Changing the Odds: Pathways with Purpose Offers a New Vision for California Higher Education
Campaign President Jessie Ryan kicked off the Pathways with Purpose event October 20 at the California Endowment in Los Angeles by recounting her journey to earn a college degree as a poor, first-generation student, a process she likened to The Hunger Games.
“I was celebrated for defying the odds,” she recalled, noting that she attended several community colleges before finally transferring to and graduating from San Francisco State. “What if we redesigned the system so the odds change?”
That question is at the heart of Pathways with Purpose, a new framework aimed at aligning systems to help all Californians succeed in college and the workforce, regardless of their starting point.
At the event, which was made possible by the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund, Campaign staff shared findings from three reports on the State of Higher Education for Black, Latinx, and Asian American Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students, respectively. Although there was much to celebrate, there were also many sobering statistics to absorb.
For example, Latinx and Black students are less likely to receive the support necessary to complete A-G requirements in high school, limiting their eligibility for admission to the University of California and California State University systems. Black students are over-represented at for-profit colleges. And while a bachelor’s degree from a California public university pays off for all students eventually, it takes Black and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students three to five times longer to recoup their investment.
“We are losing students in high numbers,” warned Dr. Dilce D. Perez, CSU Vice Chancellor and Campaign Board Member. “Our institutions of higher education were never designed for the students we serve. Hard stop.”
The students who spoke on a panel moderated by Student Board Member Diana Aguilar-Cruz—Ele Fiifita, Benjamin Diaz, and Kyshia Hearns—agreed, citing barriers from confusion about admission requirements to bouts of imposter syndrome.
Hearns, who transferred from Long Beach City College to UCLA, issued a call to action: “We want California community colleges to have a transfer culture, but we also need four-year universities to have a transfer-receiving culture.”
Pathways with Purpose lays the groundwork for a connected roadmap from preparation through completion and economic mobility, with multiple entry and reentry points. The framework identifies six core pillars that will anchor future advocacy, research, and partnerships:
- Expand college preparation and access
- Streamline transfer and credit mobility
- Improve college affordability
- Serve historically excluded populations
- Enhance economic mobility
- Align systems
In a panel titled “Leading California Higher Education Forward,” leaders from all three systems spoke to the challenges and opportunities facing students and institutions. The tone was both pragmatic and aspirational.
Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, Chair of the Educational Policy Committee for the CSU Board of Trustees observed that education is perennially under-supported: “There’s never going to be too much money.”
Maria Anguiano, Chair of the UC Board of Regents, urged the higher ed community to stop thinking of the “average” student as an 18- to 22-year-old living on campus. The best place to put our collective energy? “Transfer, transfer, transfer.”
Hildiegarde B. Aguinaldo, President of the California Community College Board of Governors, said, “We are chipping away at inequity. The big policy changes are working.”
The event closed with words from Elizabeth Gonzalez, Chief Program and Strategy Officer at the College Futures Foundation, a longtime supporter of the Campaign, which she called “an unrelenting voice.” She reminded the audience, “We are always taking risks. Our parents and ancestors took risks to help us get where we are. Pathways with Purpose is a call to evolve.”
Explore Pathways with Purpose and consider donating to support the Campaign’s work.