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Completing your application takes less than 30 minutes! We’ve created an application guide to help you quickly and easily complete the steps to apply and enroll.
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Merritt College counselors provide academic, career, and personal counseling services to help students identify educational, career, and personal goals. Counselors help students develop their educational plans to achieve their goals. Students are encouraged to meet with counselors early in the educational process to plan their program of study. Some counseling services are available on a Remote drop-in basis, while others require a scheduled appointment. We also offer e-counseling for specific situations. If you are having trouble scheduling an appointment, please contact the counseling department at 510-436-2475 for assistance.
Please keep in mind that drop-in services are for quick 10-15 minute counseling sessions only.
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Quick 10-15 minute drop-in appointments only |
Appointments that require a 1-hour appointment, no exceptions |
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If it is determined that your needs require more time to be properly addressed, we are happy to assist you in scheduling a full counseling appointment. Your success is important to us, and we want to ensure that your needs are addressed properly in the given time frame.
Make an appointment online! Click here or scan the QR code below

Other Counseling Services
The Merritt College Counseling Department provides specialized services to students who qualify for CalWORKS, Cooperative Agencies Resources for Education (CARE), Extended Opportunity Programs & Services (EOPS), NextUP, Student Accessibility Services (SAS), Veterans Services Program, and other services listed below. For more information about these programs, please visit the following websites:
SAO #1: Identify and Record Goal(s).
Students will be able to clearly state their academic and/or career goal(s) and record them in a Student Educational Plan (SEP) or other appropriate document as one outcome of a counseling session.
SAO #2: Utilize Educational Resources.
Students will be able to identify, access and use educational resources (electronic and otherwise) to plan and pursue their academic, career and personal goals.
SAO #3: Access Support Services
Students will be able to identify and access campus resources available to meet their individual needs and to support them as they pursue their academic, career and personal goals.
Articulation is the process that connects courses at two educational institutions to help students make a smooth transition from one to the other without having to complete duplicate coursework. The process identifies courses at the sending institution that are accepted by the receiving institution. This allows students to fulfill a receiving institution requirement at the sending institution before transfer. For more information, please see the FAQs below.
Merritt AA/AS Degree GE Pattern
Cal-GETC GE Pattern (for transfer)
What is articulation at Merritt College?
Articulation is the process of establishing which Merritt College courses are acceptable in lieu of courses offered at 4-year institutions. Merritt has articulation agreements with all public universities in California, including all campuses of the University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU). Merritt also has articulation agreements with private and independent colleges and universities in and outside California. The goal of articulation is to create a clear pathway for students to transfer from Merritt College to a 4-year institution without having to repeat courses after transfer that they’ve already taken and passed.
What is an articulation agreement?
Each 4-year institution has its own admission, general education, graduation, and major requirements. An articulation agreement is an agreement that specifies which Merritt College course(s) will fulfill one or more of these requirements.
Transfer Course Agreements. These agreements list courses that will be accepted for credit by the 4-year institution. Courses that are approved for transfer credit may or may not count toward general education, major, or graduation requirements. Merritt College courses that transfer for credit to CSU or to UC are identified in the Merritt College catalog at the end of each course description and/or on the ASSIST website (see below).
Course-to-Course Agreements. A course-to-course agreement lists Merritt College courses that are acceptable in lieu of specific courses at a 4-year institution.
General Education Agreements. There are different GE patterns:
Major Preparation. Major preparation agreements list courses that fulfill specific lower-division requirements for different majors at 4-year institutions.
Course Identification Numbering System (C-ID). C-ID is a statewide numbering system that can be used to determine course equivalency between California Community Colleges (CCCs) and CSUs. If a course at a CCC has an approved C-ID designation, it can be considered comparable to a course at either another CCC or at a CSU with the same C-ID designation. However, just because a Merritt College course shares a C-ID designation with a course at a CSU doesn’t mean it will fulfill admission, general education, major preparation, or graduation requirements. Merritt College courses that have been approved for C-ID to date are listed at https://www.c-id.net/. See a counselor or contact the transfer institution for more information.
How can I learn more about articulation agreements?
One source of articulation information is the Articulation System Stimulating Interinstitutional Student Transfer (ASSIST). ASSIST is the official repository of articulation agreements for public higher education institutions in California (CCCs, CSUs, and UCs). These agreements have been reviewed and approved by the faculty at these institutions and identify how CCC courses will fulfill admission, transfer, general education, major preparation, and graduation requirements at CSUs and UCs. Students planning to transfer should become familiar with articulation agreements found on ASSIST at https://www.assist.org/ and on other sites. Students are strongly encouraged to see a counselor and to visit the Merritt College Transfer Center for more information.

To schedule counseling appointments, please call (510) 436-2475 or e-mail counseling.merritt@peralta.edu. If you have general questions, please call (510) 436-2475, and we will route your message to a Counselor who will return your call.
| Sara Alturk Counseling Department Tri-Chair General Counselor salturk@peralta.edu |
Rosa S. Perez Counseling Department Tri-Chair General Counselor rperezflores@peralta.edu |
Edwin Towle Counseling Department Tri-Chair General Counselor etowle@peralta.edu |
| Judit Trinidad Lopez Puente/General Counselor jtlopez@peralta.edu |
Derrick Ross General Counselor dlross@peralta.edu |
Lesley Scurry General Counselor lscurry@peralta.edu |
| Carlos McLean General Counselor cmclean@peralta.edu |
Chelsea Kubischta General Counselor ckubischta@peralta.edu |
Leanna Jack Veterans/General Counselor ljack@peralta.edu |
Lorenzo Ubungen General Counselor lubungen@peralta.edu |
| Marty Zielke, M.S., Ed. D. SLOAC/General Counselor mzielke@peralta.edu |
Mayra Macias General Counselor mmacias@peralta.edu |
Quiana Easter |
Roniqua Cook-Greene General Counselor rcgreene@peralta.edu |
| Omar Sanchez General Counselor osanchez@peralta.edu |
Emil Margolis General Counselor emargolis@peralta.edu |
Angela Chang General Counselor angelachang@peralta.edu |
Jasmine Broome General/Sankofa/Umoja Counselor jbroome@peralta.edu |
| Cliff Flamer Career/General Counselor cflamer@peralta.edu |
Hideo Nakano-Hiraki Veterans/General Counselor hnakanohiraki@peralta.edu |
Sergio Castaneda
HSI/General Counselors
castaneda@peralta.edu |
Summer Academic counseling hours (June 1, 2026 to July 30, 2026):
Monday-Thursday
8am-4:30pm
Closed Fridays
Extended Hours During Enrollment Periods:
Monday-Wednesday 9am-4pm
Thursday 9am-6pm
Friday 9am-12pm
Location:
Counseling Center
R Building, Room 109
Main Number:
(510) 436-2475
Email:
counseling.merritt@peralta.edu

Counseling Department Tri-Chair
General Counselor
Sara Alturk
salturk@peralta.edu
Counseling Department Tri-Chair
General Counselor
Rosa S. Perez
rperezflores@peralta.edu

Counseling Department Tri-Chair
Counseling Co-Chair
General Counselor
Edwin Towle
etowle@peralta.edu

Student Services Specialist
Maria Spencer
mspencer@peralta.edu

Staff Assistant
Skye Nikaidoh
snikaidoh@peralta.edu
Completing your application takes less than 30 minutes! We’ve created an application guide to help you quickly and easily complete the steps to apply and enroll.