We commend the Legislature and Governor for swiftly acting on Monday to preserve the right of talented, qualified students to access a quality, public higher education. Together, the Governor and Legislature passed legislation that ensures the incoming class at the University of California, Berkeley can enroll on campus this fall despite a recent court order ruling that would have forced the campus to slash enrollment by 2,600 students.
As we continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, our message to students and their families must be clear—California stands for opportunity and increasing capacity for students to earn a college degree. We cannot shut the doors to college opportunity and limit the potential of talented California students who have worked hard and earned their spot at our public universities.
Our 2021 report, Shut Out: The Need to Increase Access to the University of California and California State University, documented how the value of a bachelor’s degree only continues to rise both for individuals and the state. Yet, California has thousands more eligible students for our public universities than there are seats. California is turning away the human capital needed to stay economically competitive because of outdated university eligibility targets from 1960 and insufficient state funding for higher education.
That is why we urge the Legislature to demonstrate the same unapologetic support for students and urgency, as they did this week, for Governor Newsom’s California Blueprint for Higher Education, which would set a 70 percent college-attainment goal for the state and create multi-year compacts with the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) to expand access, improve completion, and close racial equity gaps in exchange for multi-year investment. The return on investment for the state’s investment in higher education and for reaching the attainment goal is upwards of $100 billion.
Campus leaders must also act with urgency to innovate solutions to expand access and capacity for higher education. College and state leaders must take the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to improve virtual learning, create intersegmental and regional partnerships, and make better use of time and space to support the students of today.
California must keep its promise to this generation as it has for past generations—if a student works hard and is eligible, then their spot at the UC and CSU must be guaranteed.
