Student Right-to-Know

In compliance with the Student-Right-to-Know (SRTK) and Campus Security Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-542) and as a service to its community, the Southwestern Community College District makes available its completion and transfer rates to all current and prospective students.

Beginning in Fall 1996, a cohort of all college students who were certificate-, degree-, and transfer-seeking first-time, full-time students were tracked over a three year period. The completion and transfer rates are based on information submitted by each college to the U.S. Department of Education. The rates do not represent the success rates of the entire student population at Southwestern College (SWC), nor do they account for student outcomes occurring after this three-year tracking period.

Based on the cohort defined above, 28.8 percent of the SWC cohort attained a certificate or degree or became transfer-prepared from Fall 1996 to Spring 1999. In addition, 13.1 percent transferred to another postsecondary institution (University of California, California State University, or another California community college) during the same three-year period. While this transfer rate is calculated the same for all colleges and is accurate, it can be misleading for a variety of reasons.

• The 1996-1999 SRTK cohort is based only on 3% of the total SWC student population.
• The SRTK figures do not include those who transferred to private or out-of-state institutions.
• The SRTK Transfer Rate does not include those who received a degree or became transfer-prepared and later transferred to a UC, CSU, or another California Community College.

Finally, the rates do not describe other important features about the college and its students. For example, based on national data for 1996-97, Southwestern College ranked in the top 100 in number of associate’s degrees conferred for all disciplines. The college ranked twelfth in the "100 Top Associate's Degrees Conferred – Minority Students" list, sixth in the "50 Top Associate's Degrees Conferred – Hispanic Students" category, and fifteenth in the same category for Asian-American students (Community College Week Analysis of U.S. Department of Education Data, July 12, 1999).

More information concerning SRTK is available from the following Southwestern College offices: Community Relations and Public Information and Academic Affairs.