assist.org

What is ASSIST?

ASSIST (Welcome to ASSIST) is California's official online transfer-credit system. It shows how courses taken at one California public college or university transfer to another within the state's three public systems: the California Community Colleges, the California State University (CSU), and the University of California (UC).

What it does

The core function is articulation: matching a course at your current school to the requirement it satisfies at your target school. Instead of guessing whether a class "counts," you look up the official agreement between the two institutions.

Typical uses:

• Checking whether a community college course fulfills a major prerequisite at a specific UC or CSU campus.
• Confirming which courses satisfy the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) or the CSU General Education pattern.
• Identifying "major preparation" courses you should finish before transferring.
• Verifying that a course counts as transferable at all.

Who it's for

Primarily California community college students planning to transfer to a CSU or UC. It's also used by counselors and advisors, and by students who have already transferred and want to confirm how prior coursework was applied.

How to use it

1. Select your current institution and your target campus.
2. Choose the agreement type — general education, major preparation, or a specific department.
3. Read the listed course-to-course equivalencies and any notes or conditions.

Practical trade-offs

ASSIST reflects official, campus-approved agreements, so it's authoritative for California public transfers — more reliable than informal advice or a single department's website. The limits: it covers only California public institutions, so private or out-of-state transfers aren't addressed; agreements change between catalog years, so you must select the correct year; and a listed equivalency may carry conditions or expire.

A concrete next step

If you're a community college student aiming at a UC or CSU, pull the agreement for your intended major and target campus for your catalog year, then compare it against the courses you've completed and the ones you still need. Bring that list to a counselor to confirm your plan before registering.

How do I use ASSIST to transfer credits between California colleges and universities?

ASSIST is California's official course-transfer planning tool. It shows how courses taken at one California public college or university are accepted at another, so you can check credit transferability before you enroll.

What ASSIST does

ASSIST focuses on articulation: whether a specific course at your current school satisfies a specific requirement at your target school. It is built around California's public systems — community colleges, the California State University (CSU) campuses, and the University of California (UC) campuses. It is a planning reference, not a transcript service; it does not move credits or update your records on its own.

A practical workflow

1. Identify your current institution and your target institution.
2. Choose your major or a general-education/IGETC pattern if that is what you need to satisfy.
3. Look up each course you have taken or plan to take and see whether it is listed as articulated.
4. Save or print the agreement pages for the courses you rely on.
5. Confirm the final decision with an admissions or transfer counselor at your target school, since requirements and course offerings change.

How to read results

Whose experience to weigh

Reviewers and video walkthroughs often note that ASSIST is most useful for community college students mapping to a UC or CSU, and that it can be less complete for private colleges or out-of-state schools. Treat that as their observation; my practical reading is that ASSIST answers "does this course count?" well, but you still need a counselor to confirm how it applies to your specific degree progress.

A concrete scenario

Suppose you take a calculus sequence at a community college and want to transfer to a UC engineering program. You would search ASSIST by your community college, the UC campus, and the major, then check each math course against the major-preparation list. If a course shows as articulated, keep that page; if it does not, ask the target department whether an exception or alternative exists.

Next step

Start with the official tool at ASSIST, then bring your findings to a transfer counselor. For system-wide context, see University of California and California State University.

What are the course articulation agreements available on ASSIST?

ASSIST is California's official course-transfer and articulation planning tool. Its articulation agreements show which courses at one California public college or university will satisfy a specific major, general education, or subject requirement at another. The site focuses on transfers among the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and the California Community Colleges (CCC).

What you can look up

• Major preparation agreements: Course-to-course matches showing which community college courses satisfy lower-division major requirements at a specific UC or CSU campus.
• General education and breadth agreements: Patterns such as IGETC and CSU GE, plus campus-specific breadth requirements.
• Department and course-to-course articulation: Individual course equivalencies, including courses that transfer as electives rather than exact equivalents.
• Transferable course lists: Which courses at a community college carry UC or CSU transfer credit.
• Associate degree for transfer pathways: Agreements tied to ADT/AS-T and similar transfer degree routes.

How to use it in practice

A student planning a biology transfer to a specific UC campus would select their community college, then the destination campus and major. ASSIST returns the required courses and the local options that satisfy them. The same process works for engineering, psychology, or any other major with lower-division preparation.

What to watch for

Articulation is campus- and major-specific, and it changes when curricula change. An agreement that lists a course as equivalent today may be updated after a catalog revision. ASSIST is best used as a planning reference alongside a counselor or transfer advisor, especially for selective majors where a missing course can delay admission.

