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  • Trump Signs Executive Order Requiring All Colleges to Submit

    Trump Signs Executive Order Requiring All Colleges to Submit


    Trump signed an executive order requiring colleges to prove that they are not continuing to practice affirmative action on behalf of racial minorities. He seems obsessed with the idea that Black students are gaining entrance to college without the right test scores. He wants to call a halt to it.

    Conservatives believe that admission should be based solely on grades and test scores. They ignore the fact that colleges have other goals they want to meet: students who can play on sports’ teams; who can play in the band or orchestra; who want to study subjects with low enrollments, like advanced physics or Latin. There are also legacy students whose parents went to the college. And students whose parents are big donors, as Jared Kushner’s father Charles was when he pledged $2.5 million to Harvard the year that Jared applied, a story told by Daniel Golden in his book The Price of Admission. RFK Jr. was admitted to Harvard by signing a form with only his name.

    Annie Ma and Joycelyn Gecker of the Associated Press reported:

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order requiring colleges to submit data to prove they do not consider race in admissions.

    In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions but said colleges may still consider how race has shaped students’ lives if applicants share that information in their admissions essays.

    Trump’s Republican administration is accusing colleges of using personal statements and other proxies to consider race, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination.

    The role of race in admissions has featured in the administration’s battle against some of the nation’s most elite colleges — viewed by Republicans as liberal hotbeds. For example, the executive order is similar to parts of recent settlement agreements the government negotiated with Brown University and Columbia University, restoring their federal research money. The universities agreed to give the government data on the race, grade point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. The schools also agreed to an audit by the government and to release admissions statistics to the public.

    Conservatives have argued that despite the Supreme Court ruling, colleges have continued to consider race through proxy measures.

    The executive order makes the same argument. “The lack of available admissions data from universities — paired with the rampant use of ‘diversity statements’ and other overt and hidden racial proxies — continues to raise concerns about whether race is actually used in admissions decisions in practice,” said a fact sheet shared by the White House ahead of the Thursday signing.

    The first year of admissions data after the Supreme Court ruling showed no clear pattern in how colleges’ diversity changed. Results varied dramatically from one campus to the next.

    Some schools, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Amherst College, saw steep drops in the percentage of Black students in their incoming classes. But at other elite, selective schools such as Yale, Princeton and the University of Virginia, the changes were less than a percentage point year to year.

    Some colleges have added more essays or personal statements to their admissions process to get a better picture of an applicant’s background, a strategy the Supreme Court invited in its ruling.

    “Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in 2023 for the court’s conservative majority.

    It is unclear what practical impact the executive order will have on colleges, which are prohibited by law from collecting information on race as part of admissions, says Jon Fansmith, senior vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education, an association of college presidents.

    “Ultimately, will it mean anything? Probably not,” Fansmith said. “But it does continue this rhetoric from the administration that some students are being preferenced in the admission process at the expense of other students.”

    Because of the Supreme Court ruling, schools are not allowed to ask the race of students who are applying. Once students enroll, the schools can ask about race, but students must be told they have a right not to answer. In this political climate, many students won’t report their race, Fansmith said. So when schools release data on student demographics, the figures often give only a partial picture of the campus makeup.



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  • As California community colleges struggle with transfer, some find success

    As California community colleges struggle with transfer, some find success


    When Allyson Najera enrolled at Irvine Valley College in 2021, she worried her higher education outlook was bleak.

    Najera was admitted to and planned to attend San Diego State University that year, but her family couldn’t afford it, and she instead enrolled in community college with the intention of transferring. She knew of family members who went to a community college and never transferred to a four-year university.

    “I was very scared that was going to happen to me,” she said. “I remember crying the first time I went to campus.”

    Yet two years later, Najera is getting ready to start her first term at UCLA, where she was successfully admitted as a sociology major. She credits her experiences at Irvine Valley: working with committed counselors, getting academic research opportunities and enrolling in an honors program that had a strong track record of transferring students to UCLA. Her time at community college was “the exact opposite” of what she initially expected it to be.

    Courtesy of Allyson Najera

    Allyson Najera

    Najera isn’t the only transfer success story from Irvine Valley. In a state where transfer is often confusing and difficult for students, some community colleges, including Irvine Valley, are doing it better than most. Among Irvine Valley students who completed at least 12 units and left their community college, one-fourth of them transferred to either a University of California or California State University campus, according to a 2022 analysis by the Public Policy Institute of California. Along with Pasadena City and De Anza (in Cupertino), that was the highest mark in the state, where the average was about 17% of those students.

    In some cases, officials acknowledge, the colleges have inherent advantages, like geographical proximity to four-year universities. But officials also say their specific programs and efforts also deserve credit, like proactive transfer centers, strong academics and extracurriculars that keep students motivated.

    “Obviously, UC Irvine is just a few miles away. There’s CSU Fullerton, even Long Beach State. They’re all within driving distance,” said Loris Fagioli, Irvine Valley’s director of research and planning. “Compare that to some community colleges that are more rural and remote, and it’s much tougher for the students they’re serving to transfer.”

    “But then again, there are other community colleges that also have those advantages and they aren’t doing as well,” he added.

    Transfer culture

    At Glendale Community College, there’s an emphasis on convincing students that community college isn’t an alternative pathway, but the predominant pathway to getting a four-year degree, said Ryan Cornner, the college’s president. At Glendale, about 23% of students who earned at least 12 credits successfully transferred to UC or Cal State.

    “More than half of CSU graduates started at a community college. Almost one-third of UC graduates started at a community college,” he noted. “Building an effective transfer is convincing students that this isn’t a second chance or backup; this is a legitimate pathway to get to the university you want to attend.”

    One way they do that at Glendale is with a proactive transfer center. Rather than waiting for them to schedule appointments, counselors are constantly checking in with students who have declared an intent to transfer and making sure they’re staying on track.

    When students do seek out an appointment at Glendale, it’s easy to get one, said Mike Borisov, who is transferring this fall to UC San Diego.

