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Help Us Pass AB 440 -- The College Student Success Act
The Campaign needs your help to ensure success for community college students by singing a letter of support for AB 440, the College Student Success Act of 2009.
The bill will assure that community college students, who fulfill general education transfer requirements to a four-year university and a minimum of 60 semester units, receive an associate of arts degree in transfer studies in recognition of their achievement.
Currently, students are not awarded an associate degree at the end of their transfer path. As a result, many transfer students leave the community college system with nothing to show for their work. Should they experience interruptions on their path to obtain a bachelor's degree, they may find themselves far less marketable in a competitive economy.
It is estimated that 1 in 4 jobs require an associate's degree or higher, that number will decrease to 1 in 3. A student with a transfer studies degree will have greater opportunities in the workplace and will be better able to contribute to California's economy.
Help us assure that students receive a benchmark of their hard-earned success and at the same time guarantee California's future is bright.
<<Sign a letter of Support for AB 440
California Facing Looming Talent Deficit in Key Industries
A new report released by the Campaign for College Opportunity, the Sacramento State Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy (IHELP), and the Bay Area Council finds California’s colleges and universities are not producing enough graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, which could result in a talent deficit in key industries in the state and prolonged economic woes. The need for STEM graduates is detailed in the new study entitled Technical Difficulties: Meeting California’s Workforce Needs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Fields.
The report finds that California is not keeping pace with the increasing demand for skilled workers in STEM-related fields, such as health care, science, engineering, architecture, accounting, and computer sciences. Because of their higher rates of pay and their connection to innovation, STEM jobs are considered indispensible to fueling California’s economy. The shortage in STEM jobs could be so severe in the coming years that it may leave many jobs in the state unfilled and send some businesses to other states with a better supply of STEM graduates. The study details the important role that higher education must play in preparing the next generation for STEM positions, including increasing the numbers of Latinos and women who pursue degrees in STEM-related fields.
To view the executive summary and complete report, please click here.
Difficult Choices: CCO Budget Recommendations
(June 16, 2009) Since the Campaign for College Opportunity's inception, we have supported greater investment in higher education to expand student access and opportunity for all California's students. California’s unprecedented budget crisis threatens to have a devastating impact on generations of students and the state's future economic well-being, unless it is resolved soon. While we continue to support new revenues as a vehicle to create a more balanced budget, we recognize that we must minimize the severity of the cuts to higher education.
This means making difficult choices and prioritizing spending cuts in ways that do not fundamentally undermine California’s proud tradition of access to college for high school and re-entry students. Each of these recommendations reflect three core values, preserving access and maintaining affordability to college for students, and providing greater flexibility to our higher education institutions as they deal with these challenging cuts. Each of the three public higher education systems are critical to the future of our state and the preparation of our workforce, the magnitude of the cuts facing all three segments are significant and we believe the burden of these cuts must be shared amongst them.
After careful review of the latest budget proposals from the Governor's Office and the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), we recommend the following:
Student Affordability:
The Cal Grant program has been the cornerstone of California’s commitment to college access and affordability for more than 50 years. The loss of Cal Grants will push lower income students off the college track, delay their progress, or leave them deeper in debt as they struggle to make ends meet.
- Oppose the reduction of the Cal Grant maximum award for private institutions, the elimination of new awards for the Cal Grant competitive program, the decoupling of the Cal Grant award from UC/CSU fee increases, the elimination of all new Cal Grants for incoming freshman and phasing out of all future Cal Grants.
- Support the freeze on Cal Grant income eligibility levels. ($7 million in savings)
California Community Colleges:
California Community Colleges are a critical pathway for students, serving more than 2.6 million students annually and the majority of the state's undergraduates. The recommendations below are intended to prioritize funding, increase revenue and provide flexibility to colleges so that they can deal with cuts in a matter that makes the most sense locally. We support increasing community college fees in order to raise much needed community college revenue and provide this revenue directly to the community colleges. This is simply a better option than reducing course offerings or eliminating student services that delay a students ability to reach their college goals.
- Support the LAO recommendation to fund California Community College physical education and recreational courses at non-credit rate. ($120 million in savings).
- Support the Governor’s recommendation to reduce categorical programs by 55%. We recommend that community colleges have the flexibility to spend the remaining 45% in a manner determined locally. ($333 million in savings).
- Support the Governor’s recommendation to provide greater flexibility to Community Colleges by relaxing the 50% law. We recommend implementing this relaxation through 2012, with an optional extension for an additional three years if the increased flexibility has yielded positive results.
- Support the designation of the Board of Governors to implement a common statewide assessment at all community colleges, in order to maximize student success and ensure the adequate assessment, placement and interventions for students as they begin college.
