Long Beach City College celebrated their partnership with Western Governors University (WGU) on Tuesday, Sept. 29 by providing students with transfer information, prizes, food and music.
LBCC Transfer Services and Western Governors University, an online accredited university with a bachelor’s and master’s degree program, encouraged students to visit the free StormBurger Food Truck and enter in an iPad giveaway.
A WGU representative acknowledged the impact the found partnership may have on students in the future.
“The other thing I should mention is that part of this event today is that we have given $50,000 to the Long Beach City College foundation and the purpose of that is to create a scholarship pool for LBCC students, to be able to use it to go towards WGU when they graduate from here,” Bob Benson, Region Director for WGU said.
Vikings who are planning on transferring to a college or university agree that one of their biggest concerns with going to WGU or any university is the debt that can come with it.
“My biggest concern would be more so money because like I know transferring can be a big thing,” Taleiah Chavarria, business administration major said. “Money also holds back a lot of students from getting to where they wanna do or pursuing their dreams.”
WGU representatives provided possible solutions for students who are worried about the financial aspect of college.
Benson explained that WGU has a Representative Borrowing Initiative (RBI) that ensures that students have scholarship and grant opportunities before providing them with the option of a loan.
Senior Manager partner, Andrew Moore, speaks with students waiting in line to participate in an iPad raffle during the WGU Transfer event on Sept. 29, 2026. The event, which took place at LBCC’s Liberal Arts Campus, featured college transfer information, prizes, food and music. (Abigail Soto Godinez)
Student Danny Lopez Angulo explained that while it’s interesting that the school is all online, there’s a lot of pros and cons that come along with attending such as lack of connection with peers and properly managing self-discipline.
While learning about WGU, students actively participated in the ipad raffle.
One winner of the ipad giveaway plans to use the device for their education.
“Well I’m actually borrowing a computer from them right now so this is really helpful, I’m gonna have this more long-term and use it on the go for journalism and things like that,” said student Tori Comontofski
“I learned a lot about WGU and how they can help people and how to get involved with scholarships,” Comontofski said.
LBCC staff encouraged students to use the opportunities presented to them by Transfer Services.
“There are opportunities for transfer at multiple institutions whether it be for Western Governors University and the financial assistance they provide or other institutions that also offer financial aid and scholarship. It’s important to know that there are options…,” Executive Vice President of Student Services Nohel Corral said.
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