Increasing equitable postsecondary completion in service of upward mobility and a better life for every California learner—especially those who are underserved—requires a systems change approach, pursued in collaboration with partners, leaders, and organizations across and beyond California’s postsecondary ecosystem.  

Our work focuses on interrelated areas that, together, can catalyze the transformation needed to ensure our education system equitably serves California’s diverse students now and into the future. 

During 2023, the College Futures Foundation team is engaged in a strategic refresh process, guided by our new vision and mission, announced in March 2023. We anticipate announcing our new strategy in early 2024. 

Our strategy to date is outlined below.

• Student-centric Practices: We support institutions working to become “equity-focused and student-ready” as they design their policies, practices, teaching, decision-making, and resource allocation around a core responsibility to ensure students accomplish their academic goals.

• Leadership: We support institutional leaders of color with the opportunity and capacity to successfully champion equitable postsecondary completion within and across systems, transforming campus cultures and student experiences.

• Finance & Affordability: We partner with innovators, advocates, and policymakers who are working to transform the way we structure and resource higher education and student access—from reimagining higher education’s basic business model and system of finance to improving policy and practice around supports and resources for students—so that doors are open and degrees are affordable to all of California’s students.

• Policy: We identify and elevate promising, viable solutions that will smooth pathways and simplify access to robust supports, enabling students to access and complete an affordable education.