Introducing a new kind of ‘promise’

If college officials’ claims are true, then beneficiaries of the Long Beach College Promise have plenty to gain from Long Beach City College (LBCC) Superintendent Reagan Romali’s insomnia, the cause of sleepless nights and late-night brainstorming sessions that allegedly– and jokingly– led to the second iteration of the promise program.
During a pubic event Wednesday, Sept. 26, at the LBCC Liberal Arts campus, partners of the Long Beach College Promise, a guaranteed-admission program between LBCC and California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), commended Romali, CSULB President Jane Close Conoley and those who were closely involved in updating the new version of the program.
Dubbed the Long Beach College Promise 2.0, this new version for Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) 2019 spring graduates offers the following for students who qualify, according to LBCC officials:

• A lower tuition rate by attending LBCC, including free tuition for the first year
  Transferable college credit at LBCC toward a bachelor’s degree at CSULB
• Priority registration for classes at LBCC
• A guaranteed transition from LBCC to CSULB after completing required course work for a major
• Guidance from LBCC counselors and CSULB academic advisors
• A student ID card from both institutions, allowing students to participate in special events at CSULB and LBCC

“The Promise 2.0 provides a smoother transition between a community college and a university that is really unheard of in our nation,” Romali said Wednesday morning. “[…] Long Beach, as our mayor will tell you, cannot lose its educated population. Our educated students must stay in Long Beach. They must be educated here, build their homes here, build their families here, get a job here, contribute to their communities here. […] Promise 2.0 allows that to happen.”
According to a fact sheet provided by LBCC officials at the event, Promise 2.0 students who meet cumulative-GPA and lower-division requirements for CSULB will receive “advisement under a cohort model and be allowed to transfer as a lower-division transfer student after completion of 45 units.”

Those who are part of the original promise program– Long Beach College Promise 1.0– are provided academic counseling at LBCC and are eligible to transfer after the completion of 60 units.
The Long Beach College Promise applies to all majors, as long as major-specific transfer requirements are met. LBCC officials advise students to meet with academic counselors to develop educational plans and map out their courses.
LBCC officials also said that LBUSD spring 2019 graduates will receive a letter about the Promise 2.0 and an application form to enroll.
“The Promise allows students to finish Long Beach City College, if that’s what they wish, for sure,” Conoley said. “[…] But, it also allows an eased strategy to allow them to get to Long Beach State University.”

Conoley also said there is a planned strategy called “reverse transfer,” which would allow Promise 2.0 students to work with CSULB academic advisors to ensure that they can get their associate’s degree from LBCC after they transferred to CSULB and completed their coursework at the latter.
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, who has been teaching one class at LBCC for the past year, called the College Promise the “single most effective program, across any level of government, that Long Beach has to offer.”
Garcia also noted that LBUSD is the largest employer in the city.
“It’s not a corporation or a business [who is the largest employer], it’s Long Beach Unified,” he said. “So, not only are they educating our young people, they are also providing the most jobs in the city. […] Think about who we are employing. We are employing people who love education, that are teachers, that are working hard because they love learning and science and fact and are teaching young people between right and wrong and how to advance in their own lives.”
Earlier this year, the Port of Long Beach joined the Long Beach College Promise as the first industry partner. Tracy Egoscue, president of the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, said the partnership allows the port to connect students with training programs and job opportunities in the logistics sector.
“You have international assets here in the Port of Long Beach, and you have international assets in your students,” Egoscue said. “We hope the port can serve as an inspiration for how other businesses can have effects on the Promise and provide advice on curriculum, friendships and scholarships.”
For more information, visit longbeachcollegepromise.org.