The new iPath program at City College is adding more classes for spring semester in order to give students more opportunities to transfer quicker.
The program started this semester, and helps students who are taking classes at a college level transfer to a four-year university in five semesters or less.
Students who are apart of the program and its learning community have smaller class sizes and their own counselors.
“There is a huge focus on student success, and kind of a different teaching and learning style since the classes are small,” said Debbie Mackie, adjunct counselor dedicated to the iPath program. “They are not lecture classes so there is more dialogue, more interaction and more engagement. The idea is that students will succeed and do better in these classes because they’re getting all that support.”
The most popular classes that the iPath program offers is the communications classes, which filled up in two days at the beginning of the registration period, according to the Program Director Tina Kistler.
Other classes offered through the program are English, history, philosophy and other general education classes that all follow the IGETC transfer model.
The smallest class size is 35, but for English and communication classes the smallest class size is 25.
“We’re trying to create a program where students feel like it’s more intimate, smaller and with more support services available to them,” Kistler said. “We really want to make sure they are successful, because if you want to transfer to a university your GPA matters significantly.”
There will be 19 sections in the program next semester, and if they all fill up there will be 640 students in the program. This is many more than the amount it had this semester, which was around 200.
Mackie said that the iPath program does not offer any math or science classes yet, but they are hoping to add them by next fall.
The program is funded through the Title V grant that is offered to City College because it is a Hispanic serving institution, meaning a majority of students in attendance are Hispanic. The Title V grant is offered through the federal government with the goal to increase the number of Hispanic students who transfer to four-year universities and graduate.
City College students are eligible for the program if they are ready to take English 110 or higher, have completed a student education plan, and must enroll in two or more iPath classes. There is no grade point average requirement for joining the iPath program, but students must maintain a 2.0 once enrolled. However, international students are not eligible for the program.
“Students really like the small classes I think, a number of them signed up to be in two iPath classes next semester,” Mackie said. “I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t want to do it, it’s rare that students want to be in a huge lecture hall and just kind of disappear.”
