Community college transfers are supposed to be a piece of cake. Your child spends two years at a community college, and transfers to a four, right? Unfortunately, it's not that simple. So here's the lowdown on how to transfer from a community college, and when to start planning. Hint: Day One.

• First, the bad news: It's perfectly possible to spend years at a community college, amass zillions of units, and have zero that transfer. It's also possible for your child to take all the right classes, with units that transfer, and still not get into the school of his dreams.

• Now, the good news: Neither of those things is going to happen as long as your child plans well. While it's true that some 4-year universities take very few transfers - Pomona, for example, takes 10-15 transfer students a year - others take thousands. And they include the many state universities that have articulation agreements with their neighboring community colleges. UC Berkeley, for example, virtually guarantees junior year admission to students that attend its partner community colleges, provided they take a list of specific classes and maintain a certain grade point average. Start planning from day one.
• Get an adviser: Your child needs a 2-year plan before he enrolls in any classes. If your community college has an articulation agreement, he needs to read it and cross-check the courses available with the courses the university accepts for transfer. Do not assume anything, and do not assume that a course with a similar name is the same thing. Best tip: Encourage your child to go to the community college advising office for help, even if the lines are long and even if he thinks he knows everything already. It's heartbreaking to take 60 units and discover only 12 transfer.

• Every grade matters: In high school, that GPA was leveraged over more than three years of grades and coursework. But if the plan here is to spend two years at community college, that transfer application will contain freshman year grades. That's about it. There may be time to send a third semester transcript, but you're still talking about a GPA based on very few classes. Make sure every one counts.