College Opportunity News
Volume 5, Issue 1, February 3, 2010
In this issue:
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Some higher education principles for the 2010-2011 state budget
The Campaign for College Opportunity highlights priorities that should guide the state budget for higher education.
<< Learn more
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Anticipated federal funding provides opportunity to move California higher education priorities forward
The Campaign has been monitoring H.R. 3221 and reviewed the challenges and opportunities that exist to ensure funding for California higher education
<< Learn more |
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3) |
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The Save Me a Spot in College scholarship contest needs judges
We need your help to award $125,000 in scholarships to hundreds of middle and high school students across California.
<< Learn more |
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The Campaign continues to enhance our online capability
Read about new features on our website, a campaign to reach 1,000 Facebook fans and our new presence on Twitter.
<< Learn more |
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1) |
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Some higher education principles for the 2010-2011 state budget
The Campaign for College Opportunity highlights priorities that should guide the state budget for higher education.
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Since its creation in 2003, The Campaign for College Opportunity has worked tirelessly on ensuring that the next generation of California’s students has the chance to go to college and succeed. Along with our broad-based and bipartisan coalition of supporters, we have played an active role in educating the public through the dissemination of major studies and reports, raising awareness about issues central to higher education and promoting legislation to increase access and student success.
Now more than ever, the future of California depends upon its citizens and the education they acquire. The Public Policy Institute of California notes that in order to meet the workforce needs of the future, we will need one million additional college graduates between now and 2025. Yet, we are moving in exactly the wrong direction, turning away thousands of eligible students from our community colleges and universities at a time when we are a woeful 40th in the nation in the number of students who go directly from high school into college.
The challenges facing our governor and legislature during these grim economic times are enormous. However, as they craft the 2010-11 budget, we strongly urge them to renew their commitment to three higher education principles:
- Preserve Access. Prioritize our state spending on higher education to minimize cuts to capacity and strive to increase college-going by providing a spot in college for all eligible students.
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- Ensure Completion. Support the production of enough college graduates to meet our workforce needs, especially in critical sectors like health care, science, technology, engineering and math. Identify improved pathways for students to earn college certificates and Associate degrees or to transfer to a four-year university to receive a Baccalaureate degree.
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- Maintain Affordability. Guarantee that financial barriers do not prevent qualified persons from reaping the benefits of an affordable higher education nor cause graduates to face huge debt obligations. Cal Grants, work study opportunities, Pell grants and Community College Board of Governor waivers are all valuable programs that need to be expanded.
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In order to meet the three principles we are espousing, the governor and legislature must identify and adopt new sources of revenue for California higher education. Equally essential, all higher education segments must re-commit themselves to identifying and implementing new ways of operating more efficiently and effectively. The California dream of opportunity and prosperity depends, in part, on new revenues and new ways of doing business within the California higher education system.
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Anticipated federal funding provides opportunity to move California higher education priorities forward
The Campaign has been monitoring H.R. 3221 and reviewed the challenges and opportunities that exist to ensure funding for California higher education. back to top>> |
On February 24, 2009, during a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama stated, "We will provide the support necessary for all young Americans to complete college and meet a new goal: By 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world."
In order to meet this goal, the President has made college affordability, increasing college-going, and college graduation a priority. Currently under review in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, HR 3221: the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, includes an effort to modernize the federal student loan program and contains the College Access and Completion Innovation Fund and the American Graduation Initiative which, combined, represent an enormous opportunity for higher education.
The Campaign has been working with a diverse coalition to identify ways for California to access this funding to enable the state to help meet this goal. The coalition believes that these funds represent a great opportunity for California to establish a real plan for higher education that is focused on increasing college-going and improving student success. This report provides an overview of the federal legislation and shares the challenges and opportunities facing California.
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The Save Me a Spot in College scholarship contest needs judges
We need your help to award $125,000 in scholarships to hundreds of middle and high school students across California.
back to top>> |
The Campaign for College Opportunity invites you to volunteer as a judge and help us award more than $125,000 in scholarships to hundreds of students across California who participate in our Save Me a Spot in College scholarship contest! Students are making their voices heard about the importance of college access and success, and you will have the opportunity to read some of their inspiring and compelling written word entries. Volunteers will be eligible for a free ticket to Disneyland through their “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day.” Sign up here: www.collegecampaign.org/contest/judgeform.html.
To meet our state’s workforce needs, California needs one million additional college graduates by 2025. Each student who successfully completes college is One in a Million. The contest invites all 6th through 12th grade students in California to address the following prompt: Tell California leaders why you and your peers are one in a million and why they should save you a spot in college.
More than 2,000 entries have already been submitted and we anticipate thousands more before the March 15th deadline. With this tremendous response from students already, it becomes more important to us to have an army of generous volunteers to review the entries.
- Time commitment: Only three hours over the course of two weeks starting February 1, 2010. There are no meetings to attend, and you can judge from any location with internet access and whenever it fits your schedule.
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- Process: A batch of 30 entries in the written word category (i.e., poems, letters, essays, stories, etc., that are 400 words or less) will be emailed or mailed to you, and you nominate your top three online.
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Again, TO VOLUNTEER, PLEASE COMPLETE A JUDGE VOLUNTEER FORM AT www.collegecampaign.org/contest/judgeform.html. For more information, please contact Elizabeth Robles at 213-817-6034 or elizabeth@collegecampaign.org. Thank you for supporting future college students throughout California!
The scholarship contest is possible through the generous support of the College Access Foundation.
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The Campaign continues to enhance online presence
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Over the past several months, The Campaign for College Opportunity has been working to enhance our online presence. We wanted to let you know about these exciting changes, which include:
- In the next month, we will have a few new features on our website – including a scrolling newsfeed and blogging capability – that will aid you in locating relevant information about higher education in our state. The newsfeed (which will be added to Facebook as well) will reside on our homepage and provide a continual scroll of updated news and opinion articles related to higher education in California. The blog will allow us to provide news and commentary about higher education, as well as links to images, videos, related websites, and other online media. It will also enable you to leave comments for us in a more interactive format than our present configuration.
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- We have also updated many sections of the website including the press room, where you can browse our past newsletters and read media coverage we have received and the research library which houses reports The Campaign and our partners have released regarding higher education in California.
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- We are launching a campaign to reach 1,000 fans for our Facebook page by the end of April (we currently have close to 500 fans). Reaching this number enhances our networking capability and the technical functionality of our page. Please tell your friends and colleagues to become fans of The Campaign and help us double our Facebook fan base.
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- We are creating a presence on Twitter. You can now follow us at CollegeOpp, where Campaign staffers are tweeting about events, reports, and gatherings central to higher education. Become a follower; tweet us and retweet us to your friends.
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These enhancements will offer you additional ways to stay connected with us and provide us advanced capability as we continue to expand our network of Californians concerned about the future of higher education. Please let us know other ways in which we can reach you, your friends, and your colleagues.
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