Statewide Listening Tour

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

On Friday, June 27th, we held a listening tour stop at Fresno Pacific University, in partnership with the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium. Participants from higher education, K-12, philanthropy, local nonprofits, business, county government—and special guest, Dolores Huerta—joined us for this discussion about higher education in the region with the lowest educational attainment rates in the state: the San Joaquin Valley (see the North San Joaquin Valley higher education profile).

The conversation centered on four overarching themes of access, completion, accountability, and affordability. In breakout group discussions, participants were asked to rank the bold reforms presented in each category, and then to vote for their top four reforms overall so that The Campaign could get a sense of the priorities outlined by community leaders in Fresno and other areas of the San Joaquin Valley.

Below are some of the top level priorities that rose to the surface based upon group voting.

Access

• Expand eligibility through A-G completion and expand capacity. Both of these reforms rose to the top in terms of the discussion on access, but also among all of the reforms discussed throughout the day. The first step to raising the educational attainment of the region is to make sure that students are accessing higher education, participants shared.

Completion

• Focus on equity. In some breakout group discussions, a greater focus on equity in terms of environment and zip code was favored rather than a focus on preparation, enrollment, and completion targets by race/ethnicity. Participants affirmed that key to the success of such a reform would be to ensure that there is a strong commitment to provide supports and other resources to students.
• Accelerate college readiness. Interestingly, the top four reforms of the day were concentrated among access (expanding eligibility and capacity) and completion (focus on equity and accelerating college readiness). While participants acknowledged that there was good work happening in redesigning the delivery of basic skills, there was greater conversation around assessing and placing students in proper pathways and in greater coordination between K-12 and higher education so that the need for remediation is reduced. Participants indicated that getting this work accomplished was more a matter of willfulness than resources because the infrastructure is already there.

Accountability

• Fund for enrollment and completion. Leaders in the region understand that some new funding model is likely in the future for higher education, particularly for community colleges, and are not opposed to the idea. They see it as a potential tool for improving completion, rather than a hammer to punish colleges and universities.
• Empower regions. This reform also stood out during this conversation. This could be due to the coordination work of the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium, which has allowed the region to model reforms that will eventually be taken statewide, such as common assessment and priority enrollment.

Affordability

• Improve financial aid access. Conversation around this reform was not focused as much on ensuring that students complete the FAFSA, as participants felt that the region already does this very well. Instead, participants expressed concern about the students who had financial need, but were unable to access aid such as middle-income students and young, independent students who, for whatever reason, have left home but still have to apply as a dependent of their parents.

Thank you to the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium for their partnership in this listening tour stop and to all of our enthusiastic participants that day!

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

On a sunny April 9th the Campaign for College Opportunity kicked off its first listening tour stop in Los Angeles. Twenty-three leaders from the region representing business, education, labor, philanthropy and civil rights sectors gathered for two hours to talk about the future of higher education in California and in particular, to discuss bold new reforms that are needed in order to address California’s looming workforce shortage.

The group began by learning about how Los Angeles County is performing in six key college measures (see the Los Angeles County profile) and then spent a significant amount of time reflecting on issues of Access and Completion, Accountability and Affordability. In small groups, participants shared possible solutions, and voted on the issues that require the most immediate action. Below are the leading themes that emerged from the conversations but please note, they do not reflect the totality of the conversations nor were these ideas endorsed by all participants:

Access and Completion

• Expand A-G Eligibility. More of California’s students must be eligible to apply to the state’s four-year public universities directly from high school.
• Common Core Alignment. High Schools and Colleges must be working in an official coordinated way to ensure that the implementation of Common Core at the K-12 level meets the definitions of “college-ready” at the postsecondary level. Otherwise, misalignment will lead to continued issues of underprepared students.
• Reduce Remediation. Too many California students are deemed in need of remediation when they set foot on a college campus. More must be done to accelerate the remediation process and schools must do a better job of assessing students beyond just using test scores.
• Expand Capacity. More spots are needed at California’s public four-year universities however, more spots could be available if institutions do a better job of getting more students to graduate, and do so in a timely fashion.

Accountability

• Expand Financial Aid. Expand financial aid for community college students so that a total award package not only includes the costs of tuition and fees but costs of living including housing, transportation and books. This would be consistent with the way CSU and UC students are awarded aid.
• Prioritize Aid. Provide limited financial aid dollars to students who articulate higher education goals and progress toward completion.
• Moderate, fair, predictable fee increases. Provided financial aid is available for low-income students, a moderate, predictable and fair fee increase at the community colleges would provide much needed revenue to the system.

Los Angeles leaders are in agreement that California needs a plan to improve the number of students earning college credentials for the sake of our local and state economies. The key themes that emerged from our conversations give us important insight into the types of bold reforms that can make reaching the goals of a plan possible.

The Campaign for College Opportunity was excited to host a room full of leaders ready to bring change to higher education in California. Their enthusiasm gives us the energy to continue these vibrant discussions across the state of California. Next stop, San Diego!

