Objective: Community college baccalaureate (CCB) programs are expanding across the nation, particularly in California--home of the largest and most ethnically/racially diverse community college system in the nation. CCB programs provide many benefits, two of which include providing an accessible and affordable pathway towards baccalaureate…

From 2016-2023, College Futures Foundation supported several California State University (CSU) campuses to partner with California community colleges in their regions to increase the number of students transferring from community colleges and completing bachelor's degrees at the CSU. In an effort to learn more about this work, College Futures…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to compare mean first-time pass rates on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) of nursing graduates who were trained in hybrid versus traditional prelicensure nursing programs in California from 2018 to 2023. A theoretical framework in constructivism connects this…

The bachelor's degree remains a fundamental path to economic opportunity in the United States. Critical for policymakers, then, is ensuring equitable access to such benefits--a task often constrained by long-standing structural barriers. One of the most obvious structural impediments for bachelor's degree-aspirants in California (CA) is the…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of students formally enrolled in a California community college promise program at Mountain View Community College, Lakeview Community College, Hillcrest Community College, and Ocean Valley Community College, each located in Southern California. The…

Five years after our 2019 analysis of student borrowing rates across the University of California (UC) system, TICAS partnered with the University of California Student Association (UCSA) again to evaluate the state of affordability and student debt for undergraduates at the UC, and their implications for student success. While our analysis finds…

The transfer between two-year and four-year colleges is a critical path to baccalaureate attainment. Yet students face a number of barriers in transfer pathways, including a lack of coherent coordination and articulation between their community colleges and four-year institutions, resulting in excess units and increased time to degree. In this…

Sharing the journey of developing an ePortfolio assignment, this article focuses on the design process, implementation, and benefits of the ePortfolio as a capstone project for a bachelor's degree program using a constructivist approach. Integrating constructivist educational practices (e.g., student-centered learning, autonomy, self-regulation,…

California is home to the nation's largest higher education systems which once served as "the model" for access, affordability, and excellence. However, decades of declining state investment and existing policies are "marginalizing the majority" of California students and perpetuating social stratification across the state.…

The long-recognized disconnect between research and practice is reflected by social work students who often report significant apprehension about their research classes, likely at least in part because of a poor understanding of the research-practice interface and an unfamiliarity with larger professional social change initiatives like the Grand…

Graduating from college is a life-transforming achievement for young people with foster care backgrounds. Not only do the majority of adolescents in foster care aspire to finish college, but holding a degree has been associated with an increased likelihood of being employed and having higher earnings. Still, existing research estimates that fewer…

The value of a college degree continues to rise. A bachelor's degree in particular provides unrivaled economic and health benefits not just for the individual earning the degree, but for the entire state. Therefore, it is not surprising to see growing demand for a college education coupled with growing eligibility for California's public…

Guided by a Geography of Opportunity framework and using Arc Geographic Information Systems (ArcGIS) mapping, we sought to explore how and to what extent California Community Colleges baccalaureate programs graduates' expected earnings are likely to meet the Self-Sufficiency Standard and afford fair market rent for the region in which they are…

The purpose of this research is to acknowledge what California Community Colleges are/are not doing in regards to poor transfer outcomes to bolster bachelor's degree attainment, especially for underrepresented minorities (URM) and Black indigenous people of color (BIPOC) students. The California Community College system entices students with low…

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of faculty working within baccalaureate degree--granting community colleges. Method: Data sources included 16 semi-structured interviews, numerous publicly available organizational documents, and participant observations. Results: Analysis revealed three distinct, yet…