The Southern California Regional Briefing will take place on Friday, November 13, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Board Room, 402 West Broadway, Suite 1000, in San Diego.

Hans Johnson, Associate Director and Senior Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California and author of Closing the Gap: Meeting California’s Need for College Graduates will be discussing the report which highlights the need for one million more college graduates by 2025 in order to keep pace with California's demand for a highly skilled workforce.

Also presenting is Jeremy Offenstein, Research Analyst at the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy at CSU Sacramento and co-author of Technical Difficulties: Meeting California’s Workforce Needs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Fields.  Offenstein, who co-authored this report, will address the critical shortage of college graduates and the troubling pipeline problems within the STEM fields.

In addition to the report authors, representatives from higher education, business, and industry will join us as panelists to share solutions to the education challenges California faces. We hope you will add your voice to this important dialogue and share this information with your colleagues and networks!

Please click here to RSVP for this event. If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Christine Jerian at 213-817-6034.

Regional Briefing Series Continues in Long Beach 

October 22, 2009 - On Friday, October 30th from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. the Campaign for College Opportunity will hold an important regional briefing in Long Beach to discuss the findings of two critical reports that project the imminent crisis California will face if it fails to produce the college graduates necessary in a knowledge-based economy.

The Southern California Regional Briefing will take place on Friday, October 30th, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Long Beach City College in Building O (Events Room) at 4900 Conant Street in Long Beach.

Hans Johnson, Associate Director and Senior Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California and author of Closing the Gap: Meeting California’s Need for College Graduates will be discussing the report which highlights the need for one million more college graduates by 2025 in order to keep pace with California's demand for a highly skilled workforce.

Also presenting is Jeremy Offenstein, Research Analyst at the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy at CSU Sacramento and co-author of Technical Difficulties: Meeting California’s Workforce Needs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Fields.  Offenstein, who co-authored this report, will address the critical shortage of college graduates and the troubling pipeline problems within the STEM fields.

In addition to the report authors, representatives from higher education, business and industry will join us as panelists to share solutions to the education challenges California faces. 

Please click here to RSVP for this event. If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Christine Jerian at 213-817-6034.

Education Leaders Agree on Coordinated Effort to Secure Completion Funds

September 23, 2009 - Forty leaders from across the state gathered on September 15 in San Francisco to discuss the critical role that California could play in reaching President Barack Obama’s ambitious goal to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.  Federal legislation is being proposed through H.R. 3221 and other initiatives that would provide $2.5 billion dollars in higher education funds nationally over the next five years. These funds place an important value on increasing college awareness, accessing financial aid and improving student success in post-secondary education.

Greg Darnieder, Special Assistant for College Access at the U.S. Department of Education, led the dialogue with an overview of the efforts to increase college-going and improve completion through the American Graduation Initiative and College Access and Completion Innovation Funds.  Both are initiatives to support the effectiveness and impact of community colleges by raising graduation rates, increasing educational opportunities, and expanding community college innovation in order to help rebuild the capacity and competitiveness of America ’s workforce. Philanthropists, higher education leaders, policy advocates, and nonprofit leaders joined Darnieder in discussing the fund’s possible applications for California .  Darnieder made note that there are a variety of federal funds that will be available to support college access and completion over the next few years, but that a long-term strategy for California would still be needed to ensure a strong increase in college-going and student success. 

Dennis Jones, President of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS,) shared that the U.S. will need 150,528 more college graduates (on top of the previous year, each year until 2020) to meet President Obama’s goal and California would need to produce an additional 16,261 of those degrees (on top of the previous year, each year until 2020) in order to do our fair share.  Jones and others shared that California faces some challenges to contribute to our portion of the national goal and may not be in the best position to access some of the federal dollars without critical leadership. 

In his report "Utilizing College Completion and Innovation Funds to Improve Postsecondary Attainment in California," Jones offers some ideas on how the federal funds should be developed. These include:

Jones also provided suggestions on how California can make itself more competitive to access these federal dollars.  These include:  

Jones also shared that California would need to develop currently missing infrastructure including longitudinal student data system and establishing and building consensus around the state's college completion goals.

“Our goal is to get conversations like these started,” Darnieder said.  “And our hope is that each state will set a long-term strategy that ensures greater college access, student persistency and success, especially for underrepresented students.” 

The convening concluded with a discussion about the next steps that must be taken to support California ’s ability to access these federal funds and move forward a strategic agenda for higher education.  The Campaign agreed to follow the progress of the federal legislation and funding opportunities and to support a coalition of stakeholders that would press our state leaders and the governor to articulate college access and success goals.