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

On Friday, May 16th, twenty-four Central Valley leaders came together at Modesto’s El Concilio Council for the Spanish Speaking to discuss bold reforms for higher education in California and provide feedback for a statewide plan. The individuals in attendance represented a broad cross section of stakeholders, including business, philanthropy, local nonprofits, K-12 education, and higher education.

The group began by reviewing how their region is performing in six key college measures (see the North San Joaquin Valley profile) and then launched into an energetic conversation about game changers for higher education, with special emphasis given to the overarching themes of access, completion, accountability, and affordability. In breakout group discussions, participants were asked to rank the bold reforms presented in each category, and then to vote for their top four reforms overall so that The Campaign could get a sense of the priorities outlined by community leaders in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

Below are some of the top level priorities that rose to the surface based upon group voting.

Access

• Expand eligibility through A-G completion. By far, this reform was considered to be the most crucial way to improve access to higher education, and was voted as the top reform among all those discussed in any category. Participants saw value in both making A-G curriculum the default for high school graduation, and in making sure that special focus is given to underrepresented minority populations to close equity gaps.
• Expand capacity. Discussion among the groups around ensuring that more students could take advantage of higher education in California focused on strategies to expand capacity in the following ways: ensuring that more students graduate on time and with as few excess units as possible, improving coordination between higher education segments, and creating more improved and better supported vocational and career technical education pathways.
• Expand college knowledge and promote a college-going culture. The San Joaquin Valley has some of the lowest educational attainment rates in the state. A common theme of simply making sure that students understand that college is not outside of their reach, and know what resources are available to them, was seen as a very important step to improving access.

Completion

• Focus on equity. Listening tour participants felt strongly that ensuring equitable outcomes and setting targets by race and ethnicity for completion was vital to fulfilling the promise of higher education in California. A focus on equity was voted among the top four reforms that day.
• Accelerate college readiness. There was a sense among some participants that community colleges spend a lot of their resources on basic skills education, with unimpressive results. While there is clearly a need for having these educational pathways available, participants felt that making sure that students were more successfully—and more quickly—moving through to college-level coursework is important. Additionally, participants understood the challenges students face when taking assessment tests and that the placement of students into appropriate level coursework could be improved. Addressing college readiness was the second top-ranked reform among all discussed.

Accountability

• Create an oversight or coordinating body. While some participants felt that creating some sort of entity that oversees all higher education segments in the state, others felt that it would be more beneficial to create a P-20 Council that would look at the entire pipeline.
• Fund for enrollment and completion. Participants felt that this was a critical lever in improving student outcomes and that a funding model that rewarded both access and success should be adopted across public higher education segments.

Affordability

• Expand financial aid for community college students. Again, among the top ranked reforms under affordability and in the top four reforms overall, is the idea of expanding financial aid. And while there is great need for more financial aid to community college students, some participants felt that all college students would benefit from an expansion.
• Improve financial aid access. In addition to making sure that students know the financial aid options to them and that they take advantage of it by completing the FAFSA, there was also discussion about ensuring that aid goes to those students with the most need and that there are measures put in place to hold students accountable to maintaining their enrollment after receiving their aid.

Central Valley participants of the Modesto Listening Tour stop ultimately professed a tremendous amount of gratitude that The Campaign was tackling this important discussion and including their voices in crafting a statewide plan that would accurately reflect regional higher education priorities. We left the event having strengthened existing partnerships, with new opportunities to deepen community engagement and some excellent ideas.

The Campaign for College Opportunity was excited to host a room full of leaders ready to bring change to higher education in California. Their enthusiasm gives us the energy to continue these vibrant discussions across the state of California. Next stop, San Jose!

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

Our listening tour momentum continued on June 10th as we ventured into the Bay Area for a back to back stop (the previous stop being in San Jose on June 9th). The Oakland/ San Francisco tour boasted an intimate gathering of leaders from influential organizations such as Californians for Justice, Young Invincibles and New America Media just to name a few.

Participants began by reviewing the Bay areas performance is six key college measures (see the San Francisco Bay Area higher education profile) and as reform topics were introduced, the discussion quickly turned lively. Below are some of the top level priorities and insights that were captured during The Bay Area Listening Tour.

Access

• Expanding eligibility through A-G completion got overwhelming support with participants. Participants agreed that the opportunity to be ready and eligible for a four year college could and should be the default in high schools. This can also be seen as a strategy to keep students from opting out for easier classes that would not give them the same benefits.
• Technology was also an important topic of conversation in the Bay Area. Leaders discussed the value of technology as a resource, noting that it needed to be a tool used strategically and invested in carefully. Many people saw value in blended learning where targeted instruction and online learning, would complement in person learning, while making access easier for students challenged by the distance of rural communities from the colleges.

