4-Year California Mobility Index

College Futures Foundation prioritizes economic mobility as a cornerstone of its mission, recognizing that postsecondary education is a critical pathway to a better life for underserved learners across California. For many, higher education represents an opportunity to achieve economic well-being and create brighter futures. This is especially true for first-generation college students, students of color, adults seeking to reskill or upskill, and communities impacted by low incomes. Our focus is on ensuring that postsecondary education—whether through degrees, credentials, or training programs—is meaningfully aligned with economic mobility, equipping learners with the tools they need for long-term success in their careers and lives. To further advance this mission, we have taken deliberate steps to measure and understand the economic impact of postsecondary education on underserved learners.

Last year, College Futures partnered with Michael Itzkowitz of the HEA Group to release Golden Opportunities: Measuring Return on Investment in California Higher Education for Low- and Moderate-Income Learners and California College Programs That Pay: Measuring ROI Across Majors and Credentials. Together, these reports examined how long it takes low- to moderate-income learners to recoup their educational costs, both across different types of institutions in California and within specific college majors and programs. Through this research we found some promising results, as nearly four out of five institutions allowed these learners to recoup their educational costs in less than one year. Yet, we also noticed that many institutions offering the quickest return on investment enrolled very few low- and moderate-income learners. Rather than highlight the institutions that only provide opportunity to a small proportion of low- and moderate-income learners, we wanted to do something different.

We are excited to partner with the HEA Group once again to launch the California Mobility Index (CMI)—a new ranking system for California four-year institutions that takes a fresh look at how well colleges and universities deliver on the promise of economic mobility for low- and moderate-income learners. Some of the most popular news publications reward institutions based on the exclusivity and standardized test scores of their incoming class. The CMI takes a different approach, focusing instead on inclusivity and economic outcomes. Specifically, the CMI evaluates California institutions on the proportion of low- and moderate-income learners they enroll and the return on investments they provide these learners. In total, the CMI includes 82 four-year institutions that together enroll nearly 800,000 undergraduate students.

“This ranking sets a new standard in assessing value and return, and it is one we hope policy and higher education leaders will embrace as a new way of unlocking opportunity by encouraging the kind of enrollment practices that are working,” said Eloy Ortiz Oakley, president & CEO of College Futures.

We hope the CMI sparks more actionable conversations to ensure that higher education serves as a true engine of upward mobility for all California learners—not a select few.