Allan Hancock College now offers 2 Cal Poly degrees — and applications are open
Two new bachelor’s degree programs that offer a Cal Poly diploma without attending classes at the San Luis Obispo campus are now open for applications.
The business administration and sociology degree programs were born out of a partnership between Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria and Cal Poly. The sociology program was announced in Sept. 2024, while the business program was announced in March.
The programs are taught by Cal Poly faculty but are located at the Allan Hancock campus, allowing community college transfer students to access four-year degrees without having to commute to San Luis Obispo.
Community college graduates on the Central Coast have faced barriers in accessing four-year degrees in the past, due to the competitiveness of Cal Poly and the university’s notoriously low transfer rates, on top of other barriers like cost and commute.
The new bachelor’s programs are an effort to help ease those burdens, according to administrators.
“This partnership continues to expand life-changing opportunities for our students,” Hancock President Kevin G. Walthers said in a Wednesday news release. “These degree pathways allow Hancock students to earn a world-class Cal Poly education while staying rooted in the communities where they live, work and support their families.”
The business program offers a management and human resources concentration, according to the release. It aims to cultivate leadership skills and teach business fundamentals to enrolled students.
The sociology program, which is entering its second year at Hancock, prepares students for careers in a wide array of fields, the release said.
Hancock is also offering a new nursing program through a separate partnership with CSU Channel Islands, the release said.
“Together, these innovative partnerships underscore Hancock’s mission to make higher education more accessible and responsive to the needs of the Central Coast,” Walthers said in the release.
Applications for the programs are now open and will close Dec. 1, the release said.
For more information, prospective applicants were encouraged to visit Cal Poly’s websites for the business program or sociology program.
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