    Borisov earned the credits he needed for transfer by taking classes at both Glendale and Los Angeles Valley colleges. He found it was much easier to get in front of counselors and seek help at Glendale.

    “LAVC is a great campus, but transfer counselors weren’t as helpful as the ones at Glendale. It was harder to meet in person because they were always booked up, while at Glendale, it’s more intimate and the counselors really know their students,” Borisov said.

    Glendale even offers a one-credit class focused on the transfer process, designed to help students better understand it, all while they earn a transferable that is transferable to the state’s four-year universities.

    “It’s really just meant to familiarize students with the transfer process: what the requirements are for transfer, the application timeline, how to prepare successfully for the application, how to write personal statements well,” said Bridget Bershad, a counselor at Glendale.

    Making sure students have that knowledge, whether it’s through a class or meeting with counselors, is imperative because the transfer landscape is “extremely complex,” said Fagioli, the Irvine Valley official.

    Fagioli said Irvine Valley’s transfer center is similarly proactive, regularly reaching out to students to make sure they know what they need for transfer.

    “Because as soon as you change a major, as soon as you switch from wanting to transfer to Fullerton to another CSU, all these requirements change,” he said. “So you need very good and knowledgeable people who are up to date with all the nuances.”

    In a recent EdSource survey of current and former community college students, more than half said the process of transferring to a four-year university is difficult. Many of them cited access to counseling as a roadblock; only about one-third of respondents said it is easy to schedule an appointment with a counselor.

    At some campuses, their record on transfer attracts the students. De Anza College has one of the highest transfer rates in the state and is particularly successful at sending students to the top UC campuses, namely Berkeley, UCLA and San Diego.

    Students come from outside De Anza’s Santa Clara County home base, said Marisa Spatafore, associate vice president of communications.

    “And they say they want to transfer, that they want to go to UCLA or Berkeley,” Spatafore said. “And the tagline our college is known for — ‘Tops in Transfer’ — that’s based in reality. And students understand that.”

    Getting students involved

    Beyond making sure students can navigate the transfer process, campus officials said it’s also key that students have opportunities to get involved on campus so they feel a connection to their college community and stay motivated. In some cases, their extracurriculars can even bolster their applications to UC and Cal State campuses.

    De Anza College, for example, has 18 learning communities designed to connect students to a network of classmates, faculty and advisers who share something in common. There are communities for current and former foster youth, male students of color and students identifying as LGTBQ+. There’s even one for students who need extra help in math to connect them to counselors and tutors.

    “We’re really trying to meet students where they are with these communities so that they develop a community with other students and with the faculty members, to really support their unique needs,” Spatafore said. “Even if they’re not a cohort going through the same exact classes, they still reap the benefit of that personal support, that personal attention and working with other students.”

    At both Irvine Valley and Glendale, officials emphasized the strength and size of their honors programs offered to students. Students who are accepted into the programs get special access to honors courses and get an honors recognition on their official transcripts, which can help when applying to competitive four-year universities. Students in the honors program across majors at Irvine Valley, for example, are essentially guaranteed to be admitted to UCLA if they complete the program, said Fagioli.

    Najera was admitted to the honors program at Irvine Valley, and so she was able to do her own research project on how the social media platform TikTok glamorizes eating disorders among female powerlifters between the ages of 12 and 25.

    She even presented that research at several conferences, including ones at Stanford University and Pepperdine University.

    “I think that’s something that’s very unique with Irvine Valley College. I remember going to the UC Berkeley transfer day, and a lot of students from different community colleges told me they’ve never had experience with research because their community college didn’t offer that opportunity,” Najera said.

    In addition to bolstering her college applications, she said it was also important to “get my feet wet” with research because it gave her a clear direction and made her realize she wanted to attend a university where she’d have more research opportunities. That was a big reason she focused on going to UCLA, where she hopes to conduct research at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. She chose UCLA over UC Irvine and Tufts University, a private college near Boston.

    “This experience at IVC has taught me to never have a closed mindset or let any sort of stigma get in the way,” she said. “Now I actually understand that I have a purpose in my life. IVC helped me with finding that direction.”





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  • Why enrollment is rebounding at California’s community colleges

    Why enrollment is rebounding at California’s community colleges


    Credit: Allan Hancock College / Flickr

    After years of pandemic declines, enrollment at California’s community colleges may finally be starting to rebound in a significant way.

    Several colleges across the state, from San Diego to San Jose, are reporting that their enrollments are up by double digit percentages this fall. Statewide data for the fall isn’t yet available, but enrollment in the spring was up 8% across the system of 116 colleges, according to a memo prepared by the state chancellor’s office.

    College officials cited the expansion of dual enrollment and more interest in career-focused programs as being among the main drivers of the enrollment growth.

    “In conversations with CEOs for fall 2023, I’m hearing good news, positive trends. And in fact, many of the districts are telling me that they’re seeing double-digit enrollment growth,” Sonya Christian, the statewide chancellor for the system, told the system’s board of governors Tuesday.

    Given that, the memo prepared by the chancellor’s office says the system now has “a meaningful positive enrollment outlook for the first time in over five years.”

    Still, enrollment across the system as of the spring was down 16% compared to pre-pandemic levels. And although the colleges are seeing big increases in dual enrollment and more enrollments from some older students, other students have not returned. Among students between the ages of 20 and 24, enrollment was down 27% as of the spring compared with pre-Covid levels. It was also down 22% among students between the ages of 25 and 34.

    Christian’s goal for the colleges, outlined in her official Vision 2030 plan for the system, is to increase enrollment to greater than pre-pandemic levels by 2030. The board of governors voted Tuesday to begin formally implementing that vision. Among other goals, her plan calls to enroll more low-income adults, who she says have been historically left behind by the system. She also wants colleges to further expand dual enrollment by having every high school student taking a college class.

