Only 16 Percent of California Community College Students Earn a Bachelor's Degree. A New Transfer Pathway With National University Aims to Change That.

About three-quarters of California Community College students say they intend to earn a bachelor's degree. In practice, only 16 percent of them do.

That gap — documented in 2025 research by the Public Policy Institute of California — is one of the most persistent and consequential failures in American higher education. It sits at the center of a new transfer partnership announced this week between National University and the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office, the largest two-year college system in the country with approximately two million enrolled students across 116 campuses.

Under the agreement, any CCC student who earns an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) — a standardized two-year degree specifically designed to facilitate bachelor's degree completion — will receive guaranteed admission to National University, along with a 25 percent discount on tuition and full credit transfer for all previously earned coursework. The ADT scholarship reduces annual tuition to approximately $7,000 per year, and NU says most ADT students can complete their bachelor's degree in 20 courses — typically within 18 months of transferring.

Why This Partnership Is Happening Now

The California Community Colleges already have established transfer pathways with the California State University system and, through the Transfer Admission Guarantee program, with six University of California campuses. Those pathways have moved large numbers of students — more than 100,000 CCC students transfer annually — but the overall bachelor's degree completion rate has remained stubbornly low.

CCC officials hope the new option with National University will help even more students complete bachelor's degrees, particularly those the existing CSU and UC pathways have not served well.

National University's profile makes it a natural partner for this population. The institution is primarily online, focuses on nontraditional learners — including veterans, working students, and student parents — and caters to anyone who needs flexibility in how and when they pursue their education. NU President Mark Milliron described the partnership's purpose plainly in an interview with Inside Higher Ed: "We're building this partnership with the California Community Colleges to say, 'Hey, we see you, and we're here to serve you, and if you're a student who needs flexibility in your learning ... you've got a home. You've got a place that will care about you and help you finish what you start.'"

What the Associate Degree for Transfer Actually Is

The ADT — also referred to as an AA-T (Associate of Arts for Transfer) or AS-T (Associate of Science for Transfer) — was created by California Senate Bill 1440 in 2010. The legislation directed all California community colleges to develop Associate Degrees for Transfer composed of no more than 60 transferable semester units, including a general education plan using either the IGETC or CSU Breadth pattern, and a minimum of 18 units in a major or area of emphasis.

When students earn an ADT, they receive a guaranteed saved spot at participating four-year universities and gain other admission advantages. Because the ADT is considered transfer-level preparation, all courses transfer — unlike standard associate degrees, where not all courses are likely to transfer.

The degree is offered in approximately 40 majors across California's 116 community colleges. Students who complete an ADT through a CSU Breadth or IGETC general education pattern, and apply to National University within 36 months of earning their degree, are eligible for the new partnership's guaranteed admission and scholarship. The ADT scholarship provides a $10,000 tuition reduction applied toward bachelor's programs, lowering tuition from $1,665 to $880 per course, with the scholarship capped at a maximum of 20 courses toward bachelor's degree completion.

What Researchers Say About the Promise — and the Limits

The announcement is being received with cautious optimism by community college researchers, who note that transfer pathway agreements vary enormously in their actual impact on student outcomes.

John Fink, a senior research associate and program lead at the Community College Research Center at Columbia University, described the central question any transfer partnership has to answer: "Is it just sort of a signaling of a partnership? Or is it real dollars on the table for students — in terms of financial aid ... but also dollars in terms of the four-year upping its investment in its transfer-articulation staff and admissions staff, in the coordination internally in the academic department to actually make the credit-transfer process work?"

Fink noted that some of the partnerships recognized as the best nationally are "end-to-end redesigns where students are starting at the community college with a bachelor's degree in mind" — meaning the partnership begins shaping a student's academic planning from the first semester at the two-year institution, not just at the point of transfer.

There is also a persistent outcome gap between students who transfer to public universities and those who transfer to private or primarily online institutions. Research from the CCRC has shown that students who transfer to private and primarily online institutions tend to have worse outcomes than those who move to public universities. Fink emphasized that this does not mean online institutions cannot play a meaningful role in the transfer ecosystem — but it does mean they need to actively invest in improving those outcomes.

Researchers at the RP Group, a nonprofit that studies community college education in California, identified several reasons the NU partnership could be genuinely beneficial despite that caveat. First, any new options help, because the CCC system enrolls about two million students — more than the two state university systems can absorb. Second, online courses support rural students who don't live close to a four-year campus.

Alyssa Nguyen, senior director of research and innovation for the RP Group, framed the challenge directly: "It's not that these students lack transfer intentions or motivation; it's that many of the students are place-bound. Having options like ones that are fully online is very beneficial for students who may not be able to just pick up and physically move themselves and/or their families."

But Nguyen also named the gap that will determine whether the partnership lives up to its potential: "I think until we can get at least closer to making comparable access to wraparound supports for online students, we will likely still see the trailing of online programs in terms of completion relative to in-person."

What This Means for California Community College Students

For the approximately two million students currently enrolled in California's community college system, the National University partnership represents a concrete new option — particularly for those whose life circumstances make a traditional residential or even commuter university path unrealistic.

The ADT pathway is worth pursuing regardless of where a student ultimately transfers. An ADT can be used to transfer to any college or university outside the partnership program, just as with a standard associate degree — but when applied to a partner university, students receive guaranteed admission and other admission advantages, and because the ADT is considered transfer-level preparation, all courses transfer.

Students interested in the National University pathway should confirm their intended major is among those mapped to ADT pathway degrees — not all programs are eligible for the scholarship — and should complete the FAFSA, which is required for ADT scholarship eligibility. Transfer credit evaluation, advising, and program mapping are available through NU's admissions team at nu.edu/admissions/undergraduate/transfer-information.

For community college counselors and advising staff: the partnership is now active, and CCC students asking about private university transfer options beyond the CSU and UC systems should be aware of both its terms and the research on outcomes at primarily online institutions — so students can make informed decisions that fit their specific situations.

The fundamental challenge the partnership is designed to address — that only 16% of CCC students who intend to earn a bachelor's degree actually do — will not be solved by any single agreement. But for students who need flexibility, who are place-bound, who are working full-time or raising children, and who have already done the work of earning an ADT, it is a real pathway to finishing what they started.