Hartnell 34th annual Transfer Day College NightHartnell College will hold its 34th annual Transfer Day & College Night event at the Main Campus on Oct. 30, with representatives from more than 50 universities on hand to provide information to an anticipated 2,000 current and future college students.

The morning session, from 9 a.m. to noon, is intended for current Hartnell students preparing to transfer to a four-year university to complete their bachelor’s degree. The evening session, from 6-8 p.m., is intended for high school students considering planning to begin college. Both sessions will be in the Student Center, Building C, on the campus at 411 Central Ave. in Salinas. They are open to the public.

Because of ongoing construction on the campus’s Main Quad, visitors are advised to park in the garage accessible from Central. The parking fee is $2.

The day also will include a financial aid information session, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in room C-101; a presentation by Stanford Medicine, from 12:15-1 p.m. in room C-132; one-on-one transfer advising by both the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Irvine, from 1-5 p.m. in room C-132; and another financial aid session from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in room C-132.

Hartnell has worked with high schools throughout the Salinas Valley and north Monterey County to inform students and parents of College Night, which in the past has drawn as many as 900 students, including some who arrive on school-chartered buses.

Both the morning and evening activities are timely because the application deadline for the University of California and California State University systems is just one month away, on Nov. 30.

Students and parents are encouraged to ask questions regarding transfer, housing, financial aid, scholarships and admission requirements, said Mercedes Del Real, Transfer & Career Center coordinator, who will present the activities with her staff.

“Hosting these fairs is a way to highlight the pathways we are working on with four-year colleges to ensure that our students feel welcome and know there are resources in place to support them as they transition,” Del Real said. “I think they will feel encouraged having the universities here on or campus to explain how the process works to get to their campus.”

Hartnell continues to see more of its graduates transfer to the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems. The number of those transferring students has increased by 66 percent gain since 2011-12, when 409 moved into a university in the two statewide systems, to 679 in 2018-19.

The participating universities, which include seven UC campuses and 11 CSU campuses as well as schools from across the country, signed up with the California Community Colleges system to attend the Hartnell events.

Hartnell will also participate, providing information to prospective students interested in completing an associate’s degree and then transferring elsewhere to complete a bachelor’s degree.

Del Real said one of the objectives of Transfer Day is to encourage current Hartnell students to consider all of their options, not only universities close to home.

“Students often stick to their local options without realizing that it’s just as affordable to go out of state sometimes, or even to a school that’s further away from home,” she said.

“They think it’s just out of reach, and when they attend the Transfer Day event, they might find there are a lot of scholarship opportunities at other campuses, that there might be schools that specialize in the industry they want to focus on, and so it gives them an opportunity to open their mind about options.”

 

Reply allReplyForward