Trendlines - Berkeley City College's Data Newsletter

November 2024 | ISSUE NO. 04

A BERKELEY CITY COLLEGE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

PDF version available here.

Get to Know Berkeley City College's Society of Scholars

Imagine stepping into a place where your story is not just heard but celebrated. That’s the kind of space Berkeley City College’s Society of Scholars creates. Umoja, Puente, API Lead, and Ignite are cohort-based communities bringing a diverse group of students together, empowering them and creating an environment for success through shared cultural values, educational support, and community building. 

A 2017 study by the US Department of Labor found cohort models have a 3.6 times higher rate of completion than traditional learning. SoS builds communities focused on uplifting historically minoritized students to increase student success. SoS students receive several benefits to aid completion, including priority registration, dedicated instructors and counselors, UC & CSU workshops, cohort study halls, cohort field trips and conferences.

The success of SoS is attributed to the committed counselors and instructors serving students, including Skyler Barton, Shannon Penn, Dri Regalado, Susan Truong, Christina Taing-Rivera, and Susan Cuong.

The Next Step for Transfer Students

Fifty-four percent of students attending BCC in Fall 2024 stated that they want to obtain an associates degree to transfer or transfer without a degree. In the past seven years, the total number of transfers have continued to hover above 500, except 2022-23 when the number dropped to 421. The Covid-19 pandemic had a negative impact on a number of transfer to four-year universities statewide.

When students transfer, they have the option to attend a UC, CSU, an out-of-state university, or an in-state private university. Based on the transfer trend of BCC students, most students selected to transfer to a UC, about double the rate as a CSU. The number of transfers to in-state private and out-of-state universities have continued to grow, albeit at much smaller numbers.

Below we've compiled the data to show how many students transferred, the type of four-year institutions they chose, where they enrolled, and the majors they declared.

Transfer Trends

Top UC majors by BCC Transfers:

1. Economics
2. Experimental Psychology
3. Sociology
4. Natural Resources Conservation
5. Political Science
6. Business Administration

Number of BCC Transfer by UC and CSU Campuses in 2023-24

Number of BCC Transfer to UCs Disaggregated by Race/Ethnicity

The number of BCC student enrolling in UC campuses make up the largest proportion of transfers, though in the past three years, the total number of transfers have declined. When we disaggregate the transfers by race/ethnicity, the group with the highest number of UC transfers is Asian, followed by White, Latinx, and Black/African American. Our college Strategic Plan aims to increase the rate of transfers by 3% annually.

Number of BCC Transfers to CSUs Disaggregated by Race/Ethnicity

The number of BCC students enrolling in CSU campuses have been declining at a small rate for the past five years. The top three transfer campuses were CSU San Francisco, East Bay, and San Jose. When we disaggregate the transfers by race/ethnicity, the group with the highest number of CSU transfers is Latinx, followed by Asian, White, and Black/African American.

Student Sense of Belonging

In Spring 2024, BCC administered its first Sense of Belonging survey as part of the annual Climate Survey to inform BCC’s 2023-28 college Strategic Plan. A student’s sense of belonging has been shown to be associated with improved academic outcomes, increased retention, and improved mental health. A strong sense of belonging can counter the effects of loneliness and mental distress to help students feel welcomed, motivated, and supported.

Guided by the Educational Master Plan, BCC’s focus on student retention (enrolled in a class and receiving a grade), persistence (enrolling in consecutive semesters), and course success (passing a class with a grade of “C” or better) will rely heavily on providing students with a welcoming and supportive environment to promote a high level of student sense of belonging. The results of the Sense of Belonging survey are presented here to serve as a baseline for the metric’s goal to maintain or exceed a rate of 70% agreement across important institutional characteristics found in the Strategic Plan. The Climate Survey was designed in-house with input from students, faculty, classified professionals, and administrators. The survey received 659 responses.

The racial/ethnic composition of the respondents is fairly representative of the college’s demographics. On average, students who attended BCC during spring 2024 expressed an 82% agreement to statements associated with a healthy sense of belonging. “Berkeley City College is a welcoming college.” received the highest percent of agreement at 94% and the statement with the lowest agreement of 67.9% was “I have been able to better understand my identity as a student at Berkeley City College.” A detailed survey report will be shared on the Institutional Research website soon.

Sense of Belonging Survey Statements and percent of agreement