CSM Commencement 2023

College of San Mateo is proud to announce that it received the 2023 Equity Champions of Higher Education award from The Campaign for College Opportunity, an honor granted to only a handful of California Community Colleges.

CSM has been recognized with the Equity Champions for Latinx Students Award. This distinction acknowledges CSM’s outstanding efforts in assisting Latinx students in attaining Associate Degrees for Transfer (ADT). Impressively, more than 65% of Latinx students who pursued Associate Degrees at CSM have successfully earned ADTs. Furthermore, CSM has ensured that these Latinx students not only meet but often exceed the performance levels of the overall student body in this regard.

The award ceremony occurred on November 14, 2023, from 10–11:30 am on Zoom.

Since SB 1440 (Padilla) was enacted in 2010, California Community Colleges have granted a total of 488,663 Associate Degrees for Transfer. These degrees have allowed students to transition from community colleges to the California State University (CSU) system. The Campaign for College Opportunity was crucial in advocating for this groundbreaking legislation, aiming to create a more transparent and efficient pathway for community college students to transfer and earn bachelor’s degrees with reduced time and cost. 

This effort to transform the transfer process has been ongoing for over a decade, and the recent approval of AB 928 (Berman) in 2021 will further expedite the pace of transfers and degree attainment. Thanks to the Associate Degree for Transfer pathway, countless California students’ dreams of pursuing a college education are becoming a reality.