Completion

• Listening tour participants voiced the need for the state to have explicit statements and well-articulated goals for closing equity gaps by race, not only in one campus or region, but all across the state. Given that equity raises many barriers for students early on, there was also a sense that this issue needed to be addressed sooner.
• Participants had varied opinions on how to improve funding. The debate centered on two conversations, one being whether funding should be tied to student success and the other calling for a new process to fund higher education altogether. Participants noted that there are huge inequities in the way some programs are funded.

Accountability

• To ensure accountability from our colleges and universities, leaders focused on greater transparency and a different approach to funding higher education that focused on outcomes. Participants thought that we should be cautious of perverse incentives and instead look for a model where students and schools share accountability.
• Participants agreed that empowering regions would respond to the current challenges in California, but also seemed like an odd solution given that we live in a global economy.

Affordability

• Although listening tour participants overwhelmingly saw improving financial aid access as the top priority of affordability, they did not agree with making FAFSA a requirement for high school graduates or colleges students. Leaders acknowledged that community college students faced the most challenges in financing their college education and receive the smallest amount of financial aid.
• Leaders felt that a consistent tuition/fee policy is really important and that setting a consistent tuition/fee policy should also mean that a consistent funding commitment from the State of California for colleges and universities would also be in place.

Thank you to the Education Trust-West for their partnership in this listening tour stop and to all of our enthusiastic participants that day! Next stop: San Diego!

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

On June 9th, more than 20 Silicon Valley leaders engaged in a robust conversation about what could be done to keep the promise of higher education that Californians have come to deeply value. Hosted by the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, those in attendance represented a broad cross section of stakeholders, including business, technology, philanthropy, local community organizations, K-12 education, and higher education.

The conversation began by reviewing the region’s performance in six key college measures (see the San Francisco Bay Area profile) then moved to the overarching themes of access, completion, accountability, and affordability. In breakout group discussions, participants were asked to rank the bold reforms presented in each category, and then to vote for their top four reforms overall so that The Campaign could get a sense of the priorities outlined by community leaders in the Silicon Valley.

Below are some of the top level priorities that rose to the surface based upon group voting.

Access

A consistent theme in the discussion, irrespective of which reform was being discussed, was the idea that none of the proposals could be successful without robust student supports. Recognizing that the student population served in 1960 when the Master Plan for Higher Education was created is vastly different from the student population now, California needs to ensure that students know that college is an option for them and they will be supported as they enter and throughout their time in college.

• Expand eligibility through A-G completion. By far, this reform was considered to be the most crucial way to improve access to higher education, and was voted as the top reform among all those discussed in any category.
• Leverage technology. While this reform did not rank high under the category of access, it was voted as the fourth most significant reform discussed that day.

Completion

Accelerate college readiness. Voted the second-highest priority reform of the day, and the highest-priority reform under completion, college readiness was seen as a concern by the group. Discussions of the pipeline from K-12 to higher education abounded, but there was also a strong sense that, once students were in college, more needed to be done than saying that K-12 had not properly prepared students to succeed.

Accountability

• Fund colleges for enrollment and completion. The reforms discussed under accountability were not generally top priorities but, when ranked in order of preference, funding colleges for both enrollment and completion ranked at the top. One of the breakout groups also thought that this reform paired well with addressing remediation concerns through acceleration.
• P-16 Pipeline. Another group also discussed the option of developing some sort of accountability mechanism that was broader in scope, addressing the pipeline starting in preschool and moving through higher education.

Affordability

• Improve financial aid access. Voted as a top priority under affordability, and among the top four reforms discussed that day, participants recognized the struggles that students face in paying for college. While FAFSA completion is a way to improve access to financial aid, there was also discussion that middle-income students still have a difficult time paying for college because they are ineligible for some of the aid available.

Thank you to the Silicon Valley Education Foundation for their partnership in this listening tour stop and to all of our enthusiastic participants that day! Next stop: Fresno!

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

On June 18th, the Campaign held a listening tour stop at the beautifully-situated McConnell Foundation in Redding, California. The North State Region of California is a region with new public higher education options for students, with UC Davis being the most northern University of California campus, and CSU Chico and CSU Humboldt being the most nearby California State University campuses. Despite the scarcity of public options in the region, keeping the promise of a college education is still something that residents deeply value. Listening tour attendees represented higher education (public and private), K-12, philanthropy, local media, state elected officials, and local government agencies and community organizations.

The conversation began with a review of the region’s performance on six key college measures (see the Superior California profile) and moved to the four overarching themes of access, completion, accountability, and affordability. In breakout group discussions, participants were asked to rank the bold reforms presented in each category, and then to vote for their top four reforms overall so that The Campaign could get a sense of the priorities outlined by community leaders in Redding and surrounding areas.

Below are some of the top level priorities that rose to the surface based upon group voting.

Access

• Expand eligibility through A-G completion. This reform ranked top under access, and also fourth among all of the reforms discussed. In small rural communities, many schools simply do not have enough resources to be able to provide A-G pathways right now—right now your zip code determines your destiny, a participant said—but by making A-G the default high school graduation requirement, it could ensure that all schools have the resources to provide these courses. There was also a great deal of discussion in groups about if A-G should be the measure for determining if a student is eligible for college.
• Expand capacity. A close second in priority in the discussion about access was the idea of expanding the historical enrollment targets for UC and CSU, though interest may have been greater in building campuses in the region so that students didn’t have to travel so far to enroll in these institutions.
• Leverage technology. While this reform did not rank high under the category of access, it was voted as the fourth most significant reform discussed that day.

