Expanding opportunity in California and beyond

California’s Campaign for College Opportunity, founded in 2003, has made a lasting impact through its mission to ensure that all eligible and motivated students in the state have an opportunity to go to college and succeed. President Jessie Ryan answered CC Journal’s questions about the student-centered work the Campaign is doing and what the future holds for higher education.

CC Journal: Can you talk about the impact the Campaign for College Opportunity has had in California over the last 22 years?

Jessie Ryan: For 22 years, the Campaign for College Opportunity has driven system-level transformation in California, grounded in a simple belief: higher education should be designed around students — not the other way around. Through bold advocacy, groundbreaking research and a steadfast focus on equity and student success, we’ve helped secure more than $8 billion in state investments, supported over 600,000 students in earning an Associate Degree for Transfer through our sponsored legislation, and led reforms that have virtually eliminated remediation across California community colleges.

As a first-generation college graduate who experienced both housing and food insecurity, I am especially proud that our impact extends beyond policy to people. We have trained more than 1,500 remarkable student leaders who are now shaping California’s future, including leaders like Sasha Perez, the state’s youngest senator and current chair of the Senate Education Committee. Together, this work is reshaping how systems expand opportunity and deliver on the promise of college for all.

CCJ: What are some of the biggest challenges colleges — and community colleges, in particular — and their students are facing now in California? And can you speak to the national higher education landscape?

Ryan: California’s colleges, especially community colleges, and their students are navigating a perfect storm: affordability pressures, basic needs insecurity and systems that remain too complex to support timely completion and seamless transfer. At the same time, higher education, students and immigrant communities are facing unprecedented attacks. Diversity was once a core strength of our campuses and it is increasingly being weaponized, as targeted efforts seek to roll back progress and erode higher education’s promise of a pathway to lifetime opportunity.

Nationally, this moment is even more difficult. We are seeing coordinated efforts to restrict access, undermine equity-focused policies and challenge the role of public higher education in advancing economic mobility and a thriving democracy. The stakes are high — not just for students, but for the future of our communities and our economy.

CCJ: Can you talk about the importance of bringing all stakeholders to the table, and how the Campaign for College Opportunity did that?

Ryan: Bringing stakeholders to the table is essential because durable change in higher education only happens when solutions are shaped by those most impacted and supported by those with the power to act. At the Campaign for College Opportunity, cultivating and sustaining a broad-based, nonpartisan coalition is at the heart of our work — from the boardroom to campus classrooms.

We were founded by an unlikely but powerful alliance; the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Community College League of California and the California Business Roundtable. These powerful but vastly different groups were united in a shared commitment to ensuring every Californian has access to the college dream, regardless of zip code. Today, that coalition has grown to more than 15,000 allies across education, civil rights, business and student organizations.

Our most impactful victories have been the result of years of deep partnership. We listen to students, ground our work in data and build consensus around scaling what works while challenging the status quo. In today’s volatile environment, that collective power is more important than ever to protect progress and accelerate meaningful, student-centered change.

CCJ: Do you have a sense of what the future holds for higher education? Is your organization preparing for it?

Ryan: California has the opportunity to be a beacon of light for the nation; reimagining higher education to meet the needs of today’s students while aligning more intentionally with the workforce of tomorrow. At the Campaign, we are preparing for this future by advancing policies that center college access, student success and clear pathways to prosperity and economic justice. Our work will continue to evolve, including reengaging the more than 6 million Californians with some college and no degree and advancing “Pathways with Purpose” so that student outcomes are not left to chance, but driven by intentional design, practice and investment.

We are also working diligently to center students and their lived experiences in policy reform and investment decisions. When students are authentic partners in redesigning our systems, better policy is the result. And alongside our data, coalition-building and advocacy, we are doubling down on shaping the narrative about higher education’s value.

Detractors may argue otherwise, but the evidence is clear: a college degree remains one of the most powerful levers for economic mobility and a better life.

CCJ: What can other states learn — and possibly adopt and adapt — from your work?

Ryan: Other states can learn that lasting change requires clarity of purpose and the courage to stay grounded in it; even in the face of strong opposition. As our late board member, Sen. Gary K. Hart, often reminded us, “nothing worth doing is without opposition.” That mindset has kept us resolute as we’ve advanced reforms in transfer, developmental education and student-centered funding.

Equally important, we treat data as a tool for social justice. We have embraced using rigorous, student-centered research to expose inequities, inform policy and hold systems accountable. Our original research, including “Left Out: How Exclusion in California’s Colleges and Universities Hurts Our Values, Our Students, and Our Economy,” laid bare the lack of representation among faculty, leadership and governing boards across public colleges and universities. One legislator called it “the Bible of why representation matters in higher education.” Paired with authentic student voice and coalition-building, this approach offers a roadmap other states can adapt to move from intention to meaningful impact.

Finally, we don’t just pass ambitious, student-centered policy and walk away. The Campaign stays the course through implementation. We recognize that most of the work and impact comes after legislation’s passage, in the deep, sustained effort to translate policy into practice. True systems change is the result of years of aligning policy and investment with lasting culture change on campuses, and that’s where we remain relentlessly focused.