Although there are claims that neoliberalism has not only commandeered the agenda and actions of universities and colleges but also become identified with the work of academic professionals, there is little empirical evidence to show that neoliberalism has infiltrated the work of faculty. This qualitative field work investigation of three…

The State of Higher Education in California is a series of reports by the Campaign for College Opportunity that provide comprehensive data on the current state of college access and completion for our state and what it means for our economy. This report analyzes the state of Latinx in California education. Specifically, this report reviews…

Universities are undergoing historic change, from the sharp downward shift in government funding to widespread demands to document performance. At the University of California Berkeley, this led to an operational change effort unlike any the university had ever attempted, dubbed Operational Excellence. The authors describe their experiences…

The COVID-19 health crisis has laid bare the structural inequity in the financial aid system. The pandemic has hit the lowest-income students hardest, with many struggling to afford the basic technology for online learning on top of new or exacerbated food and housing insecurity. Federal and state dollars predicated on Pell Grant eligibility, time…

One key objective of California's Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) Student Mental Health (SMH) initiative funded under Proposition 63 is to establish a formal process for ongoing collaboration between higher education systems and county mental health, as well as to increase collaboration among higher education campuses to improve student…

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Statewide Survey delivers objective, advocacy-free information on the perceptions, opinions, and public policy preferences of California residents. PPIC invites input, comments, and suggestions from policy and public opinion experts and from its own advisory committee, but survey methods, questions,…

Over the past three years, California State University, Bakersfield received NSF funding to support hands-on explorations in "network security" and "cryptography" through Research Experience Vitalizing Science-University Program (REVS-UP). In addition to the summer bridge component, the grant included development of…

Nationally, state funding to higher education has significantly decreased. Ironically, the trend of state divestment in higher education coincides with federal and state policies geared toward increasing degree completion rates. Through an analysis of qualitative data gathered at California higher education institutions, this paper highlights how…

Within a quarter century after the end of World War II (1945-1970), largely because of the support and investment it received from the State, the University of California had changed from two modest-size general campuses (Berkeley and Los Angeles) and the medical campus in San Francisco (UCSF), to a system of eight general campuses. California was…

The ability to transfer from community college to university is vital in California, where access to public universities is limited to the top one-third of high school graduates and all others have access to baccalaureate education through the California Community Colleges (CCC). Yet a complex transfer process has led to low transfer rates and…

The ability to transfer from community college to university is vital in California, where access to public universities is limited to the top one-third of high school graduates and all others have access to baccalaureate education through the California Community Colleges (CCC). Yet a complex transfer process has led to low transfer rates and…

WUE is the Western Undergraduate Exchange, a program coordinated by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). Through WUE, students in Western states may enroll in participating two-year and four-year public college programs at a reduced tuition level: up to 150 percent of the institution's regular resident tuition. In all…

Ten states now offer in-state college tuition rates to illegal immigrant students. Others are struggling to enact similar policies. But while many advocates want to open the doors to higher education for undocumented students, critics say the laws granting in-state tuition discriminate against other low-income students and legal residents of the…

Ten states, beginning with Texas and California in 2001, have passed laws permitting undocumented students to pay the in-state tuition rate--rather than the more expensive out-of-state tuition rate--at public universities and colleges. We exploit state-time variation in the passage of the laws to evaluate the effects of these laws on the…

Developing a culture of evidence to assess and improve teacher preparation programs is a critical issue in American education. Teacher education has been struggling with the challenge of preparing and retaining sufficient numbers of high-quality teachers who can work effectively with students from all cultural and racial backgrounds, raising the…