Opinion Editorial by Eloy Ortiz Oakley  |  Posted on Capitol Weekly  |  3.13.2025

OPINION – A new California Mobility Index (CMI) ranking the state’s four-year institutions did more than highlight the importance of the California State University (CSU) system to low- and moderate-income Californians and the state’s economic future. It said two things concurrently: investing in CSU is good for the California economy, and the CSU system must do better.

Most of the top-performing institutions on the index are CSU campuses, and to me – the leader of a foundation focused on the power of postsecondary education for racial and economic equity – this is clear evidence that California’s history of investing in public colleges and universities has paid off.

This is not just perception talking. Just ask Fresno State University student Michael Florez, who was quoted in news coverage of the new index and described his university (ranked in the top five on the CMI) not as a steppingstone but as a skyrocket. CSU campuses delivered on the promise of economic mobility for his mother – who immigrated here from Mexico and earned BA and Master’s degrees – and they are doing the same for him.

Despite its generally stellar performance in the CMI, CSU is in crisis. Declining enrollments on some campuses, increasing tuition, state budget reductions and labor issues threaten to undermine the system’s high rankings. Addressing challenges that emerged from this, along with other analyses of CSU, are critical for the system to continue providing value to California’s low-to-moderate income learners.

The CMI also exposed further troubling signs at CSU. The lowest-ranking public university—below all the University of California and CSU undergraduate campuses—is California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO). Cal Poly SLO’s CMI ranking is #40, well below other more selective universities like UCLA and UC Berkeley.

What earned Cal Poly SLO this dubious distinction? It reported serving less than 19% of Pell Grant-eligible students and it reported the highest net cost in the CSU system, far below the top-ranked institution on the index, Cal State Los Angeles, whose data showed it served 66% of Pell-eligible students and a net cost of less than $19,000.

For California to be an economically vibrant state and serve the diversity of Californians, the CSU leadership and the California State Legislature can absorb the powerful results of the CMI to seize the moment and demand that every CSU campus fulfill its public mission. This means providing broad access to Californians of all backgrounds and maintaining the affordable higher education opportunities that CSU has historically provided.

Here’s how:

The CSU and state legislators should seize the opportunity to serve Californians and advance our state economy by fully funding access to post-secondary education for all low-to-moderate income learners without any tuition increases.

The CSU can take the lead by developing a plan to increase access to all lower-level undergraduate courses, including offering a statewide comprehensive set of quality online courses and more closely partnering with community colleges. Such a plan should also allow more working learners to access programs of study and complete an industry-recognized credential.

The CSU should improve its career connections for all degree pathways, ensuring that every learner understands how to translate their learning into job skills and competencies. Finally, the Governor and the legislature can fortify its investment in the statewide longitudinal Cradle-to-Career (C2C) data system that will unlock opportunities to provide critical information about a learner’s educational experiences while also exposing gaps in opportunity and success for Californians who remain underserved. Partnerships between C2C and learners, policymakers, educators, college leaders and employers are needed to support continued transparency and make tools more readily available for informed decision-making, ultimately enabling greater economic mobility for all Californians.

Improving the ability of state leaders to measure economic mobility as a primary outcome of learning will be key to creating a higher education accountability framework. We know what’s working and what isn’t. Now it’s time for CSU leadership and state leaders to address gaps so that we can support learners, their families and the state’s economy.

Eloy Ortiz Oakley is President and CEO of College Futures Foundation, whose mission is based on a belief in the power of postsecondary opportunity with a focus on racial and economic equity.