    Dual enrollment has already been growing steadily across the state. In spring 2023, enrollment among students ages 19 and younger was up 14% compared with spring 2022, an increase that was largely aided by growth in dual enrollment programs. As of the spring, students in that age group had surpassed their pre-pandemic enrollment levels, making them the only age group to do so.

    At the San Jose Evergreen Community College District, enrollment this fall is up by about 15% compared with a year ago, and the largest increases are among students aged 17 or younger, thanks to dual enrollment expansions. The district has specifically focused on expanding partnerships with high schools in East San Jose to enroll underserved high schoolers in that area, said Beatriz Chaidez, the district’s interim chancellor, in an interview.

    “People see the value in community colleges, and that’s creating the increased interest, and we’re casting a wider net with our K-12 partners,” Chaidez added.

    Colleges are also reporting growth in career training and skill-based programs. At Mt. San Jacinto College in Riverside County, where enrollment is up 13% compared with last fall, “there is a notable trend of students gravitating more towards career-focused educational paths,” said Brandon Moore, the college’s vice president of enrollment management, in an email.

    Moore said there has been a “significant uptick” in enrollment in the college’s automotive and computer information systems programs. “Furthermore, budding programs such as culinary arts are also carving a niche, reflecting a growing interest in specialized skill-based education,” he added.

    The San Diego Community College District, where enrollment is up by 14% this fall but still well below pre-pandemic levels, is similarly seeing increased demand for career training programs, said Ashanti Hands, president of San Diego Mesa College. That’s specifically the case for short-term certificate programs in subjects such as accounting, biotechnology and cybersecurity.

    “These are students who want to come and really focus on being able to find work,” Hands said. “They can do that within a short amount of time. It’s the immediate return on their investment.”

    Christian, who became statewide chancellor in June, wants to connect even more students to the workforce by targeting the state’s adults who have graduated from high school but don’t have a postsecondary degree. According to her office, there are 6.8 million of them in California between the ages of 25 and 54, and those individuals are disproportionately likely to be low-income and struggling to find well-paid work.

    Under Christian’s Vision 2030, the colleges would enroll many of those individuals and help connect them to good jobs. The Vision 2030 planning document notes that if the colleges enrolled 5% of those individuals, it would generate 300,000 new students across the system. During the 2022-23 academic year, the system enrolled about 1.92 million students, down by more than 300,000 compared with pre-pandemic levels.

    “Vision 2030 asks the fundamental question: Why have we not yet reached these individuals? When students cannot find their way to college, it is our responsibility to bring college to them,” Christian said.

    Hands, the Mesa College president, said she’s confident that community colleges across the state, including the San Diego colleges, will be able to fully recover the enrollment they lost during the pandemic. But she added that, as those increases happen in areas like dual enrollment and workforce programs, the colleges won’t look the same as they did before the pandemic.

    “We are not there yet, but the way that we are moving, I have no doubt that we will get back to those numbers,” she said. “But it won’t be business as usual because I think we’re going to need to be mindful that we may be seeing different students, a different group of students.”





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  • Applying to colleges is a giant puzzle seniors need to solve

    Applying to colleges is a giant puzzle seniors need to solve


    Students pass beneath Sather Gate and onto Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley.

    Credit: Steve McConnell / UC Berkeley

    With the summer ending, I am spending most of my time finishing work for summer classes while figuring out how to prepare for one of the most pivotal points in my high school career: college applications. 

    I am tired of endlessly watching videos of students who were accepted into prestigious universities, explaining what they did in high school to get accepted, ranging from engaging in cancer research under university professors to being the youngest person ever to obtain a Google internship. 

    Now, it’s my turn to go through the process. I’ve put it off long enough. It is time to write the first draft of my college essay.

    I opened up my document in Google Docs, filled with a list of random ideas I curated to fit the personal insight questions from the university. I typed away on my keyboard, only to end up with a singular sentence. I tried again; this effort resulted in random fragments of what I picture in my head — a broken draft filled with scrambled words that would not cooperate with one another. 

    “The sooner I get the draft done, the sooner I have one thing off my plate,” I grumble to myself. 

    I want to create a perfectly polished essay — to show I am a fit for the university of my choice. While this essay will acknowledge I have flaws, I can only hope that those flaws align with the college’s expectations.

    Even if I manage to create a perfect application, the college admissions process itself raises concerns. Despite researching it for months, I still do not fully understand it.

    I’m worried that I will do everything that is expected and still not be accepted anywhere. It happened to my friend. She did everything to ensure acceptance into a good college. She took Advanced Placement courses at her high school and had a cumulative weighted GPA of over 4.0. She also participated in many clubs. She worked hard all four years of high school but still wasn’t able to get into the university she wanted to attend. 

    Soon-to-be high school graduates must also decipher requirements from out-of-state and private schools, which adds to the pressure they feel as they navigate the constant changes in the college application process. 

    Applying for financial aid also contributes to stress and uncertainty. Will I qualify for federal student aid? Should I apply for financial aid packages from universities? Should I apply to dozens of private scholarships on the slim chance I could win scholarship money?

    The college admissions process is always changing, but one of the most distinguished parts of my identity is being put to the test with the recent Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in universities. 

    I’ve always been told that if you’re an Asian, you should never acknowledge it in the demographics area of your application because it will be to your disadvantage. I have no clue what to do now that race won’t be considered in admissions. I’m still contemplating whether I should note my race in my applications. Will it hurt my chances or not?

    I feel anxious about what the upcoming application cycle is going to look like. The college admissions process has undergone many changes in the past few years, and it seems that it will go through more in the coming years. 

    These concerns keep me up at night. I worry about the unexpected challenges I may face as I apply to colleges. It seems that I won’t know whether I will be able to go to a four-year college until admission decisions are made.

    I know that there are other options besides a four-year university. I can start my college career at a community college and transfer through the University of California Transfer Admission Guarantee program for one.

    Regardless of all the paranoia and anxiety that come with applying to college, I know that it will be worth it in the end. 

