General Education Certification Process
General Education Certification (GEC)
General Education Certification is a legal agreement between the UC or CSU systems and the California Community Colleges that permits a student to transfer from a community college to a UC or CSU campus without the need to complete additional lower division general education courses to satisfy university GE requirements after transfer. Taft College will provide a Cal-GETC certification upon completion of GE coursework when requested by the student on the transcript form. This certification may include selected courses taken from other regionally accredited colleges, or credit earned through other means, such as Advanced Placement (AP) test credit. Students do not have “catalog rights” to a certification pattern. Certification is subject to the following conditions:
- For full certification, no fewer than 34 units will be certified. No partial certifications will be completed.
- Only entire areas will be certified.
For assistance in determining the most appropriate general education program, consult a counselor.
C-ID - Course Identification Numbering System
The
Course Identification Numbering System (C-ID) is a statewide numbering system independent from the course numbers assigned by local California community colleges. A C-ID number next to a course signals that participating California colleges and universities have determined that courses offered by other California community colleges are comparable in content and scope to courses offered on their own campuses, regardless of their unique titles or local course number.
Thus, if a schedule of classes or catalog lists a course bearing a C-ID number, for example Taft College
CHEM 1510 - Introduction to Chemistry can be assured acceptance as a course from another community college with the C-ID CHEM 101 designation. The C-ID designation is used to identify comparable courses across the community college system.
However, students should always go to
ASSIST to confirm how each college’s course will be accepted at a particular four-year college or university for transfer credit.
The C-ID numbering system is useful for students attending more than one community college and is applied to many of the transferable courses students need as preparation for transfer. Since these course requirements may change and because courses may be modified and qualified for or deleted from the C-ID database, students should always check with a counselor to determine how C-ID designated courses fit into their educational plans for transfer.
Students may consult the
ASSIST or
C-ID databases for specific information on C-ID course designations. Counselors can always help students interpret or explain this information.
Guaranteed Admission Programs
Taft College offers a number of Guaranteed Admission Programs with several schools including: UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Merced, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, as well as CSUB STEM majors. Visit the
Taft College Transfer website or schedule a meeting with a counselor at 661-763-7748.
Plan early as some agreements must be signed at least a year in advance of the transfer semester/quarter. Interested students are strongly urged to meet with the Transfer counselor or attend a Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) workshop for details on eligibility requirements as they change every year.
Pass Along Certification
Students who transfer credits from another California community college often want to “pass along” the general education certifications that they have earned. Any California community college may certify such coursework from another California community college, from a regionally accredited college or university, or from a CSU or UC campus. It is critically important that students transferring coursework from other colleges and universities have official transcripts sent to Taft College Admissions and Records Department to be evaluated.
Other Transfer General Education Options
Some transfer students are best served by following a general education pattern other than the Cal-GETC pattern. These typically include students who fall into one of the following three categories:
- Students entering high unit majors such as an engineering or science discipline. Major preparation for the engineering and science fields typically consists of a high number of units. Most universities prefer (and some require) that these preparation for major courses be completed prior to transfer. Therefore, it may be more beneficial for students entering these majors to complete relatively fewer GE courses and more major preparation courses at the community college, while still meeting the minimum admission requirements of the university. Students should review the catalog, other published advising materials of the university and major to which they intend to transfer, and ASSIST for students transferring to the UC or CSU system and a Taft College counselor for assistance in selecting appropriate courses.
- Students transferring to a private/independent or out-of- state university. Some private/independent and out-of- state universities accept Cal-GETC, but most do not. Instead, each university has its own unique GE pattern.
- Taft College has established articulation agreements with some of these institutions. These agreements specify the courses students can complete at Taft College to fulfill the university’s GE requirements. For information on transferring to a private/independent or out-of- state university, visit the Transfer Center.
- Students may choose to complete the GE requirements for one specific university, rather than the more universally applicable Cal-GETC pattern, for several reasons:
- Some universities and/or majors do not accept Cal-GETC and instead suggest following the university’s own GE pattern.
- Some students know that they will attend only one university (such as those with a guarantee of transfer admission) and so plan to complete the specific GE pattern for that institution only.
- Some university-specific GE patterns require fewer total units than Cal-GETC.
Each university’s unique GE pattern can be found in their university catalog. In addition, some UC and CSU campuses have posted general education patterns on the ASSIST website.