- Support fee increases to $30 a unit for the 2009-10 school year and $40 a unit for the 2010-11 school year, as long as the Board of Governors fee waiver program for low income students remain in place. We also recommend that fee revenue remain with the local college district to offset the property tax shortfall, and that 25% of the additional fee revenue be allocated towards financial aid. (Estimated $120 million in additional revenue for 2009-10; Estimated $225 in additional revenue 2010-11. To help offset $116.7 from property tax shortfall savings)
California State University and University of California:
California State University and University of California serve over 600,000 undergraduates in our state and provide an affordable and world renowned pathway for a undergraduate and graduate education. The Governor and the LAO have recommended approximately $267.5 in additional cuts for the UC and $267.5 million in additional cuts for the CSU. Our recommendation is focused on ensuring that we minimize the impact of these cuts to student access to these institutions.
- Support the flexibility for the CSU and UC systems in the allocation of budget reductions, with the provision that at least 50% of the cuts come from increased faculty course load, increased class size, and reductions in state sponsored research funding, in order to minimize further impact to student access. (Exact savings unknown; LAO estimates a savings of $535 million).
- Oppose all cuts to CSU and UC outreach and academic preparation programs, but support a comprehensive evaluation of these programs.
Faced with these difficult choices, it is our strong belief that these recommendations help prioritize our spending and give emphasis to the core values of serving students and preparing our future workforce. Should these reductions be adopted, they would provide some important relief towards closing the budget gap while minimizing the impact to students.
Winners Announced for 2009 "Save Me a Spot in College" Youth Scholarship Contest
(May 27, 2009) More than 14,000 students from across California entered this year's "Save Me a Spot in College" Scholarship Contest by answering the contest question, "Why should California leaders save you and your peers a spot in college?" Students entered in three categories: written word, poster, or tv ad.
This year $150,000 was awarded to 269 students. Click here to view the grand prize nominated entries or to see a list of all student winners.
New Report from the University of Southern California finds a new "Homegrown Majority" in California
(April 27, 2009) For the first time in history, native Californians have become the majority and are changing the face of the state's future according to The New Homegrown Majority in California: Recognizing the New Reality of Growing Commitment to the Golden State released by the Population Dynamics Research Group at the USC School of Policy, Planning and Development.
According to the "Homegrown Majority" report this change has significant implications on education, infrastructure and tax policy as well as state budget making.
<< Download the Executive Summary here
<< Download the Full Report here
California To Be Short One Million College Grads by 2025 According to New PPIC Report
(April 16, 2009) The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released Closing the Gap: Meeting California's Need for College Graduates in April 2009. The report found that California will face a shortage of nearly 1 million college graduates by the year 2025. The report lays out a feasible scenario that would increase the number of college graduates by more than 500,000, closing the education skills gap by half.
<< Download a PDF or learn more about the report
<< View or Download a PDF of the report powerpoint
Four Districts Lead State in Helping Middle School Students Achieve College Dreams
(Statewide, March 16, 2009) This week thousands of students across California signed the “Save Me a Spot in College” pledge as a part of the new Early Commitment to College Program (ECC). These students pledged to work hard, stay in school, and take the steps they need to make it to college. The State of California promises to uphold its end of the bargain – to make sure there is a spot in college and financial aid available when they get there.
The first four school districts to implement the program are: San Francisco Unified School District, Fresno Unified School District, Long Beach Unified School District, and Los Angeles Unified School District. 20 more districts will implement the program this fall. ECC is run out of the California Department of Education.
The bill that created Early Commitment to College, SB 890 was sponsored by the Campaign for College Opportunity. It enjoyed broad-based bipartisan support and was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger in September 2008.
See student profiles and event photos:
Read the news articles about these events:
California Lags in Higher Education Performance —
Regional and Racial/Ethnic Disparities May Prevent California from Competing Globally
(Sacramento, February 12, 2009) — A new study by the Sacramento State Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy (IHELP) makes this message clear: your chances of competing in the global economy can depend on where in California you live and who you are. By every major marker, Californians experience vastly different educational opportunities and outcomes depending on where they grow up and on their race and ethnicity.
The Grades Are In – 2008: Is California Higher Education Measuring Up? takes an up-close look at California's downward slide in higher education, as well as the opportunity policymakers have to create and implement low-cost, high-impact changes that give the state the upper hand it needs to compete in the global economy. The analysis was conducted by IHELP as a follow up to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education's December 2008 report, Measuring Up, that grades all 50 states on the performance of their higher education systems.
Addressing state and regional issues through effective leadership and policy will set California's higher education system on a stronger course. With tough economic times at hand, California must look to one of its most valuable resources – its higher education system and the graduates it produces – to provide a workforce for the future.
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