    •••

    Saffiya Sheikh is a student education reporter for Sac School Beat in Sacramento County and a senior at Horizon Charter School. She plans to major in political science when she goes to college. 

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Newsom signs bill creating new transfer pilot program between UC and community colleges

    Newsom signs bill creating new transfer pilot program between UC and community colleges


    The Transfer and Reentry Center in Dutton Hall at UC Davis helps transfers get acclimated to their new environment.

    Credit: Karin Higgins/UC Davis

    In a bid to make it easier for California’s community college students to transfer to the University of California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Tuesday to create a new transfer pathway between the two systems.

    The transfer pathway created by Assembly Bill 1291 will start as a pilot program at UCLA, with students getting priority admission if they complete an associate degree for transfer in select majors beginning in the 2026-27 academic year. The specific majors haven’t yet been determined, but UCLA will have to identify at least eight and another four by 2028-29. At least four of the majors will be in a science, technology, engineering or math field.

    The new pathway would expand to at least four additional UC campuses, also in limited majors, by 2028-29.

    The bill doesn’t, however, guarantee students admission to their chosen campus. If a student is not admitted to their preferred campus, the student will be redirected and admitted to another campus.

    Supporters of the legislation say it would help to streamline the state’s complex transfer system since students can already earn an associate degree to get a guaranteed spot in the California State University system.

    “By working together, California’s three world-leading higher education systems are ensuring more students have the freedom to thrive, learn, and succeed,” Newsom said in a statement. “With this new law, the Golden State is streamlining the transfer process, making a four-year degree more affordable for transfer students, and helping students obtain high-paying and fulfilling careers.”

    Newsom signed the bill despite opposition from the statewide student associations representing UC and community college students. In a statement last month urging Newsom to veto the legislation, they said they were dissatisfied because it doesn’t give students a guaranteed spot at the campus of their choice.

    The bill’s author, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, said in a statement that it will help to “tackle a long-standing goal in California: to simplify and streamline the transfer paths” for community college students. “This bill gets UC into the game with universal transfer pathways and will increase economic opportunity and prosperity for all Californians to help our state economy thrive,” he added.

    Currently, UC lacks a systemwide transfer guarantee for community college students. There are separate transfer admission guarantees at six of the system’s nine undergraduate campuses — each of them except UCLA, Berkeley and San Diego. But those separate guarantees each have different requirements for admission. And students who are also interested in transferring to Cal State have to simultaneously deal with that system’s own distinct requirements.

    Earlier this year, McCarty authored another bill, Assembly Bill 1749, that would have gone further than the more recent legislation by requiring UC to admit all eligible students who complete any associate degree for transfer, like the California State University system already does.

    UC opposed that bill, arguing that it would be a disservice to students in certain STEM majors because they would enter UC underprepared for some upper-division courses. UC officials then negotiated the details of AB 1291 with the governor’s office, McCarty and other key lawmakers.

    “I am proud that 27 percent of University of California undergraduates begin their educational journey at a California Community College and go on to thrive on our campuses,” Michael Drake, UC’s systemwide president, said in a statement. “The University is committed to attracting and supporting transfer students, and we look forward to continuing to partner with transfer advocates such as Governor Newsom, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, and others in the state legislature on streamlining the transfer process.”





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  • On the heels of Proposition 28, California colleges pave new pathways for arts teachers

    On the heels of Proposition 28, California colleges pave new pathways for arts teachers


    Children visit a gallery to learn about bugs by making art projects in Merryl Goldberg’s class at Cal State San Marcos.

    credit: Merryl Goldberg

    Eric Engdahl once ran away to join the circus. Always one with a flair for the dramatic, he became a ringmaster at Circus Flora, a one-ring boutique circus with a Civil War theme. He says the experience, learning to communicate with gymnasts and clowns, elephants and horses, prepared him well for the challenge of being a teacher.  

    “There was no one common language,” said Engdahl, now professor emeritus in the department of teacher education at Cal State East Bay. “So I learned how to build communication, how to tell stories, and that a common goal is essential.”

    Helping students find their creative voice is a key reason Engdahl spearheaded an online credential program in theater and dance at Cal State East Bay in 2021, making it the first CSU to offer those credentials just as Proposition 28 promises to create thousands of new arts teaching jobs at California schools.  Similarly, Cal State San Marcos will soon become the first CSU to create a pathway specifically for undergraduate art majors who wish to teach. Cal State Northridge is poised to launch a dance credential program next spring. Given the anticipated demand for newly minted arts educators in the wake of Proposition 28, the state’s 2022 groundbreaking initiative to bring arts education back into schools, many expect other campuses to follow their lead.

    “I would like to claim that I was prescient about Prop. 28, and while I did a lot of groundwork to get the credentials going, there is always the unexpected, e.g. Covid,” said Engdahl, who wrote his dissertation on the antebellum circus movement in America. “It turned out to be great timing.”

    Merryl Goldberg, a longtime music professor, has long seen arts education as an equity issue. She believes that all students should have access to the arts, not just the privileged ones, particularly because of the well-established links between arts education, academic achievement and social-emotional learning. That’s what inspired her to launch the state’s first undergraduate pathway to arts education at Cal State San Marcos. 

    credit: Albert Rascon

    Musicians jam during Merryl Goldberg’s arts education class at Cal State San Marcos.

    “We have the most wonderful diverse students at CSUSM, who I know will make incredible arts teachers,” said Goldberg, a saxophonist who spent 13 years on the road with the Klezmer Conservatory Band. “It kills me that so many students in California have had a limited arts background, and I’m thrilled this will finally change. The arts truly matter.”

    Engdahl’s students are now reaping the benefits of his fortuitous planning efforts. They are sitting in the catbird seat as many school districts are clamoring to hire arts educators to teach classes funded by the state’s historic mandate to restore arts and music education to California schools. Last year, an LAUSD official visiting his theater credential class offered jobs to all his students. 

