blog post The Year Ahead in Higher Education By Hans Johnson Jan 13, 2021 Last year brought historic disruptions to California’s colleges and universities. In 2021, how can policymakers and higher education officials draw on lessons learned during the pandemic while building on progress that was underway prior to COVID-19?
Report The Future of Higher Education Enrollment in California By Hans Johnson, Cesar Alesi Perez Jun 17, 2024 College enrollment and completion have long trended upward in California, but enrollment declined during the pandemic. What might the state’s colleges and universities expect in the future? While California’s population is expected to grow very slowly, rising rates of college readiness among high school graduates will drive increases in enrollment over the next decade.
blog post Covering the Real Costs of College By Kevin Cook Dec 11, 2019 With many students struggling to afford California’s high cost of living, state policymakers have sought to reform financial aid programs to address the full cost of attending college.
blog post Year-Round Pell Grant Revived By Sara Adan Jun 6, 2017 As California’s public universities work to increase the number of students who graduate within four years, the federal government has reinstituted the year-round Pell Grant—a financial aid program that can help accomplish this goal.
Statewide Survey PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Their Government By Mark Baldassare, Renatta DeFever, Lunna Lopes, Dean Bonner Mar 25, 2015 Some findings of the current survey: Californians are worried about the water supply in their part of the state and say that people in their region are not doing enough to respond to the drought. Many share the governor’s concern about the state’s roads and bridges; fewer support tax increases to fund improvements. Most favor using state budget surpluses to restore higher education funding, but only if tuition and fees do not increase. Support for legalizing marijuana (53%) is at its highest point; more than half of Californians would not be bothered if a legal marijuana store opened in their neighborhood. Job Approval Ratings: President Obama [PDF] Governor Brown [PDF] California State Legislature [PDF] U.S. Congress [PDF] Time Trends of Job Approval Ratings: President Obama [XLS] Governor Brown [XLS] California State Legislature [XLS] U.S. Congress [XLS] Mood of Californians: General Direction of Things in California [PDF] Economic Outlook for California [PDF] General Direction of Things in the United States [PDF] Economic Outlook for the United States [PDF] Time Trends for the Mood of Californians: General Direction of Things in California [XLS] Economic Outlook for California [XLS] General Direction of Things in the United States [XLS] Economic Outlook for the United States [XLS] This survey was supported with funding from The James Irvine Foundation.
blog post Video: Challenges and Opportunities for Higher Education By Linda Strean Apr 14, 2016 Kevin de León, state senate president pro tem, and Janet Napolitano, University of California president, agreed on the need to better fund higher education and expand access.
Statewide Survey PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Their Economic Well-Being By Mark Baldassare, Dean Bonner, Lauren Mora, Deja Thomas Nov 8, 2023 Key findings include: A record-high 71 percent of Californians believe that children growing up in the state today will be worse off financially than their parents. Three in ten workers fear losing their jobs to new technology like artificial intelligence. A majority say that California will have bad economic times in the next 12 months; about half approve of how Governor Newsom is handling jobs and the economy.
Report Will California Run Out of College Graduates? By Hans Johnson, Sarah Bohn, Marisol Cuellar Mejia Oct 12, 2015 California’s higher education system is a critical driver of the state’s economic progress. As the state’s economy continues to change, will its workforce be ready for the jobs of tomorrow? This report updates and extends projections of California’s workforce skills through 2030, focusing on the supply and demand for workers with a bachelor’s degree. We find that the state will fall about 1.1 million college graduates short of economic demand if current trends persist—a problem we call the workforce skills gap. Even the arrival of highly educated workers from elsewhere is unlikely to be large enough to fill this gap. Today’s college graduates have better economic outcomes than those who do not hold a bachelor’s degree. Over time, college graduates have seen lower rates of unemployment and higher wages than other workers—even through the Great Recession—suggesting that college degrees have become increasingly valuable in California’s labor market. The future workforce skills gap looms large. But California and its higher education institutions can take several practical steps to close it. The core of a new plan for higher education should include increasing access to the state’s four-year institutions, improving college completion rates, expanding transfer pathways from community colleges, and being smart about aid programs.
Report COVID-19 Emergency Funding and California’s Higher Education Systems By Jacob Jackson, Kevin Cook, Darriya Starr Nov 16, 2022 Federal dollars offered timely, substantial support to the state’s higher education systems during the worst of the pandemic. Funding for students, online instruction, and social distancing measures made up key spending allocations.
