Taking Courses at a Community College
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Taking Courses at a California Community College While Enrolled at UC Santa Cruz
UC Santa Cruz students may take classes at a California community college to stay on track with their degree, complete general education or lower-division major requirements, or finish their final credits. This page outlines what to know before enrolling, how to confirm your courses will transfer, and the steps to follow—from checking course equivalencies to sending transcripts and updating financial aid.
Before You Enroll: Key Information and Policies
Before registering for a community college course, review these important guidelines to make sure your credits transfer and count toward your UC Santa Cruz degree.
Academic Advising and Course Approval
- Major requirements: If you plan to take a course for your major, check with your major advisor first. Not all community college courses count toward UC Santa Cruz majors, and your advisor may need to approve them before they post to your record.
- Writing requirements: If you plan to take courses that fulfill writing requirements, talk with both the Writing Program and your college advisor. You must pass the Entry Level Writing Requirement (ELWR) before taking WRIT 2 (C2/C); taking WRIT 2 before meeting ELWR will prevent the course from satisfying the WRIT 2 requirement.
Transfer Credit and Timing
- It can take 6–8 weeks for the UC Santa Cruz Office of Admissions to post your transfer credits once your official transcript is received.
- This may delay your ability to enroll in courses that require those credits as prerequisites.
- It may also affect your graduation timeline if you’re using community college courses to complete your final credits.
Senior Residency Policy
If you plan to take your final credits at a community college, review UC Santa Cruz’s Senior Residency Policy. Contact your college advisor with any questions.
Course Duplication and Level
- Do not take community college courses in subjects where you have already completed upper-division coursework at UC Santa Cruz.
- Avoid taking courses equivalent to ones you’ve already completed or received AP/IBH exam credit for.
Credit and Eligibility Limits
- Courses taken at community colleges do not count toward your UC Santa Cruz GPA.
- You can transfer a maximum of 105 credits from community college coursework. Credits beyond 105 won’t count toward your total, but they can still fulfill general education or lower-division major requirements.
- For every 15 credits you transfer, you lose one quarter of eligibility:
- First-year students: 15 full-time quarters (5 years) of eligibility
- Transfer students: 9 full-time quarters (3 years) of eligibility
How to Take a Community College Course
Step 1: Check Course Equivalencies on ASSIST.org
- Go to Assist.org
- Select your community college under “Institution.”
- From “Agreements with Other Institutions,” choose University of California, Santa Cruz.
- To check General Education (GE) courses:
- Choose the correct academic year.
- Under “View Agreement by,” select General Education/Breadth Agreement.
- View or download the list of GE courses that meet UC Santa Cruz requirements.
- To check Major Requirements:
- Under “View Agreement by,” select Major.
- Search for your specific major or select “All Majors” to see all available course matches.
- To check UC Transferable Courses:
- Under “Transferable Courses at [College Name],” select UC Transferable Courses.
- Search by department or view all courses to confirm which are UC-transferable.
Step 2: Register at Your Community College
You’ll need to visit your local community college’s website and register for the quarter or semester when you plan to take these courses. Most colleges offer online registration, though some may also allow you to register in person.
Note: Watch for any follow-up communication from your community college. Many colleges require certain steps before you can enroll, such as completing an online orientation or submitting documents like transcripts or test scores.
Step 3: Make Corrections to FAFSA or CA Dream Act Application
If you haven’t already, and if you plan to apply for financial aid at your local community college, be sure to update your current and next year’s FAFSA or CA Dream Act Application to include your community college in the list of schools you will attend for that academic year.
Step 4: Transferring Credits
After completing your courses at your local CC, you will need to order Official Transcripts from your CC and send them over to the Office of the Registrar/Office of Admissions. Most CCs allow you to order transcripts online.
Optional: Use California Virtual Campus (CVC) to Locate Online Community College Courses
If you are interested in taking online courses at a community college, you can use CVC to look up online classes offered across California. Please note that CVC also includes CSU and UC campuses, so be sure you are selecting community colleges only. If you find a course you want to take, use ASSIST.org (from Step 1) to confirm that it will satisfy the requirement you are trying to fulfill at UC Santa Cruz.
Optional: Consortium Agreement with Financial Aid
This can be a time-sensitive process, so please begin as soon as possible. Financial Aid requests that the Consortium Agreement form be completed by the Add/Drop/Swap deadline.
According to the UC Santa Cruz Financial Aid and Scholarship Office, you only need to be enrolled in 1 credit at UC Santa Cruz to qualify for this program. Please keep in mind that participating will still use your financial aid credits of eligibility.
If you plan to take community college course(s) at De Anza College, Monterey Peninsula College (MPC), or Cabrillo College during the regular academic year (Fall, Winter, Spring), you may consolidate those credits with your UC Santa Cruz credits to meet Financial Aid’s minimum enrollment requirement for receiving aid as a full-time (minimum 12 credits) or official part-time (minimum 6 credits) student.
To begin the process, fill out the Consortium Agreement Form and complete the section labeled “Must be completed by student.” Be sure to use the steps above to verify that the course(s) you plan to take are UC-transferable (see Step 1c). After completing your section, email the form to your college advisors for review.
Please note that once the college signs the form, you still have two additional sections to complete before the process is finished.