Completion

• Accelerate college readiness. Voted the highest priority reform of the day, and the highest-priority reform under completion, college readiness was seen as a concern by the group. Even more of interest than the idea of quickly moving students through basic skills coursework once in college was of ensuring that students are placed properly into classes and taking a good look at how students are assessed in the first place.
• Focus on equity. This ranked second among completion reforms, but much lower than accelerating college readiness. One reason for this may be that this reform was presented as a focus on racial and ethnic equity, but in this region, participants felt that a focus on equity in terms of socio-economic status and first-generation college student would be more relevant.

Accountability

• Empower regions. In this region more than any other that had been previously visited, the idea of having a regional approach to higher education opportunity resonated. In a region so different from much of California, there is a sense of isolation and a lack of political power that is felt. This was the top reform under accountability and the third highest reform of the day.

Affordability

• Improve financial aid access. The North State has a tremendous resource in our partner, College OPTIONS, which has been working to improve the FAFSA completion rate of high school graduates and ultimately get it to 100% of all high school graduates. The region sees this as a key way to inform students of their financial aid options and ensure that they take advantage of the resources at their disposal.

Thank you to College OPTIONS for their partnership in this listening tour stop and to all of our enthusiastic participants that day! Next stop: Sacramento!

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

On June 16th together with the Orange County Business Council, the Campaign hosted a discussion with 22 leaders in the Orange County region. Those in attendance represented a broad cross section of stakeholders, including business, technology, philanthropy, local community organizations, K-12 education, and higher education.

Similar to our other stops, participants began by discussing their region’s performance in six key college measures (see the Orange County profile) then discussed four major areas that are critical to higher education reform—access, completion, accountability, and affordability. In smaller breakout groups the participants discussed reforms in each category and then ranked them in order of importance.

The following is a summary of the discussion and an overview of the voting outcomes.

Access

• Expand eligibility through A-G completion. The groups expressed concern about utilizing a one-size fits all model through A-G. In particular, participants felt the increased focus on a 4-year college education without regards to other postsecondary options could be harmful. Suggestions for this category included placing more attention on applied learning and expanding counseling services to inform students of their options.
• Expand capacity. While participants agreed that capacity does need to be expanded, they also felt budget issues and infrastructure issues among campuses undermine the idea of increasing historical admission targets. Alternatives offered among the groups included adding weekend classes and expanding online courses. There was consensus that innovative methods of delivering education were necessary and more appropriate in response to the capacity issue.
• Leverage technology. Voted the third highest priority reform of the day, technology was seen as an important lever to improve higher education in the state. However, participants emphasized the use of a hybrid model in which technology compliments traditional instruction.

Completion

• Focus on equity. Some participants agreed that this was critical and highlighted the need to ensure equity includes ethnicity and gender. Other participants felt that emphasis should be placed on socio-economic status rather than ethnicity. Early intervention and parent involvement were cited as key to improving this issue.
• Accelerate college readiness.  This reform was ranked the top priority of the day.  Participants felt strongly that more students needed to graduate high school fully prepared to enter college-level courses and that once they get to college, students should progress more quickly toward degree.

Accountability

• Fund colleges for enrollment and completion. The discussion in this category centered on the need for wrap around services to support students and ensure they complete their degrees in a timely manner. Participants believed that this was the most important reform under accountability.
• Create a higher education coordinating body or office. This was the second top reform of the day. One group noted the importance of having open data available on the three higher education systems in the state while another group cautioned against the bureaucracy a new agency could create.
• Empower regions. While most groups felt regional partnerships are working well where they exist in the state, there was also alarm over the capacity issues these partnerships face especially in regards to cost.

Affordability

• Improve financial aid access. There was consensus on the importance of encouraging students to apply for FAFSA as well improving financial aid education for parents and families. One group suggested changing the FAFSA application process so that students would only need to apply once.
• Set a consistent fee policy. This reform was seen as a political issue having to do with the state’s budget cycle. Participants suggested a multi-year budget cycle would allow for this reform to be enacted and would help combat capacity issues.

Thank you to everyone who joined our Orange County stop and to the Orange County Business Council for graciously hosting us in their facilities!  Next stop: Santa Barbara!

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

From the tip top of California down to the southern border, The Campaign spent a busy week tackling tours all over the state starting in San Jose and ending in San Diego. The Campaign team was ready to hear more about what California leaders thought would be critical to make a bold new plan for higher education in the state.

San Diego leaders showed up eager to discuss how their region is performing in college measures (see the San Diego-Imperial profile) and give their input for reforms that could help improve their performance. The following are some of the key priorities and concerns for the region.

