#United States #Santa Monica #Stellic #Transfer Students #Santa Monica College

Santa Monica College Enhances Transfer Pathways

Santa Monica College (SMC), renowned as the leader in transferring students to the University of California (UC) system for an impressive 35 consecutive years, is taking significant strides to improve its transfer processes. This initiative, in collaboration with Stellic, aims to provide students with clearer and more timely insight into credit evaluations, thereby accelerating their path towards transfer enrollment and degree completion.

Dr. Esau Tovar, Dean of Enrollment Services at SMC, emphasizes that many students arrive with diverse academic backgrounds and ambitions. He highlights the importance of providing clearer credit insights at early stages, which are crucial in guiding students on how best to navigate their academic journeys. This clarity not only fosters confidence among students but also enables college staff to direct their efforts toward supporting students’ achievement of their academic goals.

California community colleges serve over 2.1 million students, with many aiming to transfer to four-year institutions. Notably, however, only about one in five achieves this within four years. The state has set an ambitious target of achieving 40% completion of bachelor’s degrees among working-age residents by 2030. This lofty goal underscores the necessity for seamless transfer pathways.

In furtherance of this commitment, SMC has adopted an innovative transfer credit evaluation system designed to offer students more consistent and timely insights regarding how their previous coursework might align with their current academic objectives. This is a part of a larger effort to modernize the degree planning, advising, and enrollment processes within the college's diverse student body.

Launched in Fall 2025, Explore—a tool created by Stellic—offers standardized and expedited credit evaluations. This platform reduces ambiguity around credit recognition for prospective and returning students and simultaneously alleviates some of the administrative pressures faced by enrollment and advising departments.

Over the past three decades, SMC has solidified its leadership position in transfer education. By refining its credit evaluation process, the college aims to enhance the clarity, speed, and consistency with which students understand their academic prospects.

Sabih Bin Wasi, CEO of Stellic, notes that for many students, transferring represents a critical opportunity for accessing quality education and advancing their career trajectories. However, uncertainties regarding credit recognition can create obstacles. By providing clarity, students can better visualize how their learning experiences translate into academic progress, boosting their confidence in pursuing educational and career goals.

This advancement builds on SMC's prior utilization of Stellic's products that promote proactive advising and effective degree planning for students. The implementation of Explore is indicative of SMC's ongoing dedication to facilitating the transfer process for its diverse student population. This includes partnerships with premier four-year colleges and universities, as well as strong support from the SMC General Counseling and Transfer Services. Notably, SMC has maintained its status as the top transfer institution for the UC system, with 995 students transferring to UC campuses in the 2024-25 academic year.

To explore more about Santa Monica College's General Counseling and Transfer Services, you can visit smc.edu/transfer.

About Santa Monica College

Santa Monica College is an accredited California Community College. Recognized historically as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, it also gained the designation of a Black-Serving Institution in December 2025. For 35 years, SMC has been the leading transfer college to several prestigious institutions such as UCLA and UC Berkeley. Moreover, it has also excelled in student transfers to the University of Southern California, Loyola Marymount University, and acts as one of the top feeders to Columbia University. As the foremost job training institution in Los Angeles’s Westside, SMC offers diverse career education pathways and is host to cultural programs facilitated through its NPR radio station KCRW and the SMC Performing Arts Center.

About Stellic

Stellic provides a leading academic planning and student success platform used by over 90 higher education institutions and more than 1 million students. The platform assists students, advisors, and administrators in navigating academic progress, automating credit evaluations, and leveraging data to enhance student engagement and completion.

Learn more at www.stellic.com.