The path to becoming an international student in California is not a particularly easy one. The hoops they have to jump through are numerous: they must undergo an arduous and costly F-1 visa process only to pay higher tuition while being barred from working legally. Since they’re also required to attend classes in person, international students at the Peralta Community College District (PCCD) must also grapple with the Bay Area’s high costs of living and deal with Peralta’s outdated facilities.

For students in China, one education firm offers a solution: obtain a transfer degree without ever setting foot on a California campus.

The company, called the American Straight A Academy (ASAA), purchased asynchronous online classes from the College of Alameda (CoA) to go towards degrees for transfer. Students paid ASAA for access to the program and attended CoA classes remotely from one of ASAA’s two campuses in China.

The firm has not disclosed how much ASAA students pay for their experience. PCCD Director of International Education, Thomas Torres-Gil, told The Citizen he did not know what the students were being charged. California Public Records Act requests to PCCD did not yield this information.

PCCD’s million dollar contract with ASAA ended abruptly in April amidst some controversy. PCCD Chancellor Tammeil Gilkerson, who assumed office in January, paused all international contract education agreements with the district after an anonymous email raised concerns of academic dishonesty among some ASAA students.

In an emailed statement to The Citizen, the California Community College Chancellor’s Office voiced opposition to ASAA’s practices.

“The Chancellor’s Office does not agree with this practice and fully supports the district’s decision to discontinue it,” wrote state chancellor’s office spokesperson Melissa Villarin.

“Aside from this instance, we are not aware of private businesses selling access to California community college classes in this manner,” Villarin added.

CoA instructors who taught ASAA classes expressed their own questions about the program to The Citizen. Some gave examples of ASAA students using artificial intelligence tools to facilitate their schoolwork.

To investigate ASAA’s relationship with PCCD, The Citizen reviewed contracts, inspected the contents of over 400 pages of documents obtained through a Public Records Act request, and requested comments from everyone involved.

The investigation raised questions about how international contract education at California Community Colleges is regulated.

ASAA’s ‘California Education Plan’

ASAA offers remote pathways to American education for students in China, including American high school diplomas and California community college degrees. Their motto is “American education at your fingertips—everywhere!,” as stated on company job postings.

ASAA advertises what it calls the “California Education Plan” or “CEP” online. The company defines the CEP as a streamlined process in which students obtain a two-year associate’s degree remotely from a California community college and then transfer to complete their studies in the U.S. or elsewhere.

Through ASAA’s program, students receive room, board, and in-person academic tutors, according to their online materials.

The website refers to the University of California’s Transfer Admission Guarantee program, called TAG, which offers community college students in California an ensured spot to six UC campuses if they meet certain GPA and coursework criteria. California community college transfer students accounted for about 25% of all UC admissions in 2023.

Villarin, the state chancellor’s office spokesperson, acknowledged in an emailed statement that the use of TAG agreements in this manner is unconventional and not the intention behind the statewide program.

ASAA’s first contract with PCCD included five transferable classes taught by CoA faculty for Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 semesters at a “discounted rate” of $84,516. A following contract was signed in March 2023, totaling $1,047,000 to purchase 58 classes spanning from Fall 2023 to Summer 2024 semesters. Gilkerson ended the contract with ASAA right before the Summer 2024 session.

PCCD’s Office of International Education also created a “special assignment” counselor position to assist with the OIE’s contract education programs. ASAA was the OIE’s only contract education program during this time.

According to Torres-Gil, the director of OIE, 197 ASAA students enrolled in PCCD courses this past spring. PCCD graduated 54 of them that same semester.

ASAA has not disclosed which other California community colleges, or CCCs, it may be contracting with. Torres-Gil told The Citizen he did not know of any other CCCs working with them.

A July 8 admissions report from ASAA states that their class of 2024 collectively received over 265 transfer admissions. The report includes a video from Torres-Gil, former Interim CoA President Diana Bajrami, and former International Student Specialist Annie Liu congratulating ASAA students on their transfers.

PCCD has spent over $28,000 on site visits to both ASAA campuses in China for their kick-off of the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters. Visitors included Torres-Gil, Bajrami, Liu, and former Interim Chancellor Jannett Jackson. Jackson’s travel to China was approved by the district, but received opposition from two PCCD Trustees. Jackson left her position in Dec. 2023.

The Citizen reached out to Liu, Bajrami, and Jackson for comment on the program and inquired about their site visits in China. Each representative declined via email.

Liu told The Citizen that she will “no longer answer any questions or accept any interviews related to the international department.” She said she no longer works in OIE and now serves as an Executive Assistant to the Berkeley City College President.

Jackson responded, “As I am no longer associated with the district or involved in the future plans for this districtwide program, regrettably, I do not feel I am in a position to contribute to your article.”

Bajrami declined an interview but added that she does “believe in this program” as a former international student. “I have taught in such programs for years and these programs provide invaluable access to higher education,” she said.