A useful next step is to run one search for your intended major and destination campus, save the results, and compare them against your current education plan before your next registration window. For official UC and CSU transfer guidance, see University of California and California State University.

How can I find which courses transfer from my community college to a UC or CSU?

Use ASSIST to check course transferability between California community colleges and UC or CSU campuses. It is the official statewide articulation and transfer information system, so it is built for exactly this question rather than for general college search.

What you can do there

• Select your community college and a UC or CSU campus to see which of your courses are accepted for major preparation, general education, or elective credit.
• Look up articulation agreements, which map a specific community college course to a specific university course or requirement.
• Check whether a course counts toward the major at your target campus, since the same course can transfer differently depending on the major and campus.

A practical workflow

1. Identify your intended major and the UC or CSU campuses you are considering.
2. On ASSIST, choose your community college as the sending institution and one university campus as the receiving institution.
3. Review the agreement for your major, then note which of your completed or planned courses appear.
4. Confirm details with a community college counselor or transfer center, because articulation can change by academic year and catalog.

Key trade-offs ASSIST is authoritative for California public transfer, but it is not a degree audit and does not guarantee admission. It also does not cover private colleges or out-of-state universities. For those, use the receiving institution's own transfer credit office. If you are comparing options, prioritize campuses where your major preparation is clearly articulated, since that reduces the risk of losing credits or repeating courses.

A useful next step: bring your ASSIST results to a counselor and ask them to build a term-by-term plan around the agreements you found.

What is the difference between ASSIST and other transfer planning tools?

ASSIST is California's official course-transfer and articulation system, so its main difference from most other transfer planning tools is that its data comes from formal agreements between California community colleges and the state's public universities. It is built for students planning transfers within California, not for private or out-of-state transfer planning.

What sets ASSIST apart

• Official articulation agreements. ASSIST shows which specific community college courses satisfy lower-division major preparation and general education requirements at participating California public institutions. Third-party planners often estimate or infer this from catalog descriptions.
• Major-specific preparation. You can look up a major at a target campus and see the exact courses that articulate, which matters in high-unit majors like engineering, biology, or business.
• Public, state-focused scope. It covers the California community college to CSU and UC pipeline. Tools built by private companies or individual universities may cover broader sets of schools but usually with less authoritative course-by-course detail.

Where other tools fit better

Other transfer planning tools often handle different jobs: degree audit and progress tracking inside a single university, general education planning across many states, or unofficial "what-if" exploration. They may be easier to navigate or offer mobile apps, but their articulation data can lag behind official agreements.

Practical next step

If you are transferring within California, use ASSIST to confirm the exact courses for your intended major and campus, then cross-check the receiving university's own admissions and degree-audit pages. If you are considering out-of-state or private schools, plan to verify requirements directly with each university, since ASSIST will not cover those agreements.

For official California public university information, you can also consult University of California and California State University.

How do I create an account or save my transfer plans on ASSIST?

ASSIST does not use personal accounts for saving transfer plans; it is a public, session-based tool. You build a transfer plan by selecting a California community college, a destination campus (UC or CSU), and your major, then reviewing which courses satisfy which requirements. The plan exists in your browser session and in any PDF or printout you generate, not in a login-protected profile.

What this means in practice

• There is no signup, password, or "save to my account" button on ASSIST.
• Your work is preserved by exporting it: use the print or PDF option on the plan pages, or copy the agreement into your own document.
• If you close the tab or clear your browser, the selections are gone. Re-entering them takes a few minutes, so keep a copy.

A workable routine

1. Build the agreement for one major and one campus pair at a time.
2. Export each agreement to PDF and name it clearly, e.g. ASSIST_DeAnza_UCLA_Econ_2025.pdf.
3. Store the files in one folder you control, alongside your transcripts and counselor emails.
4. Re-export at the start of each term, since course lists and articulation agreements are updated periodically.
5. Share the PDF with a counselor or advisor rather than a link, since a link will not reproduce your exact selections.

Deciding where to keep your plans

If you want a system that does remember you, that is a different kind of tool: your community college's degree-audit or education-planning system, or a transfer-planning service offered by your campus. ASSIST itself is best treated as the authoritative reference you consult and export from, not as a place you log into.

Next step: open ASSIST, select your community college and target campus, pick your major, and export the resulting agreement before you do anything else. That single PDF is your plan.