A significant step in the right direction occurred on September 17 when H.R. 3221, legislation to adopt the College Access and Completion Fund, cleared the U.S. House of Representatives. Last week, Campaign Executive Director Michele Siqueiros met with the staff of Congressman George Miller (bill sponsor of H.R. 3221) in Washington D.C. to learn more about the fund and share ideas about how California can access and make the best use of these federal dollars to support our higher education systems and ensure that more Californians can go to college and graduate. She also met with the Washington D.C.-based legislative staff of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to discuss the fund. Siqueiros believes that the national momentum could fuel important state-level innovation and support that would lead to attention needed in identifying a specific plan for increasing college access while supporting dramatic gains in student completion. 

Regional Briefing Series Brings Agreement About Critical Need for Graduates in Technical Fields

September 15, 2009 - The need to build a strong network to advocate for higher education issues as well as inform colleagues about the shortage of science and technology workers was on the minds of Silicon Valley leaders on Friday, September 4, as they attended the Regional Briefing Series co-sponsored by the Campaign for College Opportunity and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

The briefing series is a set of dialogs that will take place throughout California this year focusing on issues specific to higher education in the state.

The group – composed of two dozen executives, legislative field representatives and college personnel – gathered at Synopsis Corp. in Sunnyvale, Calif., to discuss the findings of two critical reports that project the imminent crisis California will face if it fails to produce the college graduates necessary in a knowledge-based economy.

“We really are in peril right now,” said Hans Johnson, associate director and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.  “This recession will end, and we will have revenues again. We need to prepare.”

Johnson’s report, “Closing the Gap: Meeting California’s Need for College Graduates,” projects that by 2025 California will fall short by 1 million college graduates – only 35 percent of working-age adults will have a college degree in an economy that would require 41 percent of workers to have a college degree.

Within that shortage will be workers in science, technology, education and math (STEM) fields. In fact, during the next decade, employment in STEM-related occupations will grow faster than in non-STEM occupations, according to Nancy Shulock, director of the Sacramento State Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy (IHELP), who also participated in the event.

Shulock’s report, “Technical Difficulties: Meeting California’s Workforce Needs in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Fields,” finds that between 2006 and 2016, there will be on average approximately 46,100 job openings each year in STEM occupations that require a postsecondary education. While the number of STEM jobs will grow 20 percent during this period, the number of non-STEM jobs will increase by only 14 percent.

In the report, Shulock calls for what she terms “external stakeholders” to step up to increase the number of college graduates, including STEM graduates.

 “A lot of the stakeholders we talk to are business leaders who express deep concerns over our ability to provide the educated workers they need,” Shulock told the group.

The group agreed that Silicon Valley in particular is at a place where it needs to change the tide if it wants to maintain its global edge. It felt that Silicon Valley businesses had made strides, but still needed to have stronger presence in the higher education arena.

“We’ve been conferring under our breaths about the role we should be having at this critical time,” Jocelyn Zona, corporate citizenship and corporate affairs manager at IBM, said about her chats with David Poroush, president and CEO of MentorNet, during the program’s breaks.

Throughout the hour-long discussion and presentation, Zona, Poroush and their colleagues nodded their heads in agreement and familiarity of the deficit in talent that is looming ahead and what it means for them.

Steve Beitler, manager of Silicon Valley government and public affairs for Agilent Technologies, said his company isn’t experiencing a shortfall in workers, “but then again, we aren’t hiring.”  When they do begin to hire again, Beitler said, Agilent is a large enough company that knows where to look for an educated workforce and attract them.

“It’s the other [smaller companies – which collectively make up the largest employers in this field] who have trouble,” Beitler said, adding he is interested in helping to fix the problem.

Johnson and Shulock agreed that the “old days” of fixing worker shortages by “migrating our way out of them” is not an option anymore because California is no longer seen as the only major market for skilled technical workers.

Among the policy suggestions Shulock makes in her report to increase STEM graduates is the development of a statewide public agenda for higher education focused on setting goals to increase the number of college-educated Californians and prioritizing the workforce needs in high-demand fields like STEM and health care.

Johnson also recommends that state policymakers play a pivotal role to increase the college enrollment, transfer, and graduation rates and direct enrollment rates from high school.

Richelle Noroyan, district director for Assemblymember Ira Ruskin, reminded everyone that state government is weakened right now and that it would very difficult to make any significant change. Others agreed that there currently isn’t a strong state government leader who champions higher education, but Beitler said Silicon Valley can begin forming partnerships with educators and schools that can be effective to address the skilled-worker shortage that is coming. 

“Collaboration between companies and schools can benefit not just individual firms,” he said, “but the whole ‘ecosystem’ of companies, industries, and markets in our region.”