    “I regularly get phone calls and emails from people all over the state wanting to recruit my students,” said Engdahl. “Los Angeles, San Francisco, and to some extent, San Diego, the big districts are all aggressively implementing Prop. 28 and hiring people to fill those jobs.”  

    Goldberg is also hearing from school districts eager to hire arts educators. Some are having to recruit out-of-state teachers to fill the slots, she says.

    “This opens up the world to so many students who want to be an art teacher, a music teacher, a dance or theater teacher,” said Goldberg. “It’s especially important for first-generation college students. The majority of our students are first-generation, and many are low-income. They have to work so hard to go to college, and they are beaming with potential to make a difference. They have so much passion.”

    credit: Albert Rascon

    A student in one of Merryl Godberg’s music education classes at Cal State San Marcos.

    One major concern is how best to widen the arts credential pipeline, which has shriveled amid decades of cutbacks, for the next generation of arts ed teachers. While there are 64 programs in the state that offer a music credential and 57 that offer a visual arts credential, only a few focus on theater and dance. That’s not enough to feed a field that has gone from famine to feast, experts say.

    “We know we’re short about 15,000 arts teachers in the state,” said Goldberg. “Most of the CSUs or UCs or even private colleges haven’t been churning out a lot of art and music and dance and theater teachers because there haven’t been a whole lot of jobs. Now, all of a sudden, there’s so many jobs.”

    Despite this arts teacher crunch, there are various workarounds. For instance, physical education teachers who were credentialed before 2022 already have dance embedded in their credential, experts say. The same goes for some English teachers automatically having a theater credential. Prospective arts educators with sufficient college credits in their discipline can also apply for a supplemental authorization to teach instead of getting a credential. 

    It should be noted, however, that not all districts are anxious to raise the curtain on new arts programs. The myriad complexities of the Proposition 28 rollout may have contributed to many smaller and rural districts proceeding cautiously as they expand their arts offerings. 

    “The rural districts are not as well-resourced due to fewer students,” said Letty Kraus, director of the California County Superintendents’ statewide arts initiative, “and it is harder to staff rural schools with credentialed arts teachers due to shortages.” 

    In the wake of the Covid pandemic, many school administrators are also overwhelmed by pressing matters, experts say, from the dearth of teachers to deep learning loss, marked by falling rates of literacy and numeracy. 

    “Elementary principals don’t have time to deal with this,” said Engdahl. “You’re already struggling to hire teachers. You’re looking to fill classrooms, you’re doing a lot of jobs and there’s not enough administrative support.”

    Some districts, having eliminated their arts classes long ago due to budget cuts, are now starting from scratch with no expertise in the arts. They need help to build out a plan for arts education, and some arts advocates note the California Department of Education, which is administering the program, has not been sufficiently responsive regarding the rules of implementation.

    “Many school districts are taking a go-slow approach,” said Engdahl, who is consulting with several districts on how to flesh out their programs. “They want to wait and see how the money flows. They don’t know quite what to do with it because they don’t have enough administrative staff to figure it out.”

    A slow-and-steady approach might make sense, some say, because schools have three years to use the funds. A little extra time also means that more colleges can get in on the act and develop their own arts credential programs to help fill the burgeoning pipeline.

    “You have to take the long view,” Goldberg said. “It’s not a bad idea to hold off and not rush into things. That gives you time to really look at the language of the law. It also gives colleges time to launch new programs to widen the pipeline. My team feels confident our work is 100% replicable among any of the CSUs, private colleges and UCs.”

    Cal State San Marcos plans to welcome its first arts education cohort next fall. Goldberg says there’s been a lot of demand thus far from both arts-focused undergraduates who want to teach their craft and from seasoned teachers interested in transitioning into arts education.

    “We are reaching out to teaching artists who may wish to come back to get a credential, and to in-service teachers who have already or might soon transition to becoming an arts teacher,” she said. “We want to ensure they have the support and training they need. There is an extreme need for new arts teachers and support for transitioning teachers.”

    She also argues that California offers many career opportunities for graduates with arts expertise, from arts education and the entertainment industry to the exploding cybersecurity sector, which has been known to recruit music majors for their ability to construct complex elements into intricate patterns.

    “The amount of jobs relating directly to the arts is crazy,” said Goldberg. “Arts ain’t fluff, they really are a career opportunity. The importance of arts in preparation for careers is giant.”

    For his part, Engdahl is hopeful that as the new arts mandate rolls out, more districts will see that arts education could also be a powerful tool for healing children traumatized by the pandemic. 

    “The arts and arts education, because of the way it’s taught, could really be a wonderful resource for helping students heal from the pandemic and catch up with the developmental and the social skills that they lost,” he said. “I think probably many administrators know that, but it’s just they’re so overwhelmed with what’s going on in the trenches right now.” 





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  • Community colleges are key to solving California’s toughest challenges

    Community colleges are key to solving California’s toughest challenges


    Students from Bakersfield College participate in an Intro to EV class.

    Courtesy: Bakersfield College

    I was introduced to community colleges when I left my hometown, Kollam, in southern India, to attend graduate school as a foreign student in California. The idea of open access, that anyone, even older adults, could attend college was astonishing to me.

    Now, 30 years later, I’ve been given the opportunity to lead the nation’s largest institution of higher education — the 116-campus, 1.9-million-student California Community College system, where almost half of our students are older adults.

    The Community College System is one of our state’s most valuable assets, our main engine of social mobility. We generate $128 billion in annual income for California, amounting to more than 4% of the state’s gross product.

    We are essential to the state’s achieving its ambitious goals in everything from climate policy, to growing a world-class labor force, to expanding the middle class. We are essential to the state’s ability to address a massive nursing shortage, support an aging population, prepare for an electric future in need of skilled and trained technicians and more.

    None of this can be done without the California Community Colleges.

    To fulfill this essential role, we must build on our successes, confront our continuing challenges and accelerate our progress. Our recently released planning document, “Vision 2030: A Roadmap for California Community Colleges,” outlines the steps to take. The plan envisions a higher education system more inclusive of all Californians and one that ensures access points for every learner across race, ethnicity, region, class, age and gender to enter a supported pathway with exit points to transfer or complete a community college baccalaureate or obtain a job with family-sustaining wages.