ASAA is a registered company in Dallas, Texas, according to Texas Secretary of State filings.

Gavin Wang is listed as the CEO of ASAA on PCCD contracts with a primary address in Guangzhou, China. He is referred to as Yu Wang on district documents. According to Wang’s LinkedIn, he is a graduate of Naveen Jindal School of Management at University of Texas at Dallas, and is also co-founder of the Chinese job networking company Hi-in.com.

Wang did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

ASAA has not disclosed to The Citizen how much they charge their students for their California public education with private tutors, room, and board. Torres-Gil, who wrote the ASAA contract and was a primary contact with the organization, stated to The Citizen in an interview that he was unaware how much these students were being charged.

The Citizen submitted a California Public Records Act request asking for any documentation, such as emails or letters, that ASAA provided to the OIE showing ASAA’s total cost to students. The district responded that there were not “any records responsive to this request.”

The Citizen reached out to ASAA via its WeChat channel, which the company provides on its website as a way to communicate with people interested in the program.

A representative of ASAA told The Citizen on WeChat that they could not disclose the amount they charged students for PCCD courses, since their collaboration with the district was ending.

The ASAA student experience differs from the typical international student experience at CCCs in numerous ways.

• CCC international students are usually required to go through a costly and extensive F-1 VISA process in order to get clearance to study in the United States. Even if students go through this process, there is no guarantee that they will be accepted.
• F-1 students are required to take classes in person with permission for only one online class per semester.
• F-1 students are not permitted to work during their first year of study.
• F-1 students are required to pay international student tuition to their college, and often share the classroom with other students at their college.

While taking public school courses in a private school setting, ASAA students did not pay tuition to PCCD, since ASAA paid Peralta directly per class.

The revenue from ASAA contracts went into PCCD’s Fund 30, which is the budget string exclusively used for the district’s Contract Education programming. General expenses for the district, such as teacher pay or facilities improvements, can’t come out of Fund 30.

This matter comes during a time when California Governor Gavin Newsom has increased pressure on UC’s and CSU’s to allocate more seats for qualified in-state students and fewer for out-of-state and international students. Recent actions towards this goal include SB 129, a 2021 bill aimed at capping nonresident student populations to 18% at UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, and UC San Diego.

Anonymous email raises concerns to UC Berkeley

The ASAA contract first came into question in April, PCCD Chancellor Tammeil Gilkerson said.

UC Berkeley had reached out to the district about an anonymous email sent to UC Berkeley’s Office of the Chancellor titled “Organized Cheating Scheme in Transfer Admissions.”

The email, signed by “a prospective transfer student,” claimed to be written by an international student at BCC who took an online English class with an ASAA student.

The email’s author stated that the goal of reaching out was to expose “a large group of students appearing to cooperatively and deliberately exploit loopholes within the system.”

The author of the email claimed that the ASAA student did not possess the English skills to maintain their coursework on their own. The ASAA student then allegedly revealed to the author that they were admitted to UC Berkeley with a 4.0 grade point average.

The anonymous “student” voiced confusion as to how their classmate from ASAA managed to navigate the system with perfect grades, but was still “constantly underperforming” in the class.

The author claimed ASAA was a “special program” in which students were able to utilize AI for assignments, share answers amongst each other, and have access to tutors who helped with homework and exams. They expressed concerns that this resulted in inflated grades that were not reflective of the student’s ability to succeed without personalized help.

“Coming from a less developed country, I lack the privilege of attending a program like this student’s,” the email stated. “Many other students and I have diligently pursued our academic goals at BCC, facing significant challenges.”

The email, obtained through a Public Records Act request submitted to UC Berkeley, was part of a longer email thread that showed the Admissions Office and Office of the President investigating the situation with Peralta.

Jocelyn De Jong, the Assistant Vice Chancellor & Director of Undergraduate Admissions at UC Berkeley, told others in the email thread that, “we are looking into a few other oddities, including the potential of a motive and that the source of the report is not likely a student at all.”

District finds allegations to be unsubstantiated

An “informal investigation” of ASAA ensued at PCCD following the report from UCB, according to Gilkerson. The investigation was led by Stephanie Droker, PCCD’s former Interim Deputy Chancellor who retired in June.

The investigation concluded that the issues addressed in the letter were unsubstantiated, according to Gilkerson.

Droker’s PCCD email is now defunct, and she did not respond to multiple phone calls. OIE Director Torres-Gil told The Citizen he was not involved with the investigation.

Gilkerson said it was her understanding that Droker “reviewed survey responses from some faculty members who taught ASAA classes.”

“She was also able to review student cohort grades and there were also a couple of students whose grades could be reviewed in comparison to other Peralta students in classes outside of the ASAA program,” Gilkerson added.

Gilkerson attached two “Faculty Feedback Form” surveys of instructors who taught ASAA classes from Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 as investigation documents that Droker used. She asked The Citizen not to publish the full spreadsheet over concerns of teacher privacy.