Access

• Expand Eligibility. Participants agreed that all students should have the opportunity to be eligible for a 4 year college. However, not all of them agreed that making the A-G curriculum the default would guarantee access because of the variation in quality of these courses from school to school.
• Leverage Technology. Participants felt that technology should be leveraged strategically to get the most educational return for the investment. Still, attendees agreed that if properly used, with rigor and interaction built in to courses, technology had the potential to make huge strides in increasing access.

Completion

• Focus on equity and accelerating college readiness. Accelerating college readiness was also a top priority for attendees in San Diego. Participants believed that the acceleration of basic skills was necessary for completion rates to go up. Attendees felt that equity gaps and college readiness could be improved simultaneously because improving college readiness would by default close equity gaps.  More so, attendees agreed that the state needs to make a commitment to closing equity gaps by race, but that it should start much earlier than college.

Accountability

• Participants were split in their support for a new funding model based on rewarding colleges for both access and completion. Although the concept of rewarding colleges for both was generally accepted as a good idea, some participants felt that incentivizing students for completion might be more effective.
• Create a higher education coordinating body/office or empower regions. Participants agreed that a governing board with K-16 system involvement was necessary for accountability. However there was no consensus on whether this governing board should be statewide or regional. Attendees saw value in addressing local issues by region, but also felt that alignment throughout the state was necessary for students to gain easier accessibility to all CSU’s and UC’s.

Affordability

• Improve Financial Aid Access was voted the top reform of the day. Participants thought that current efforts to advertise the availability of financial aid are mediocre and have not kept pace with technological advances. Innovative methods of information sharing such as the use of social media and mobile applications should be used to strengthen outreach efforts given the number of millennials using these technologies.
• Setting a consistent fee policy was voted the third priority overall. Tuition costs have heavily burdened student planning with their unpredictability. In recognition of this issue, participants agreed that policy for a fund which incorporated a formula balancing and supporting changes in the economy would increase affordability. Still, many expressed concern over the legislature’s ability to refrain from using the “rainy day fund” portion of this plan. 

While affordability was the top concern for the San Diego region, participants continued to revisit the importance of technology in facilitating a majority of the proposed reforms.

As usual the Campaign also invited participants to share reforms not captured in the above topics that could help move the needle in higher education reform. Two reforms were suggested by participants – restructuring degrees to include only the necessary courses for a major and the creation of a simpler FAFSA process.

A special thank you to Sharp Healthcare for partnering with us on our stop! The Campaign wrapped up a very eventful week with many new insights. Next stops: Orange County, Redding and Santa Barbara.

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

On July 17th, the Campaign held a listening tour stop in our state’s capital, Sacramento. In an area rich with policy experts wearing their statewide lenses, we worked to ensure that regional voices were also represented during this discussion. Listening tour attendees represented higher education (public and private), state agencies, advocacy organizations, business, and research interests.

The discussion began with a review of the region’s performance in six key college measures (see the Sacramento-Tahoe profile) before moving to themes of access, completion, accountability, and affordability. In breakout group discussions, participants were asked to rank the bold reforms presented in each category, and then to vote for their top four reforms overall so that The Campaign could get a sense of the priorities outlined by community leaders in Sacramento and surrounding areas.

Below are some of the top level priorities that rose to the surface based upon group voting.

Access

• Expand eligibility through A-G completion & expand capacity. There was a nearly identical level of priority among participants in favoring the focus on access through A-G completion and expanding capacity at our public universities. Yet the discussion also highlighted concerns about the cost and political feasibility of expanding capacity, and musings around still having a “university eligible” gap since eligibility does not hang on A-G completion alone. Interestingly, none of the top four overall reforms were in the access category.

Completion

• Focus on racial equity & accelerate college readiness. The top two bold reforms voted on during the day fell under the completion category, with both a focus on equity and accelerating college readiness in a tie for highest level of priority in this category. Not necessarily unrelated priorities, the discussion centered around questions that asked if it would be better to set a target for addressing equity first, which would then by followed by strategies to reach the target, or if the work being done around basic skills education and college readiness already a successful strategy that takes us where we want to go in relation to equitable outcomes.

Accountability

• Empower regions. Participants were familiar with some regional models in the state that were good examples of collaboration between segments and sectors that would be worth considering. They also felt strongly that it should not be an either/or decision between state and regional governance and coordination; both are important. This was the top reform under accountability and the fourth priority among all of the reforms discussed that day.
• Fund for enrollment and completion. Participants were also interested in the idea of funding our higher education institutions for measures of completion, as well as for enrollment. Some felt that without the political will to create another coordinating body or office that would be trusted and effective, changing the way colleges and universities are funded would be a way of having confidence in our public investment in higher education.

Affordability

• Improve financial aid access. This reform was the greatest area of alignment between small group discussions and individuals, and was the third highest priority among all reforms discussed. Participants felt that, though they may favor the idea of increasing financial aid for community college students, a first step to getting more dollars to students is making sure that they are aware of the financial aid opportunities available to them, irrespective of the amount awarded to them.

