Community college can be a great place to begin your University of California education. One-quarter of UC's bachelor degrees were awarded to students who started out at a community college. The university is encouraging even more community college students to take this step in the coming years. For this reason, the University of California offers a special section of information for and about transfer students on the web. In addition, STARS provides the extra academic and personal support transfer and re-entry students may need to benefit fully from their education at UCSC whether they are full-or part-time.

A student may transfer up to five art history courses toward the major, only two of which may be upper division. Upper-division transfer credit must be approved by the student's faculty adviser. Transfer students are invited to contact the History of Art and Visual Culture Department before enrolling at UCSC.