Meeting the Moment & Looking Ahead to 2026

Message from Dr. Elizabeth González , Chief Program & Strategy Officer at College Futures Foundation

As we close out 2025, I keep returning to the question that shaped our year and our evolving strategy here at College Futures: What would it look like to reimagine a postsecondary ecosystem that reflects and supports the goals of our learners? And importantly: How do we make space for that work to happen as we move through a time that feels so strained and uncertain?

That reimagining starts with redefining value. Not value measured by prestige or tradition, but value rooted in inclusion and defined by accessibility, affordability, and flexibility that mirrors the lives of today’s learners. This means we need to adopt solutions that make it easier to enter and move through education. It means challenging the outdated assumptions that are holding back our collective thinking, as noted in the blog series published by our Entrepreneur-in-Residence Maria Anguiano, and it means continuing to push for whole new designs that allow us to build postsecondary institutions, models, and experiences that reflect the realities of California’s working learners.

In 2025, we leaned into what I believe is our responsibility as a philanthropy—not just to fund change and innovation, but to convene it. We heard clearly from longstanding partners that what’s needed now is not just resources, but spaces to come together and co-create a vision.

When the ground is shifting, there’s power in gathering to reconnect and to remind ourselves what we’re building toward and why it matters, especially for the learners and families at the heart of California’s communities. So we brought institutional and state-level leaders, researchers, advocates, and media together to re-center the conversation around postsecondary attainment that aligns to economic freedom. You’ll see that reflected in this short year-end video message I recorded to share more about how we approached the work this year, and where we’re heading in 2026.

I’m grateful to be in community with so many of you who share our belief in a more equitable, learner-centered future. Thank you for your commitment, your partnership, and your courage. I hope the holiday season offers you rest, warmth, and connection, and I look forward to all we’ll build together in the new year.