Announcements & President’s Message

Announcing Our New Strategy Framework
Dear friends, I have lived and worked most of my life in the great state of California, yet I am consistently amazed by the opportunities and challenges inherent in living in such a large, wonderfully diverse, and multi-layered place. As I approach Read more >

Bold Leadership Working for Community College Students
Today, the vast majority of California’s public school students are from low-income families or from populations historically underrepresented in higher education—including Latinos and African Americans. These students are the face of California’s future. However, these students face significant barriers in their pathway Read more >

Report Webinar on Securing the Public Trust: Practical Steps toward Higher Education Finance Reform in California
All California students deserve the opportunity to get a high-quality four-year college education. But that promise is being broken every day because California’s system for financing its public universities is not working on behalf of students. Learn more about the College Futures Foundation Read more >

Why We Need Higher Education Finance Reform for Our Students, Institutions, and State
California’s economic health and civil society are being imperiled by an outdated and increasingly dysfunctional approach to paying for its public university systems—the California State University and the University of California. Without change, each year many more qualified and motivated California students will Read more >

A Letter from Our Board Chair on CEO’s Retirement
Update March 15, 2017: For more information about the search for the next President and CEO of College Futures Foundation, visit our Job Opportunities page. Dear friends and colleagues, Julia Lopez, our President & CEO of College Futures Foundation, has decided Read more >

Announcing My Retirement: A Letter from College Futures CEO Julia Lopez
After eight wonderful, stimulating, and professionally very satisfying years as President & CEO of College Futures Foundation (previously known as College Access Foundation of California), I will be retiring effective June 30, 2017. This was a difficult decision because I feel so engaged Read more >

Our Low-income Scholars’ 6-year Grad Rates Rival General UC & CSU Student Populations
Student Data Analysis Highlights AY2015-2016 Over the past 10 years, College Futures Foundation—formerly called College Access Foundation of California—has provided $100 million in scholarships to more than 20,000 low-income students across the state. Since 2008, we have collected data related to our Read more >

How Can CA Support Higher Ed Innovation? A Message from the College Futures President
Dear colleagues and friends, It has been two years since Governor Jerry Brown earmarked $50 million of the state’s budget for a set of Awards for Innovation in Higher Education. The purpose of the awards: reward public colleges and universities that were experimenting Read more >

A Bold Vision for Supporting Innovation in Higher Education
When Governor Jerry Brown earmarked $50 million of his state’s 2014 budget for the Awards for Innovation in Higher Education, it was a bold move, one that hadn’t been tried before. The rationale for the awards was simple: rewarding state colleges, universities, and Read more >

Using Scholarships Strategically: Lessons from 10 Years of Grantmaking
How can scholarships be used as strategic tools so that far more young people can gain access to and be successful in college and entire regions of our state can meet the demand for degrees essential to their economies, communities, and future? In Read more >