Thomas Saenz Welcomed As Newest CCO Board Member

September 14, 2009 – The Campaign for College Opportunity is proud to announce Thomas Saenz as the newest addition to its board of directors.

Saenz was recently named as President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). MALDEF is one of the organizations responsible for founding The Campaign for College Opportunity.

“When MALDEF agreed to co-found the Campaign under Antonia Hernandez’ leadership, Tom was at MALDEF,” said Michele Siqueiros, Executive Director of The Campaign for College Opportunity. “He remains committed to the critical work of college access and student success and is looking forward to joining us in moving our agenda forward.”  

For the past four years, Saenz has served as Counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and as a member of the Mayor's four-person executive team. Saenz helped to lead the Mayor's legislative effort to change the governance of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in order to secure a quality education for all students in Los Angeles and had served as the Mayor's lead liaison on labor negotiations as the City worked to address its serious financial situation.

Prior to his service with the city, Saenz had served at MALDEF for 12 years. During that time, he successfully challenged California’s unconstitutional Proposition 187 and led numerous civil rights cases in the areas of immigrants’ rights, education, employment, and voting rights. He achieved several victories against ordinances unlawfully restricting the rights of day laborers, served as lead counsel in the 2001 challenge to California’s congressional redistricting, and initiated the employment discrimination lawsuit resulting in a $50 million settlement with Abercrombie and Fitch. Saenz was also the lead drafter of the Amicus brief on behalf of Latino organizations supporting affirmative action in the Supreme Court case, Grutter v. Bollinger.

Before joining MALDEF early in his legal career, Saenz clerked at both the federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Born and raised in Southern California, he graduated summa cum laude from Yale University and received his law degree from Yale Law School. Saenz then served as a law clerk to the Honorable Harry L. Hupp of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. For eight years, Saenz taught "Civil Rights Litigation" as an adjunct lecturer at the USC Law School. He currently serves on the Los Angeles County Board of Education and previously served on the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations.

Community College Capacity Issue Represents ‘Broken Promise’ to State’s Students

(September 8, 2009) A new report from the California Postsecondary Education Commission—which advises Governor Schwarzenegger on issues related to higher education—finds that California’s community colleges will soon be unable to accommodate all the students who wish to enroll. The report, entitled “Ready or Not, Here They Come,” will be presented at the Commission’s quarterly meeting to be held later this month in Sacramento.

According to the report, the state’s 110 community colleges will need to increase their capacity over the next decade in order not to turn away the 222,345 additional students who will seek to enroll. It estimates that the number of students during the next decade will increase by 12.3 percent. The report follows a recent announcement that community college enrollment had surged 4.9 percent – representing 135,000 students – during academic year 2008-2009. Fueling the increase is the current recession, which is sending many unemployed and underemployed workers to community colleges to train for new skills and careers.

“California’s Master Plan for Higher Education makes a promise to each and every student – that if you want to go to college, we’ll save a spot for you,” said Michele Siqueiros, Executive Director of The Campaign for College Opportunity, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that advocates for higher education in California. “Unless we address these capacity issues in our community colleges, that promise will be broken.” 

The report found that a full 75 percent of community college districts are facing capacity pressures, in that they are serving more full-time equivalent students (FTES) than recommended by state classroom utilization standards. The current capacity deficit on a statewide basis is 186,000 FTES, which the report projects could eventually grow to 350,000 FTES.

Recommendations for addressing the need for additional capacity included utilizing a combination of new capital projects, improved efficiencies, shared facility use, enhanced distributed learning arrangements, and expanded evening and weekend course offerings.

According to John Perez, chair of the commission, the projections cited in the report are conservative — the problem might actually be worse. He said that the commission used both a baseline projection based solely on population growth and a higher mid-range projection that included recent trends in enrollment patterns. He and other commission members agreed that it was very likely that the mid-range projection would be a more likely scenario.

“We agree with Chancellor Scott that continued divestment in higher education will hurt California for years to come and undermine our state’s economic recovery,” Siqueiros said. “The community college sector is by far the largest of the higher education systems in our state. If students can’t get in, they can’t graduate or transfer, and this could severely impact our future workforce.”

Compounding the problem is that the state is unable to provide any funding for community college enrollment growth. In fact, state investment in community colleges was decreased by 8 percent for the current school year. Yet, in order to catch up with growing enrollment demand, community colleges will need at least 3 percent enrollment growth funding annually over the next decade.

