The Cal State University system ’s Transfer Success Pathway will welcome its fourth year of students this fall.
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The program, which facilitates transferring from community college to CSU campuses, continues to see increased enrollment — and is aiming to accommodate more students and resources.
The TSP, a dual admission program, guarantees first-year transfer students from a California community college a spot at any CSU in a participating major. The program offers specialized advising and campus engagement to make students feel part of their community college and their CSU.
“Everybody who is or has been a part of TSP that has actually transferred into Cal Poly Pomona say similar things,” Cal Poly Pomona’s transfer outreach coordinator, Elizabeth Salgado, said in an interview, “that it’s a great program, that it was a lifesaver and that they were able to get into their dream program.”
Students sign an agreement with their preferred CSU and are guaranteed admission upon completing minimum requirements and any additional requirements for their major within three years. TSP is not a binding agreement, however, and students can apply to other schools in or outside of CSU.
“We don’t want to put more barriers on students,” Jazmine Flores, TSP program manager, in an interview. “I always like to think of it as an insurance policy.”
Since 2023, the program’s first cohort, 7,848 students have signed a TSP agreement, according to a March report from the CSU Office of the Chancellor. All 22 CSUs participate in TSP, though major selection varies by campus, with some programs impacted.
Unlike the Associate Degree for Transfer, TSP is only open to first-time freshmen who have not earned college credit after graduating high school or receiving their GEDs. Students can earn an ADT as part of their TSP agreement, but while the degree is transferable to CSU, it does not guarantee admission to a specific campus.
“The future of the program may include more continuing students. Right now, we’re really focused on our first-year students,” Flores said. “The earlier we catch them, the more seamless their transfer experience is going to be because we’re able to guide the coursework they take, giving them those resources early.”
Some TSP coordinators say they are hopeful about expanding the program beyond first-year transfers. Ana Zambrano, transfer center coordinator at Cal State Los Angeles, said in an interview that this could improve transfer outcomes. The first-year requirement excludes a large population of students who have earned units after graduating high school or attended community college for multiple years.
“Many students remain at community colleges longer than necessary,” Zambrano said in a statement, “because they don’t realize they have already met transfer requirements, have limited connections to the CSU campus they hope to attend or need more comprehensive guidance throughout the transfer process.”
Salgado, at Cal Poly Pomona, said that expanding the program for second-year students would give students time to explore and decide which CSU program they want to apply to.
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“By connecting with students earlier and maintaining that engagement beyond the first year,” Zambrano said, “TSP can help students navigate the transfer process with greater confidence and support more timely, successful transfers.”
Upon fulfilling their agreements, TSP applicants are guaranteed a spot at their CSU campus, unless a program reaches capacity. Impacted majors like mechanical and electrical engineering at Cal Poly Pomona have had to turn students away, Salgado said. For those programs, TSP applicants are admitted first come, first served until they reach capacity.
Nursing is a highly impacted major at Cal State Long Beach. If an applicant’s preferred major is unavailable, the student can choose an alternate TSP-eligible major, Lizbeth M. Serna, associate director of outreach and school relations, said in a statement.
Every CSU campus has a TSP coordinator to guide students through the transfer process. CSULB’s admission advisors work with their students’ community college counselors.
“TSP creates greater access for students attending non-local community colleges,” Serna said. “These applicants typically face higher admission standards than local applicants, and TSP provides them with a structured pathway and individualized guidance that increases their opportunity to earn admission to CSULB.”
Last fall, 318 students enrolled at CSULB through TSP, steadily increasing from 133 students in 2023, the first cohort. Only a handful of these students enrolled from Long Beach City College, Serna said, because students can only participate in TSP with one CSU, and LBCC students already receive local admission preference at CSULB.
Cal Poly Pomona, meanwhile, wants to strengthen its partnership with LBCC, Salgado said. The campus will hire a new transfer outreach coordinator for the Inland Empire to grow enrollment from Long Beach, L.A. and Orange County.
In addition to counseling, TSP offers admissions and financial aid workshops. To facilitate the dual enrollment aspect of the program, CSU invites TSP students on campuses for sporting events, tours, transfer student days and to use resources, such as their libraries. They also host virtual events to include non-local students. Taking classes at their CSU campus before transferring is not part of the program.
“I think as we continue to see the program grow and understand gaps that we may need to fill in,” Flores said, “that could possibly become a possibility in the future.”
Campuses like Cal Poly Pomona are still working on providing TSP students with a CSU ID, so they can access the library. Cal State L.A.’s library is open to TSP students and, Zambrano said, the campus wants to open more services for the program.
“The student is supposed to feel at home both on their community college campus that they are attending,” Flores said, “but also at the CSU campus that they have a TSP agreement with.”
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