Thank you to MALDEF for their partnership in this listening tour stop and to all of our enthusiastic participants that day!

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

On June 20th Assembly Member Das Williams welcomed the Campaign and our listening tour participants to the Santa Barbara region (see the Central Coast profile to learn more about how the region is performing in key college measures). Twenty-nine leaders joined us for a discussion on possible higher education reforms in 4 major areas—access, completion, accountability, and affordability. Participants primarily represented the education sector with 2 college presidents, 8 trustees and other internal stakeholders.

The following is a summary of the discussion and an overview of the voting outcomes.

Access

• Expand eligibility through A-G completion. All groups agreed that expanding eligibility through college preparedness and early support is key to students’ success in higher education.
• Expand capacity. Participants agreed that increasing capacity for students is critical however, emphasized that it cannot be done without ensuring structures to increase student success are also put in place. There was a lot of discussion around expanding capacity in regards to baccalaureate degrees with one group suggesting that community colleges be allowed to offer some baccalaureate degrees.
• Leverage technology. While one group had a generally positive view of the possible role technology could play in higher education, the other two groups were skeptical of its successful use.

Completion

• Focus on equity. There was little discussion around this reform yet participants did note the importance of collaboration between K-12 and higher education especially when discussing underrepresented students.
• Accelerate college readiness. This reform was highly contested with one group agreeing that a statewide metric system was necessary while another group felt local campuses should decide how best to improve completion for the students they serve.

Accountability

• Create a higher education coordinating body or office. All groups agreed that a singular coordinating body is necessary and emphasized that the entity be goal-oriented and work with the K-12 system as well.
• Empower regions. This reform was seen as unnecessary however, participants did feel that establishing regional goals would be a critical task for a higher education coordinating body.

Affordability

• Improve financial aid access. Most groups agreed that increasing financial aid literacy and streamlining the financial aid application would help support students throughout their college education. One group brought up the importance of specifically having support services for community college students who often have difficulty staying on track because of financial obligations.

Participants expressed frustration over the state’s prioritization of funding and implications of budget cuts over the past few years. Conversations of the day were thus critical of how reforms would be carried out. Nonetheless, expanding eligibility and accelerating college readiness stood out as the top reforms of the day.

We’d like to extend our most gracious appreciation to Assembly Member Das Williams and his staff for helping us make this stop possible and to all participants for joining us. Next stop: Fresno!

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

On August 7^th the Campaign for College Opportunity met with one of the largest groups to-date in the statewide listening tour. Thirty-seven leaders of the Inland Empire region joined us and our co-host, The Inland Empire Economic Partnership, to discuss possible reforms in higher education access, completion, accountability and affordability.

Similar to our other stops, participants reviewed their region’s performance in key college measures (see the Inland Empire profile) and discussed reforms in each category and in smaller breakout groups, ranked the level of importance of each reform with an eye toward identifying those reforms that can make the most significant impact on college going and success.

The following is a summary of the discussion and an overview of the voting outcomes.

Access

• Expand eligibility through A-G completion. Participants felt that the biggest issue in eligibility for college has to do with students’ level of preparation in math and English and therefore, increasing support services to ensure better preparation is key. This was voted the top reform of the “Access” category.
• Expand capacity. Participants took issue with expanding admissions targets as a means of access. There was no real consensus on debates arising from this reform, however the topic did lead to many discussions on college readiness and its relevance to expanding access.
• Leverage technology. Participants supported the expanded use of technology, but emphasized it should be used as a supplemental online learning tool. Participants favored a hybrid model in which technology compliments traditional instruction.

Completion

• Participants concurred that all students should receive a quality education regardless of ethnicity or gender. Suggestions for improvement in this area included targeting underrepresented groups, developing group specific plans for improvement and replicating working models.
• Accelerate college readiness.  This reform was the top ranked in the “Completion” category and third across all four categories. Participants felt strongly that California’s goal should be to reduce the number of students that need remediation. Groups listed accelerated remediation programs, better student support services and stronger teacher professional development as strategies to reach this goal.
• Prioritizing new funding. This was voted the top reform of the day across all four categories. Participants agreed that new dollars for higher education should be tied to specific improvements that take into account equity gaps.

Accountability

• Fund colleges for enrollment and completion. Participants widely favored holding campuses, systems and even students accountable based on outcomes. The caveat for students being incentivizing based on completion of classes versus a degree. Many felt that incentivizing mattered for better school performance. Participants voted this the second most important reform of the day.
• Create a higher education coordinating body or office. All groups understood the need for having a single entity collecting critical data, supporting k-16 alignment and collaboration. Yet, many participants expressed concern over this entity becoming bureaucratic and proposed instead to introduce legislation that mandated the system heads to meet, collaborate and publicly share data.
• Empower regions. Although participants saw the value of regional governance models, they did not feel that it was a universal model for all regions considering the fact that students are more prone to migrate to popular regions and leave isolated regions after graduating. Participants noted this as a problem that their region frequently faces.

