What if I told you that some of San Diego’s brightest students are spending twice as much on their college degrees as they need to — simply because they don’t know there’s a better way?
That was the case for Sofia Martinez, a standout student from Chula Vista who dreamed of attending UC San Diego. She had the grades, the extracurriculars, and the ambition. But when college acceptances came in, UCSD wasn’t one of them.
Her options weren’t great. A private university offered her admission, but the annual price was over $65,000. An out-of-state school accepted her, but with minimal financial aid. The idea of community college had never been presented as an option, because, like many high-achieving students, she had been led to believe that it was only for those who couldn’t get into a university.
That assumption almost cost her over $100,000 in unnecessary tuition.
After meeting with a counselor at San Diego Mesa College, she realized she had another option: transferring. With a clear plan in place, she spent two years taking the same lower-division courses that UCSD freshmen were paying tens of thousands of dollars for. By maximizing her AP credits and summer courses, she shaved nearly a full year off her coursework.
Instead of paying more than $30,000 a year, she paid just $46 per unit — and with financial aid, her total cost for two years was under $5,000. When she transferred into UCSD’s bioengineering program, she was on the same academic footing as students who had started there as freshmen, but without the staggering debt. She graduated on time, debt-free, and is now working in San Diego’s growing biotech industry.
Sofia’s story isn’t unique. Every year, thousands of students in San Diego could be following the same path, but many don’t even know it exists. San Diego’s community colleges offer one of the smartest financial and academic strategies for earning a degree without crippling debt, yet they remain one of the most underutilized resources in the city.
The truth is, the University of California and California State University systems actively prioritize transfer students. Nearly half of all CSU graduates and about a third of UC students started at a community college. Programs like the UC’s Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) even offer guaranteed admission to certain campuses if students complete the right coursework.
Yet despite all of these advantages, students and families continue to overlook community college as a serious option. The biggest barrier isn’t academic — it’s perception. Too many students still believe community college is only for those who “didn’t get into a real school,” when in reality, it’s a financially strategic move. Even well-meaning high school counselors often push students toward four-year universities without fully explaining how much they could save by starting at a community college.
Universities, of course, have no incentive to correct this misconception. The more students they enroll as freshmen, the more tuition money they make.
If we want to make higher education truly accessible and affordable, we need to change the way we talk about transfers. Community college shouldn’t be framed as a fallback — it should be presented as one of the smartest pathways to a degree. Schools should be educating families about the financial benefits of the transfer system, and universities should be making the transfer process as seamless as possible.
San Diego is home to some of the best community colleges in the state, yet too many students take on unnecessary debt simply because they weren’t told about a better option. Sofia’s story proves that students don’t have to go into six figures of debt to earn a degree from a top university. The transfer path isn’t a backup plan — it’s a strategy that more students should be taking advantage of.
Matthew Bagdasar runs the California Transfer Support Network, a nonprofit dedicated to helping community college students successfully transfer to four-year universities. He lives in El Cajon.
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