2024 Legislative and Budget Priorities

In June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court announced a decision to curtail the use of race in college and university admissions, a crucial lever that has historically advanced the representation of Latinx, Black, Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI), and American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) students. In response, the Campaign for College Opportunity launched a national initiative, Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, Empowering Action, promoting evidence-based solutions and equity-advancing strategies in college preparation, access, and completion to ensure those who have been historically excluded and underserved by our colleges and universities have a real opportunity to go to college and succeed despite the Supreme Court decision.  

California’s imperative is clear: having experienced a ban on affirmative action for the past 28 years, we must lead the nation by example to enact policy that proactively combats the chilling effects in higher education enrollment and persistence stemming from the Supreme Court’s decision. Our 2024 California State & Federal Policy Agenda responds to this urgent call, providing policymakers a clear legislative and budgetary roadmap that can uplift our state as a national exemplar in actualizing equal opportunity to higher education informed by the strategies outlined in our Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, Empowering Action research brief series.