In 1960, the state of California instituted the Master Plan for Higher Education a promise that every qualified student wishing to pursue a college education would have access to a public college or university. Now that promise is in jeopardy.
California is experiencing a rapid increase - far above that of other states - in the number of young people of college-going age, a phenomenon known as Tidal Wave II (where Tidal Wave I refers to the rapid increase in the number of college students in the 1950s and 1960s).
At the same time, the capacity of our public community college and universities is not increasing accordingly. According to the Department of Finance, 640,000 additional California students are likely to see college over current capacity by 2014. Curious how this population explosion is affecting your area? Download one of our regional fact sheets, from 2005's "Return on Investment" study.
Want to know how the lack of college access is affecting different ethnic groups? Download one of our ethnic snapshots.
Want to know more about the issue of higher education and Tidal Wave II in California? Check out our Research Library which has several studies related to the subject, a collection of news articles and other related information.
| 
