Posts By: Amanda Ufheil-Somers
Getting Off the Higher Education Finance See-Saw
A college education is one of the best investments a California family can make. A diploma from one of our public universities remains one of the greatest opportunities many families have to make a good living and contribute to a prosperous future. Many Read more >
Underrepresented Students Get Hit Hardest When Public University Access is Cut
Low-income and first-generation college students are California’s future. Most come from racial/ethnic groups that have been underrepresented in higher education—and they are the majority of high school graduates today. But recent increases in enrollment and degree completion among historically underrepresented groups are not happening Read more >
Better Higher Education Budgeting for Student Access and Success
Are 1960s-era state-agency budgeting practices hobbling smarter decisions that could make room for California’s next generation of students? Higher education finance in California needs to be reformed, and reforming the way budgets are built is a good place to start. Despite huge changes Read more >
Predictable Tuition Costs Would Help Families and Universities Plan for the Future
As any parent with teenagers knows, paying for college is hard and the nagging worry of “do I have enough saved” fuels many sleepless nights. Recently, there has been heightened public dialogue about the price of public higher education and some states are Read more >
Why Do Metrics Matter?
Nothing seems to make eyes glaze over faster than the discussion of measurement and data metrics. For someone working outside the world of data this topic can appear dry and technical; however, metrics are crucial to our basic understanding of how our public Read more >
California Not Making Room for Increased Student Demand in its Public Universities
Under the State Master Plan for Higher Education, California promises to make room in its public universities for all California resident students who meet admission standards. That promise has been effectively broken, because the State has failed to adequately plan for its higher Read more >
Why Scholarships for Low-Income Students are Particularly Needed in Inland Area – The Press Enterprise
By Rebecca K. O’Connor Youth who have previously struggled with attaining a higher education may now have a better chance at succeeding through the newly created Graduate Success Program. Partnering with the San Francisco-based College Futures Foundation, The Community Foundation will be offering Read more >
New Initiative Wants to Help College Students – Monterey Herald
By Claudia Meléndez Salinas Students, get your keyboards ready. Donors, get your wallets ready. A new initiative by the Community Foundation of Monterey County will make it easier for low-income students to gain access to scholarship money for higher education. And for potential Read more >
California’s Universities Need More Stable Financing, Report Declares – EdSource
By Larry Gordon California’s public universities need more stable and predictable funding to accommodate growing enrollments of low-income students and to avoid the “boom-and-bust cycle” that triggers large tuition increases, according to a new report by the College Futures Foundation. Without substantial reforms, Read more >
Report Finds That Higher Education Finance Problems Limit Student Opportunity and Threaten California’s Future
-A new report from College Futures Foundation calls for comprehensive changes to address systemic problems in the way that California funds, budgets for, and makes financial decisions about its public university systems. The report, Securing the Public Trust: Practical Steps toward Higher Education Finance Read more >