    I am excited that Vision 2030 reexamines what access means when we lead with equity: We can’t wait for individuals to come to college; we must take college to them. We will take college to our high schools and expand dual enrollment, we will take college to our justice-involved Californians, to our foster youth.

    We are the largest system of higher education in the nation, yet 6.8 million Californians — disproportionately people of color — have graduated from high school but have no college credentials. This group is likely to be low-income and struggle to find gainful employment. Our roadmap for the coming years addresses this fundamental question: Why has our system not yet reached these individuals? When those in need cannot find their way to college, we must find ways to bring college to them. This means partnering with community-based organizations, worker-represented organizations and industry leaders to implement options that would make college more accessible for these populations, such as short-term courses, workforce-aligned noncredit options, certificates and degrees.

    While recently some have questioned the value of college, the evidence is clear: Higher education remains a key to social mobility. We will prioritize skill-building for jobs that pay living wages while recognizing that a baccalaureate degree is a powerful predictor of higher wages.

    We will build on our traditional role in workforce training to meet Gov. Gavin Newsom’s priorities for our system in health care, education, STEM and climate change.

    In my previous roles heading Bakersfield College and later Kern Community College District, I worked closely with partners to establish a center for renewable energy making the case that community colleges are essential to all aspects of climate work — workforce development, community engagement and large-scale technology transfer for economic development. Our colleges are primed to build the next wave of climate action solutions like the creation of microgrids for grid resilience.

    California’s future is inextricably tied to its community colleges. We are committed to partnering together to solve some of California’s toughest challenges, engaging with purpose, creativity, thoughtfulness and urgency. Our time is now!

    •••

    Sonya Christian is chancellor of California’s 116 community colleges.

    The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the author. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.





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  • Legislative Analyst’s Office forecasts $19 billion state budget deficit for schools and community colleges

    Legislative Analyst’s Office forecasts $19 billion state budget deficit for schools and community colleges


    California State Capitol

    Credit: Christopher Schodt for EdSource

    Schools and community colleges likely will face a $19 billion, three-year state funding deficit, the Legislative Analyst’s Office reported Thursday. The funding for TK-12 this year is $108 billion.

    The LAO’s annual projection is a forecast of what to expect from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first pass next month on the 2024-25 state budget. It reflects a decline in funding in Proposition 98, the 35-year-old constitutional amendment that determines the portion of the state’s general fund that must go to schools and community colleges. Complicating the picture is that about half of the education deficit covers money that schools and community colleges spent in 2022-23.

    The overall projected state general fund budget deficit of $68 billion could also jeopardize 5% annual increases for the University of California and California State University systems that Gov. Gavin Newsom had agreed to, as well as children’s services not covered by Proposition 98.

    The projected shortfall is the largest financial challenge schools and community colleges will face since the Great Recession budget of 2009. However, the LAO said that schools are better positioned now because of an education rainy-day fund that the Legislature was required to sock away in the record-high revenue years of the past half-decade.  

    Edgar Zazueta, executive director of the Association of California School Administrators, cautioned that state leaders must avoid the sort of harsh cuts made during the Great Recession. They included forcing districts to borrow billions of dollars with the expectation they would be repaid later.

    “Fortunately, we have tools, including the Proposition 98 reserve, that we can leverage to protect Proposition 98 funding levels,” he said. “Even during fiscal times like these, public education must be prioritized and protected. We must continue to build on our state’s great momentum and investments that have been made these past few years.”

    The LAO report lays out several options to balance school spending, some of them jarring for schools and community colleges.

    One option is for the Legislature to preserve TK-14 funding approved last June and find the full $68 billion in cuts in the general fund. That would spare schools, but other programs for children outside of Proposition 98 funding would more likely be hit, including support and subsidized costs for child care.

    The opposite approach — the most painful to schools and community colleges and politically risky for legislators — would be to revise the 2022-23 and the current 2023-24 Proposition 98 funding downward to meet the minimum required by law. That would slash funding by $9 billion from 2022-23 and $6.3 billion for the current year, with a ripple effect of lowering the minimum guarantee for 2024-25 by $3.5 billion.

    The Legislature could ease the burden by draining the $8.1 billion rainy day fund. That would still leave about $10 billion in cuts. Billions of dollars in one-time funding, whether unspent so far this year, or allotted by the Legislature for the next several years, could be targets. These could include $1 billion as yet unallocated for developing community schools or money set aside for learning recovery and for after-school extended learning time. It could be politically unpopular for legislators to make significant school cuts in an election year. And they would have to approve a resolution that there is a fiscal emergency to reduce the Proposition 98 appropriation.

    The third alternative is somewhere in the middle — cuts to K-14 and cuts from other general fund programs.

    The Legislature had an inkling that economic conditions were worsening but no hard numbers when they passed the 2023-24 budget in June: The deadline for paying state and federal income taxes had been extended from April 15 to Oct. 16. So they didn’t know the impact on state revenues in 2022-23 and 2023-24 from slowing home sales, a drop in new startups in Silicon Valley, and from declining income of the top 1% of earners, who contribute 50% of the personal income tax receipts.

    The LAO’s forecast for state revenues for the general fund shows a big drop in 2022-23, a flat line in 2023-24 and a slight uptick in the next fiscal year. But the gray area shows the possibility of an additional decline or a quick recovery.
    Source: The Legislative Analyst’s Office.

    The LAO cautioned that economic conditions are volatile, and revenues will remain unpredictable. A graph of its revenue outlook shows slow growth in 2024-25, with a large gray penumbra of uncertainty above and below that line.

    Kevin Gordon, president of Capitol Advisors Group, an education consulting company based in Sacramento, said he was pleased that the LAO listed several options and did not recommend resetting funding to meet the Proposition 98 minimum, with “devastating cuts.”

