Rio Hondo college partners with UC Irvine

Rio Hondo Community College in the East San Gabriel Valley today announced a partnership with an area school district and UC Irvine that seeks to get more students into the four-year university.

Similar programs elsewhere are known as Transfer Admission Guarantee — or TAG — programs. They guarantee high school graduates who meet class and grade requirements at community college admission to a four-year university.

Rio Hondo Community College Vice President Henry Gee said the new program’s designed to help students in the 10,000-student El Monte Union High School District.

"The college-going rate in the El Monte Union has been traditionally low and we think we’ve been working hard the last few years to try to help increase that. And this program, we think, will make it better for them," Gee said.

The school district pledges to do more, years before the senior year, to counsel students on University of California requirements. If students don’t qualify upon high school graduation, Rio Hondo college gives El Monte students priority registration to meet a list of requirements that’ll guarantee admission to UC Irvine.