Explainer Is College Worth It? By Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Cesar Alesi Perez, Vicki Hsieh, Hans Johnson Mar 8, 2023 Rising college costs and a reluctance to take on debt lead many students and families to wonder if college will actually yield a brighter future with higher earnings and better jobs. In this explainer, we explore whether the benefits of a college degree outweigh the costs.
blog post Parents Have High Educational Hopes for Their Children—Can California Keep Up? By Kevin Cook Apr 23, 2018 A vast majority of parents in California want their children to earn a bachelor's degree. But only 30 percent of today’s 9th graders will end up with one.
blog post California’s Highly Educated Immigrants By Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Cesar Alesi Perez, Hans Johnson Jan 30, 2023 Recent immigrants to California are among the most educated residents of the state. More than half of the working-age immigrants who arrived over the past ten years hold a bachelor’s or graduate degree.
blog post Geography of Educational Attainment in California By Cesar Alesi Perez, Hans Johnson, Vicki Hsieh Apr 6, 2021 Overall, one-third of Californians age 25 and older have at least a bachelor’s degree. But this share varies widely—both across the state’s regions and within individual counties.
blog post Most Parents Hope Their Kids Will Go to College, but Costs Are a Concern By Deja Thomas May 10, 2022 Overwhelming majorities of California parents want their children to get a college degree, but many parents worry about costs. Among households with lower incomes and lower educational attainment, the shares saying they are “very worried” have increased in the past year.
Policy Brief Policy Brief: Pathways to College Completion in the San Joaquin Valley By Hans Johnson, Olga Rodriguez, Cesar Alesi Perez, Marisol Cuellar Mejia Aug 14, 2024 California’s San Joaquin Valley’s low four-year college-going and completion rates both drive and reflect the region’s challenging economic realities. The effective strategies some schools and districts use to help students succeed in their college-going pathways can be leveraged and scaled to generate dramatic improvements.
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 Pathways to College Completion in the San Joaquin Valley By Hans Johnson, Olga Rodriguez, Cesar Alesi Perez, Marisol Cuellar Mejia Aug 14, 2024 California’s San Joaquin Valley has the lowest college enrollment and completion rates in the state. Yet with its youthful, diverse, growing population; expanding economy; and robust regional networks, dramatic improvements are possible. A new report details how institutions, educators, and policymakers can build on current college-going pathways.
blog post California Remains on Track to Close the Degree Gap By Hans Johnson, Marisol Cuellar Mejia May 18, 2021 Six years ago, PPIC projected a shortage of 1.1 million highly educated workers in California by 2030. Today—despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic—the state is on track to close this gap.