    “The numbers are worrisome, but the approaches laid out are significant efforts to demonstrate how lawmakers might work to protect basic investment in education funding,” he said.





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  • Faculty, staff urge California colleges to make backup plans in case DACA ends

    Faculty, staff urge California colleges to make backup plans in case DACA ends


    Madeleine Villanueva, higher education manager of Immigrants Rising and Maria Barragan, director of undocumented student support services at Loyola Marymount University.

    Credit: Courtesy of Immigrants Rising

    Iveth Díaz has spent much of her career helping immigrant students living in the U.S. without permanent legal status navigate college. But when her own application to renew her work permit and temporary protection from deportation was delayed because of backlogs, she had to resign from her job for three months.

    “It was extremely stressful. It was a time when I suffered from anxiety and depression, which is unfortunately very common within our community,” Díaz said. 

    Díaz and other college and university employees with work permits and protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program are calling on universities to do more to help them prepare for alternative employment plans in case the program ends. Some proposals include helping employees become independent consultants, preparing a severance package or sponsoring work visas.

    DACA offers temporary protection from deportation and permission to work for about 579,000 young people who were brought to the U.S. as children and graduated from high school, completed a GED or are veterans of the U.S. military. Every two years, recipients must apply for renewal. But the program could end at any time. It was found to be illegal by a federal judge in Texas, and that case will likely end up in the Supreme Court.

    The program, launched during the Obama administration, has long been associated with high school and college students, but most recipients are now working adults. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has not accepted new applications since 2017, making the youngest DACA recipients currently 21 years old, and the oldest, now 42.

    “The DACA generation are not kids anymore,” said Madeleine Villanueva, higher education manager of Immigrants Rising, an organization based in San Francisco that helps undocumented people achieve career and educational goals and published a guide for colleges and universities to support undocumented employees. “A lot of us are in our 30s and 40s. We’re doing this work so that the future generation of undocumented students doesn’t have such a hard time like we did when we were going to school.”

    Hundreds of faculty and staff at California colleges and universities are DACA recipients, although the exact total is unclear. According to the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration’s Higher Ed Immigration Portal,  there are about 9,211 recipients working in education in California, from elementary school to college. The University of California estimates it has more than 400 employee recipients, some of them students. Spokespersons for the California State University and California Community Colleges said they did not have data on how many employees are temporarily protected from deportation.

    Díaz worked for more than eight years at CSU San Bernardino as an administrative support coordinator for graduate researchers and as an admissions counselor. She now leads a program for students at Cerritos College who do not have permanent legal immigration status. As a fellow at Immigrants Rising, she conducted a survey of about 65 employees of California colleges and universities who at one time were living in the U.S. without permission, most of whom now have DACA protections. The employees included faculty, counselors, researchers and financial aid and admissions workers.

    She said most respondents said their colleges and universities have not prepared for what to do for their employees if the program ends.

    “Are we waiting until the program is canceled altogether, or are institutions being proactive in creating ways to retain their employees?” Díaz said. “I found that 70% of respondents stated that their institutions have not even brought it up, have not even had a conversation to their knowledge about what a response plan would be, which is really worrisome.”

    Laura Bohórquez García, the director of the AB 540 and Undocumented Student Center at UC Davis, decided to start her own business, Inner Work Collective Freedom, to employ herself if the program ends and she loses her work permit.

    “I’m like, OK, how do I prepare? Because I don’t feel like the university would be ready to jump in,” Bohórquez García said.

    In addition to plans in case DACA ends, concerned university employees and advocates recommended that universities offer more mental health benefits and that supervisors check in on their employees’ mental health. 

    “You have to check in with the students, but sometimes no one is checking in with you. How can we help others if we can’t even advocate for ourselves?”

    Eric Yang

    Many recipients working in colleges and universities are employed in positions dedicated to supporting immigrant students on their campuses, helping them get legal services or mental health counseling. But many of these positions are part-time and don’t offer health benefits, which are crucial when living with the uncertainty of losing temporary protection from deportation, advocates said.

    “So much of what they’re doing and the fires they’re turning off when it comes to students, it impacts them as well,” said Luz Bertadillo Rodríguez, director of campus engagement at the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a group of college and university leaders dedicated to increasing public understanding of how immigration policies and practices impact students. “The constant word or feeling I hear when there’s a new DACA update is, ‘I’m exhausted.’ They’re just like, ‘I’m tired of living my life two years at a time and then even that not being certain.’”

    Whenever a new court decision comes out about the program, employees in the immigrant resource centers often find themselves holding workshops or trainings to help explain the decision to students, yet they are also processing the decision themselves. 

    “You have to check in with the students, but sometimes no one is checking in with you,” said Eric Yang, a recipient who has worked with immigrant students at two different California universities. “How can we help others if we can’t even advocate for ourselves?”

    University of California officials are currently examining ways to support employees if the temporary deportation protections are terminated, according to UC Office of the President spokesperson Stett Holbrook. He added that the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center offered immigration consultation workshops for recipient employees last summer, “many of which identified eligibility for employment, family or humanitarian relief.”

    RESOURCES FOR UNDOCUMENTED COLLEGE EMPLOYEES

    “The University of California has a long record of support for DACA recipients, and we will continue to support our students, staff and faculty regardless of their immigration status,” Holbrook said.

    The University of California is also currently considering a proposal to allow the university to hire students who do not have work permits under DACA. A coalition of immigrant students and allies, including legal scholars at UCLA and elsewhere, have argued that a federal law barring the hiring of immigrants living in the country without permission doesn’t apply to state entities.

    California State University and California Community Colleges both offer free legal services to employees who have temporary work permits. However, advocates said many faculty and staff are unaware that these services are not just for students.

    Melissa Villarin, spokesperson for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, said the community colleges have also recently included resources for staff and faculty during the annual Undocumented Student Action Week.

    Díaz also recommended more training for university staff about DACA recipients. She said survey respondents said there was a lack of awareness or understanding among other staff and faculty about their colleagues who have temporary protection under the program.