In Spring 2024, there were only six responses. Three out of the six expressed concerns over the use of artificial intelligence in their classrooms and noted an uptick in AI work in comparison to previous cohorts.

One instructor noted an “extensive and growing use of AI among students.”

“Some are translating everything,” the instructor wrote. “This defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?”

Another instructor noted that, “even though I entered no concerns with academic integrity, I have noticed a slow increase in students using AI or more specifically ChatGPT in some of the discussion assignments. It seems using this technology is becoming a global shift for students.”

A third instructor not only raised concerns with AI, but also with the actions of the tutors whom the professors had no oversight over.

“I have had several issues in the past, and currently I am seeing a lot of AI work,” the instructor stated. “The reasoning from the students is that they are writing the work in Chinese and using AI to translate and to ‘polish’ their work. I also found it strange that the tutor was very adamant that I provide extra credit for students to work ‘outside’ of the class.”

The instructor noted that within a few weeks of the class starting, an “administrator” turned off their access to Turnitin, an online plagiarism checker used by professors. During the weeklong period they were unable to access the AI detection tool, “students submitted an incredible amount of work that was AI generated.”

Two of these instructors continued to question the role of tutors in their classrooms, and whether they were necessary. One instructor said they enjoyed the role tutors played in facilitating coursework face-to-face with students.

The Fall 2023 data consisted of 14 instructors’ feedback. Most appreciated the respectfulness of ASAA students and the commitment they held for getting perfect grades. There was only one comment regarding AI, and one questioning the role of tutors.

What CoA faculty teaching ASAA classes had to say to The Citizen

The Citizen interviewed six faculty members who taught ASAA classes to learn more about their experiences with the program.

None of the faculty members we interviewed could recall any outreach from PCCD regarding an investigation into ASAA or the academic integrity of their students.

Several trends emerged amongst the instructors’ experiences that were consistent with the Faculty Feedback Form results.

Five of the six told The Citizen that they were uncertain of their students’ academic integrity and were unsure of the role ASAA tutors played in their classrooms. Some reported that the tutors had full access to their Canvas dashboards. Others noted how infrequently ASAA students reached out for help compared to their U.S. students.

Faculty also recalled the stress of a last minute request by ASAA officials to change pre-planned course schedules and syllabi.

Stefanie Ulrey, a faculty member of CoA’s English Department since 2005, believes she is one of the longest running instructors to have taught in contract education abroad at PCCD. She spoke with The Citizen regarding her experience teaching English to ASAA students.

Ulrey mentioned that overall she really enjoyed teaching in the program and appreciated it as a way to give students an accessible education overseas. However, just like in all virtual classes, the ASAA program had its pros and cons.

She noted the diligence of the ASAA students in perfecting their grades and said many spoke better English than her students in the U.S., which she identified as a plus. She also recognized the use of translator software in some of her students’ work.

“Some of the students would use a translator software to make sure the English was perfect, and that’s not how you learn a language,” Ulrey said. “I wasn’t always sure I was getting the authentic writing, but when they’d meet with me, they would speak fluently, and they were extremely well prepared.”

As an English for Speakers of Other Languages teacher, Ulrey recognized the signs of inauthentic work. She noted instances where submissions were too advanced for the level of the course and did not pass AI detectors. She stated students would usually come forward with their use of AI or online translators when questioned.

Another English instructor who spoke with The Citizen stated that for the most part their students seemed “well off,” with some having studied English extensively abroad while others had little experience. She felt that navigating the students’ varying skill sets was a challenge. The instructor requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation.

Despite the lack of concrete evidence that professors had to verify whether they were receiving authentic work, most stated that these issues are pervasive in online learning in general, not just ASAA.

Instructors stated that there were no additional protocols to ensure academic integrity for their students in China, and that online students were held to the same standard as U.S. students.

The Citizen contacted two former ASAA students through LinkedIn, who did not respond to any requests for comment.

ASAA moving on

ASAA is still in operation and providing California Community College education to students in China — not under the supervision of PCCD, but at other CCCs, as made clear by their continuous advertising and new 2025 cohort.

Similar models by private businesses have sought to capitalize on California public education resources. This was the case with Pegasus, a private school once recognized by the Val Verde District. Pegasus served students in Qingdao, China at $34,000 a year and promised a special admissions process, Business Insider reported.

Whether this practice will continue at the community college level is in the hands of the state chancellor’s office.

Villarin, the state chancellor’s office spokesperson, stated that the office “will be pursuing potential regulatory action to further develop guard rails around partnerships to support the academic integrity of the California community college programing.”

The office also acknowledged that there has been a higher demand for online learning.

“We support colleges that are innovating and meeting student needs through a variety of modes of instructional delivery while maintaining a quality teaching and learning environment and adhering to attendance reporting requirements,” Villarin wrote.