Affordability

• Improve financial aid access. Participants considered FAFSA the primary gatekeeper and stepping stone into college for students, drawing significant consensus on this reform. Participants suggested including paid internships as part of the financial aid package so that students leave college better trained in their field while earning money.
• Expand financial aid for community college students. Voted the top reform of the category, participants agreed that financial aid should be expanded for community college students to include living costs. Groups pushed the idea of expanded aid for all students.
• Set a consistent fee policy. Participants liked the idea of a consistent fee policy, but felt that a consistent budget was necessary before this could be instituted. They also stressed the need to remove any mid-year changes from the budget.

Thank you to everyone who joined our Inland Empire Listening Tour Stop and the Inland Economic Partnership for graciously hosting us in their facilities!  Next stop: Bakersfield!

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

Nearing the end of a very exciting and informative listening tour, the Campaign for College Opportunity made one of its final stops in Bakersfield. The Dolores Huerta Foundation graciously hosted the Campaign and twenty-seven Central Valley leaders on Friday, August 8th to discuss bold reforms for higher education in California and provide feedback for a statewide plan. The individuals in attendance represented a broad cross section of stakeholders, including business, local nonprofits, K-12 education, and higher education.

The group engaged in an energetic conversation regarding their region’s current performance in college measures (see the South San Joaquin Valley profile) and issues of access, completion, affordability and accountability. In breakout group discussions, participants were asked to rank the bold reforms presented in each category, and then to vote for their top four reforms overall so that The Campaign could get a sense of the priorities outlined by community leaders in the this region.

Below are some of the top priorities captured from the discussions and group voting.

Access

• Expanding eligibility was voted the top priority under the category and tied with accelerating college readiness for the top reform of the day overall. The groups noted the quality of skills that students could gain from A-G as the default curriculum as well as the opportunity it held for access, but had some concerns about its implementation. They cited possible misalignment with Common Core, a compressed and accelerated curriculum and inadequately prepared teachers as key barriers of success in this reform. Still, they believed that if properly implemented, A-G would vastly improve access for students.
• Leverage Technology. Although participants agreed that a conversation about leveraging technology is necessary, they felt that the issue of access to technology was a more immediate problem for the region. Participants shared the different ways in which their region was experimenting with incorporating technology in the classroom and some of the programs they are piloting.

Completion

• Accelerating college readiness was voted the top priority under the category and tied with expanding eligibility for the top reform of the day overall. Participants believed that accelerating college readiness was a critical piece of college completion, but is an issue that would be most effectively dealt with at the high school level. Participants suggested beginning remediation during the student’s junior year of high school and offering summer bridge programs for incoming college freshmen to help prepare students for college level courses.
• Focus on equity was voted the third reform overall by participants. This region viewed equity as a sum of socio-economic and generational issues more so than an issue of race. Participants felt that the region needed stronger community partnerships, financial awareness campaigns and more support systems tailored to students’ economic status in order to address this issue.

Accountability

• Empowering regions and coordinating body or office. Although empowering regions was voted the top reform of the category, participants felt strongly that higher education goals should not be an either/or decision between state and regional governance and coordination; both are important. They agreed that data was a critical element that informed the conversation and needs to be present regardless of the model adopted.
• Fund Colleges for Enrollment or Completion. Although there was disagreement on the funding model that should be used to keep colleges and students accountable, participants agreed that we needed to be intentional about disbursing funds, without harming the quality of the curriculum, degrees or courses.

Affordability

• Participants spoke about affordability as an educational matter. They felt that financial literacy was a huge need for the region as students were unaware of the resources meant to ease financial burdens for them. They added that this illiteracy of financial aid and the FAFSA process is leaving many unused dollars on the table.

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

On September 10th the Campaign for College Opportunity embarked on it’s next to last statewide listening tour. The Campaign partnered with Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, an organization already in the process of creating their own regional plan to develop, refine and sustain career pathways for students in their region. Twenty-one leaders joined us, to discuss possible reforms in higher education in the categories of access, completion, accountability and affordability.

Similar to our other stops, participants reviewed their region’s performance in key college measures (see the Coachella Valley profile) and discussed reforms in each category and in smaller breakout groups, ranked the level of importance of each reform noting which had the potential to make the most significant impact on college going and success.

The following is a summary of the discussion and an overview of the voting outcomes.

Access

• Expand eligibility through A-G completion. Most participants felt that making A-G requirements the default curriculum would expand opportunities for all students. However, they stressed that the A-G curriculum would only be effective if it truly translated into college readiness. This was voted the top reform of the category for the group.
• Expand capacity. Participants agreed that increasing enrollment would be beneficial to student access, but felt that the reform would be difficult to implement without increased funding and resources for the systems. They saw integration of technology and an emphasis on dual enrollment as more practical ways to expand capacity.
• Leverage technology. Participants were optimistic about the potential of technology to boost access and for this reason voted it the second most important reform of the day. They noted schedule flexibility, hybrid teaching models, and reduced costs as positive outcomes of leveraging technology. However, they also acknowledged the barrier it could create for students without the means to access it.

