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Publications & Research
Trial and Error: California Students Make the Best of An Improving Yet Complex Transfer Process (2016)
Community colleges serve a crucial function in California’s higher education landscape. Last year, 74,000 students transferred from community colleges to a campus in the California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC) systems. Half of all bachelor’s degrees conferred by the CSU in 2016, and one third of those by the UC, went to Read more >
Publications & Research
Effective Practices for Postsecondary Student Success in California (2016)
For many of California’s young people, the path to a college degree is the path to social mobility, economic advancement, and success in life. But that path is filled with twists, turns, and obstacles. California faces a major challenge meeting projected workforce demand for bachelor’s degrees in the next 15 years. The state has recognized Read more >
Publications & Research
Prospects for State General Fund Revenues for Higher Education (2016)
California’s General Fund revenue and expenditure trend lines create an uncertain trajectory that is unlikely to both meet expected costs and provide for significant increase in students for the state’s public university systems. This paper by Mark Hill, California State Department of Finance (retired), reviews past and possible future trends affecting General Fund availability for Read more >
Publications & Research
Improving Equity: Increasing Baccalaureate Attainment of Underrepresented Students in California (2016)
Low-income and first-generation college students—most of whom come from racial or ethnic groups that have historically been underrepresented in higher education—are the face of California’s future. Although now the majority of high school graduates, their baccalaureate attainment rates are only one-third of those belonging to White and Asian students. Meanwhile, California faces a looming shortage Read more >
Publications & Research
Recent Statewide Reforms in Higher Education Financing and Accountability: Emerging Lessons from the States (2017)
This paper, by Jane Wellman and Darcie Harvey, examines reforms to historic approaches of paying for higher education in other states with the goal of finding and highlighting relevant lessons that California can apply to its current higher education financing efforts. Historically, financing higher education has been left primarily to the states. Because states have Read more >
Publications & Research
Historic Dynamics Shaping the Higher Education Budget in California (2016)
The California state budget for higher education has gone through a number of iterations over the years, from the early days when both university systems were funded almost entirely from state general funds to the current day. The behavioral and fiscal attributes of the current process bear many traces of this history. This brief by Read more >
News & Commentary, Press Releases & Announcements
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 she will retire at the end of June this year 2017. She has Read more >
Press Releases & Announcements
Julia Lopez to Retire as President and CEO of College Futures Foundation
SAN FRANCISCO / PRNewswire-USNewswire / — After eight years as President & CEO of College Futures Foundation, Julia I. Lopez has announced that she will retire at the end of June 2017. Since Lopez stepped into the role of President & CEO in 2008, the Foundation has reaffirmed its commitment to its mission, expanded and Read more >
News & Commentary, Press Releases & Announcements
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 in the Foundation’s work. I believe, however, that there are natural breaks Read more >