College of the Canyons was recognized as a 2018 Champion of Higher Education for Excellence at the 3rd Annual Champions of Higher Education celebration on Tuesday, Dec. 4 in Los Angeles.

The college was one of 12 California community colleges that were honored by The Campaign for College Opportunity for significantly increasing the number of students earning an Associate Degree for Transfer degree.

“We are honored to have been recognized as a 2018 Champion of Higher Education for Excellence,” said COC Chancellor Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook.

“The success of our ADT programs can be attributed to the hard work from faculty, as well as our Curriculum Committee and Academic Affairs department,” Van Hook said. “As we enter a new year, we commit to continuing to find and create ways to eliminate achievement gaps and increase transfer rates for our students.”

College of the Canyons currently offers 27 ADTs, which enable students to transition to California State University campuses. Known as “a degree with a guarantee,” ADTs provide students with guaranteed admission to a CSU if they earn an associate in arts transfer (AA-T) or associate in science transfer (AS-T) degree and meet the CSU minimum eligibility requirements.

Between 2013, when the first ADTs were awarded, and 2017, the number of degrees awarded at the college has grown 703 percent.

The Campaign for College Opportunity helped to create a clearer path for students to earn an associate degree and guaranteed admission to the California State University system when it sponsored historic transfer reform legislation in 2010.

The Campaign for College Opportunity is a non-profit bipartisan organization that works toward increasing the number of California students attending two- and four-year colleges and who complete their college education.

For more information about The Campaign for College Opportunity, please visit the organization’s website.