“The Governor and California’s legislature need to identify ways to fund the investment required to meet the capacity at our community colleges, particularly if enrollment continues to surge 5 percent a year,” Siqueiros said. “Our community colleges must also continue to pursue innovative solutions that focus on serving as many students as possible and getting them through to meet their college goals of achieving a community college certificate, Associate Degree, transferring to a four year university or gaining valuable workforce preparation.”

See the full report here.

New IHELP Report Finds Need for Community College Transfer Process Reform

(August 27, 2009) In California, community colleges play a major role in producing baccalaureate degrees.  Under the Master Plan for Higher Education, the vast majority of college students in California begin their college education in a community college. Access to the baccalaureate for these students is provided through the transfer process.

Yet, a new report from the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy (IHELP) at California State University at Sacramento finds a need for substantial reform in the state’s community college transfer process. The study finds that while a large number of university graduates are community college transfers, data on transfer rates show that only a small percentage of students who begin in community colleges successfully transfer. When students do transfer, the process is often inefficient or incomplete. Some students transfer with many units that don’t count toward the specific requirements for a bachelor’s degree. Others transfer without completing a transfer curriculum, reducing the potential cost-efficiency benefits of completing lower division requirements in the lower-cost community college system. Finally, many students transfer to a four-year university without earning an associate degree, and those who do not graduate are left without any degree.

Click here to view the full report 

Read a Los Angeles Times article about the report

Barnsdall Art Park Provides Beautiful Setting for SoCal Save Me a Spot in College Reception

(August 13, 2009) About 250 students, family members, and guests turned out on a gorgeous late-summer day in Los Angeles, when the Campaign for College Opportunity hosted a reception for Southern California winners of the Save Me a Spot in College scholarship contest. Barnsdall Art Park in Hollywood was the location for the August 11 event, and it provided a spectacular setting as the Campaign honored its student winners.

“Isn’t this a beautiful spot?” CCO Executive Director Michele Siqueiros asked the audience. “We live in the greatest city in the world, and here before us is the Hollywood sign and the Griffith Observatory. They’re symbols that Los Angeles has always led the world in science and entertainment – because of education. Education makes all things possible.” 

This year’s Save Me a Spot in College contest—the fourth annual—was the most successful yet, with more than $150,000 in scholarships awarded to over 300 middle and high school students from throughout the state. During the past four years, over 40,000 students have made their voices heard by participating in the scholarship contest, which provides students from throughout California the opportunity to create written word, posters, and TV ads calling on state leaders to plan for their futures by saving them and their peers a spot in college.  The scholarship contest is supported by major funding from the College Access Foundation. 

In addition to the student winners, CCO also honored Senator Alex Padilla, the California State University African American Initiative, and the Regional Economic Association Leaders of California (R.E.A.L Coalition) as Champions of College Opportunity, and the Los Angeles and Long Beach Unified School Districts for their efforts to launch the Early Commitment to College program.

Assemblymember Warren Furutani (D-55), who offered the keynote address, spoke passionately about the need for accessible education for all.

“I wouldn’t have missed this day,” he said, noting that his son was scheduled to receive his Master’s degree that afternoon in Long Beach. “We’re here today to plant that seed – that growing seed – that will show you all that you can go to college.”

“This last state budget process was horrific,” he said. “I didn’t go to Sacramento to cut education. If we’re going to keep the Golden State golden, we need to invest in education.”

Furutani also assisted Siqueiros in presenting the various awards. In particular, he praised Long Beach for having creating “a true partnership – not of words, but of deeds.”

Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser accepted the award on behalf of the coalition and characterized himself as a “poster child for what we’re talking about here today. I went to Long Beach city schools, Long Beach City College and Cal State, and neither of my parents graduated from high school.”

In presenting the award to LAUSD, Siqueiros said that she had been thrilled when she found out that it would be one of the first four districts to launch the Early Commitment to College program.

Sharon Robinson, Special Assistant to LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines, accepted on behalf of LAUSD and said to the students in the audience that she felt “like a proud parent today, showing all of you off to the world.”

“Just remember,” she said, “today is just a start. Teachers open the doors, but you need to walk through them.”

One of the prevailing themes throughout the ceremony was the ability of a college education to enrich both students’ lives and the state’s economy. In accepting the award for the R.E.A.L Coalition, David Rattray from the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce made a promise to students: “Get a good college education and our commitment to you is that when you graduate you’ll have a good job that you love.”

Student scholarship winners were presented with their certificates to close out the ceremony. The always-delightful Herb Carter, a member of the Board for both the California State University and CCO, helped present the awards and posed for photos with recipients.

“I go to a lot of meetings all year,” Carter said “and none of them are as enjoyable or as exciting as this one.”