albiani a third year Cuesta student. “I didn’t realize how important an AA-T would change my chances of getting in,” Albiani continued.

Cuesta College has 74 different degree programs available for students as well as 62 certificate programs available.

Within the 74 degrees there are both AA and AS options that could be achieved.

Santa Barbara City College has more than 80 degree programs available, as well as the Transfer Admission Guarantee program with the several institutions of all levels, including the University of Santa Barbara.

Cuesta College has TAG agreements with some UC schools but none with the CSU’s and with its location so close to Cal Poly it has raised concerns among students to why this is.

“It is a stressful time when you are waiting to hear back from schools, and I wish Cuesta had more TAG agreements with other schools because I feel like I would not be as stressed,” said Chelsie Leopoldo, a second year Cuesta student.

The TAG program allows students to know that they are going to get accepted to a four year college after completing the classes needed, allowing them to not have to worry about if they are going to be able to be accepted.

“I think it would be more convenient for Cuesta to have a TAG agreement with Cal Poly and I wonder why they don’t,” Leopoldo said.

Cuesta counselor, Blake Reed explained that Cal Poly does not do TAG programs with any community college.

“Cal Poly doesn’t have TAG with anyone, so that just means our students have to work harder,” said Reed.

Even though Cuesta does not have a TAG agreement with Cal Poly students still move to San Luis Obispo to attend Cuesta and try to transfer.

Although Cuesta does not have a TAG agreement with Cal Poly, students have been successful with getting accepted.

Cuesta students have remained among the highest with acceptance in the state and substantially higher than the statewide average, according to the statistics on the Cuesta College website.