    “There was just no knowledge by institutions of higher ed about even having undocumented staff and faculty on campus,” Díaz said.

    She said lack of awareness can lead to insensitivity. At one point, for example, she said a human resources director asked her why she didn’t just fix her status or apply for a green card, not understanding that Díaz, like most immigrants who entered or stayed in the U.S. without permission, didn’t have a way to apply for a green card without leaving the country and possibly having to stay out for up to 10 years.

    Yang said universities should do more to highlight the stories of staff who are covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program “so that people in the public know that there are professional staff who are also potentially without any protection or support.”

    Despite the challenges these immigrants face, Bertadillo Rodríguez said they should be commended for their work. “They’re very involved in the students’ lives because they’re able to create such strong bonds with the students,” she said. “They’re some of the most exceptional and brilliant practitioners that I’ve come across in higher education.”





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  • As feds plan new measures to prevent financial aid fraud, colleges hope real students still enroll

    As feds plan new measures to prevent financial aid fraud, colleges hope real students still enroll


    The 2025-26 FAFSA form.

    Credit: Andrew Reed

    Top Takeaways
    • California’s community colleges have dispersed $14 million and likely much more in financial aid to fraudsters.
    • The U.S. Department of Education says colleges must verify the identities of more students this summer. In the fall, it plans to launch permanent screening. 
    • Colleges worry that the new measures could burden students too much and prevent some from enrolling.

    California colleges are worried that new federal measures seeking to crack down on financial aid fraud, which has stolen millions in grants, could result in the unintended consequence of fewer legitimate students enrolling. 

    At California’s community colleges, where the fraud has been most pronounced in the state, financial aid officials hope the new steps will strike a balance between deterring bad actors while also minimizing the burden on real students. Some students may find taking extra steps to prove their identity to be an extra barrier to enrolling, possibly scaring them off, administrators say. 

    “How do we do fraud mitigation, but also still have students apply? The more barriers, the harder we make it to get in our systems, the less people will come,” said Tina Vasconcellos, associate vice chancellor of educational services at the Peralta Community College District. “It’s great the federal government wants to help us and cut down on fraud, but at the same time, is it going to create another hoop for our students to jump through to get to us in the first place?”

    The U.S. Department of Education announced last month it will roll out new ways to verify the identities of students who apply for aid. Most of the fraud has tapped federal aid, in the form of Pell Grants intended for low-income students, but some state and local aid has also been stolen in California and elsewhere. 

    The federal department said it would require colleges this summer to verify the identities of additional first-time applicants. That will apply to about 125,000 students in total nationwide, but the department didn’t say how that will be split among the colleges. To get verified, students will have to show government-issued identification such as a passport or driver’s license. If the college determines that a student is unable to show the identification in person, the student can be given the option to do so on a video call.

    “Although we recognize that these verification selections could be challenging for some institutions and students, it is a critically important and targeted step toward preventing fraud,” the department wrote in an announcement.

    The additional verification for the summer term is only a temporary solution before the department implements a permanent screening process for every financial aid applicant for the upcoming fall term.

    Officials have not said what that process will entail in the fall. Among the possibilities, college officials speculate that requiring more students to come in person to prove they are real, which could be potentially challenging for students who live far away and take entire course loads online.

    Community colleges have been plagued by financial aid scammers who target those institutions because they are open-access and offer many classes fully online. That makes it much easier to enroll in classes online and be eligible for aid. At least $14 million in aid, and likely much more, has been dispersed to fraudsters at California community colleges since 2021. 

    It’s also easier to defraud community colleges than more expensive universities because tuition is so low or otherwise covered, and much of the grants go directly to students for living costs, rather than to the colleges for tuition. 

    “We don’t know what the plan is for the fall,” said Jill Desjean, the director of policy analysis at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Ideally, Desjean said, the process would be automated so that additional steps aren’t required of students or staff. “There’s just a limit to what the schools can do.” 

    Pretending to be legitimate students, fraudsters start by applying for admission online. Some of them are caught there, but others successfully get admitted and enroll in classes. At that point, they can request financial aid, which, if they’re successful, gets distributed to personal bank accounts via direct deposit.

    Beyond stealing aid, the scams have additional consequences for real students. Since each course has a finite number of seats, genuine students are sometimes left on waiting lists and can’t enroll because fraudsters are taking up the available seats.

    In a statement when the new measures were announced, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the department “has a responsibility to act” because fraud is “taking aid away from eligible students, disrupting the operations of colleges, and ripping off taxpayers.”

    Jasmine Ruys, vice president of student services at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, acknowledged that “it’s our job to make sure that fraud is not happening and that we’re good stewards of taxpayer money.” 

    She added, though, that the college strives to balance that responsibility with not asking too much of students.

    “Some students work during the day, so they might have to take time off work to be able to come over to us to verify,” Ruys added. “So we try really hard not to put any kind of barriers up for a student.”

    Even being asked to upload additional documents online could be difficult for some students, said Vasconcellos of the Peralta district, which serves Oakland and the rest of northern Alameda County. 

    “We still have a digital divide. There are students within our community who have less access to all aspects of technology,” she said. “A lot of our students are actually still using their phones to take their classes. So what I’d be concerned about is if the technology on the receiving end isn’t working and if it’s not easy to upload your ID, or whatever it is that they’re asking for, it’s going to potentially be a barrier.”

    Vasconcellos and Ruys both said they’re hopeful that whatever the department implements this fall will be something that doesn’t require much extra from students. 

    One possible solution, Ruys said, would be to add something at the beginning of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), so the verification happens quickly rather than when students are getting ready to start their classes. That could be something similar to ID.me, an online identity verification platform already being used by many community colleges. 

    It’s not clear, however, whether the department is considering that option.

    “Whatever it is, we’re going to abide by all laws,” Ruys said. “We just hope that it doesn’t limit our students from being able to enroll and attend college.”





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