Completion

• Focus on equity. Participants felt that there should be a focus on equity for race, income and gender with targeted goals specific to each group. Many stressed the need to further educate parents, students and counselors on navigating the college process.
• Accelerate college readiness. Participants listed this as a top priority for their region and ranked it the top reform of the day across all four categories. Participants felt strongly that being prepared for college level work was key to completion and wanted tangible ways to measure readiness. They identified poor test taking skills and remediation practices as the greatest barriers to accelerating college readiness.
• Prioritizing new funding. Participants agreed that new funding should reward good practices focused on improving completion rates, but should not be dependent on campuses reaching target completion rates. They identified several factors that contribute to low completion rates and felt students and schools should not be penalized for factors over which they have no control such as counselor to student ratios and larger percentages of students that need to be remediated at their campuses.

Accountability

• Fund colleges for enrollment and completion. Participants suggested implementing a model that incentivized students and colleges to improve completion rates. Many cautioned against a model that penalized schools or students, noting that there are many factors affecting enrollment and completion rates.
• Create a higher education coordinating body or office. This reform was voted the top reform of the category and tied for third overall. Participants saw the value in having a coordinating body that would ensure the systems’ collaborate but also expressed concern over added bureaucracy. Some suggested the department of education should be the guiding entity, however most felt that a body with clear objectives, power to enforce change and collect data would be ideal.
• Empower regions. Participants saw value in regional plans tailored to meet the workforce needs and educational goals of each region, but believed it would be better to use each region’s data and resources to inform statewide goals.

Affordability

• Expand financial aid for community college students. Participants agreed that financial aid should be expanded for community college students to include living costs as this accounts for roughly 80% of student’s expenses.
• Improve financial aid access. There was consensus across the groups that FAFSA completion should be required for all graduating high school seniors. This group listed this as a priority in their regional plan.
• Set a consistent fee policy. Participants voted this the top reform of the category. They felt that a consistent fee policy would offer much needed predictability for students.

Thank you to everyone who joined our Coachella Valley Listening Tour Stop and the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership for graciously hosting us in their facilities. Last Stop: Central Coast!

How can California begin to plan to meet the looming workforce shortage?

On November 13^th, The Campaign for College Opportunity partnered with EDvolution in Salinas, holding the final stop in the 14 city listening tour. Listening tour attendees represented higher education, k-12 education, state agencies, advocacy groups, and small businesses.

The conversations centered on four overarching themes of access, completion, accountability, and affordability. In breakout group discussions, participants were asked to discuss and rank the bold reforms presented in each category, and then to vote for their top four reforms overall so that The Campaign could get a sense of the priorities outlined by community leaders in Salinas and surrounding areas.

Below are some of the priorities based upon group voting.

Access

• Expand eligibility through A-G requirements. Participants unanimously agreed that high school alignment with A-G requirements was essential. However, they also discussed the need for additional support structures to be in place. Participants suggested having a common definition of college readiness across higher education institutions and the need for parental knowledge of the requirements. Within the “access” category expanding eligibility was ranked the highest, while the bold reform category itself ranked second.
• Expanding capacity.  This discussion was centered on two different topics, the ability to meet future workforce demands and acceptance of Californian students. Participants felt that colleges should have the capacity to take in more students from California in order to meet the work force demands. Funding needs to be increased to ensure adequate infrastructure to serve more students.
• Technology. Participants agreed that there is a technology gap for students in Salinas. School children in the area are mostly Latino and farmworker children, they do not have access to technology at home to support computer related work. They felt that it was important to secure more computers to train these students, preparing them for the future. Although this was not voted as the top category, participants felt this was very important.

Completion

• Focus on accelerated college readiness. The top bold reform voted on during the day was to accelerate college readiness. Across the board participants agreed that college readiness was the most important and must begin at a younger age. The conversation centered on schools, contextualizing courses and integrating remediation in college level courses. They felt strongly that parents needed to aid their students, and that more needs to be done to close the gap.

Accountability

• Fund colleges for enrollment and completion. Participants felt that this was the most important within the “accountability” category. The funding model is now based on how many people enroll but instead they wanted a model that graduates students. Schools need to be incentivized based on how many people are completing college, not just how many students enrolling. However, many participants did worry if this model were in place would colleges then lower their standards to give their students a passing grade?
• Empowering Regions. Many participants felt that the regional profile of Monterey bay didn’t capture the statistics in Salinas. There needs to be an approach that targets different areas around the state because Salinas is heavily agriculture based. Participants felt that there needs to be jobs available in the region that were not only related to agriculture, students need to feel like there are other options to stay in Salinas.

Affordability

• Expanding financial aid. Within the “affordability” category this surfaced as the most important. Participants favored increasing financial aid because students work jobs in order to be able to support themselves through school, but many are still unable to support themselves. Financial aid has not kept up with the rapid rise of college costs.