As SFSU loses enrollment, it makes transferring in easier

Students will be able to transfer to San Francisco State University in fall 2021 after taking as few as two classes at community colleges in a new admission policy announced Tuesday by the university — which has lost thousands of students this year due in large part to the pandemic.

The change means that students need no longer study for two years at a community college, taking an average of 20 classes, before being allowed to switch to San Francisco State.

University administrators said they were making the change to “increase equity” in an academic environment transformed by the pandemic and the movement for racial justice. The change was also spurred by a 9% decline in SFSU enrollment. About 26,000 students are expected on campus this year — a drop of about 2,500 from last year.

“We have the space to admit more students,” SFSU President Lynn Mahoney acknowledged. “COVID made this the moment to make this change.” And the racial justice movement reflected a “moral imperative” that the university do more to promote opportunity for all, she added.

Mahoney called the policy change an “opportunity to plan for economic recovery and … equity for lowincome and underserved communities.”

The new rules did not represent a “watering down” of San Francisco State admission standards, she said, but a “different moment of access” to the university.

The only two community college courses now required are a basic writing class and a basic math class. Students must also have a Bminus average from high school and a C average at community college. Taking the SAT is no longer required for admission.

“A real economic recovery requires an equityfocused recovery,” the president said.

SFSU sets its own policy for transfer admissions, as do the other 22 campuses in the California State University system. It was not immediately clear how many other CSU campuses had also relaxed their transfer admission policy. San Francisco State said it was particularly focused on attracting transfer students from City College of San Francisco but that the new policy applies to all transferring students.

“We are proud to partner with City College of San Francisco in implementing these new guidelines that will make a significant impact locally,” Mahoney said. “Our recovery efforts will require a pipeline of skilled and educated workers who already know, love and want to live in San Francisco and the Bay Area.”

At CCSF, interim Chancellor Rajen Vurdien praised the new policy and said it “strengthens our students’ ability to achieve their educational and career goals.” He said CCSF students were “overwhelmingly students of color and often the first in their families to go to college.”

The new SFSU academic year begins Aug. 24 with all but a handful of laboratory and performing arts classes conducted online. The fall 2021 application period begins on Oct. 1.