California will provide first-time, full-time students with two years of free tuition to community colleges in the state. The effort is being rolled out under the state’s California College Promise program, which already provided California students with one free year of tuition at community colleges. “This is real help for students trying to improve their […]
As they start a new school year, college students usually come to campus knowing their tuition and room and board costs. The big unknown is the often-hefty cost of textbooks. Many students don’t know what textbooks they’ll need and how much the books will cost until they’ve enrolled in courses and checked their professors’ syllabi. […]
The California School Boards Association is exploring whether to place a $15 billion tax for K-12 schools, early education and community colleges before voters, creating the possibility of dueling tax initiatives on the statewide ballot in November 2020. Together with the Association of California School Administrators — its only partner so far — the school […]
The first order of business for a new higher education advisory board appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom will be to look at ways to improve the low college graduation rates in the Central Valley and the Inland Empire and counter the effects of poverty and geographic isolation there, officials say. The “Council for Post-Secondary Education,” […]
Embrace the new “adversity score” in college admissions or ignore it? That’s a question that college officials in California and nationwide are debating now. A College Board-sponsored index that measures hardships students face at their high schools and in their neighborhoods is being tested as a college admissions tool on a small-scale nationwide and is […]
Most of us learned the dangers of making political predictions about 31 months ago. But it’s still pretty hard to resist. So with the prospect of a major battle over Proposition 13 looming on next year’s general election ballot, the likely combatants on both sides of the split roll fight are sifting through the results […]
The rout of Los Angeles Unified’s parcel tax last week will reverberate beyond L.A. to other school districts that had hoped a victory in Los Angeles might signal that their voters, too, would consider higher school taxes. Think again, said Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California, which regularly polls […]
Throughout college, Atticus Reyes traveled an hour each way from his upper valley home in Ojai to Cal State Channel Islands a few miles off Ventura County’s expansive coastline. Reyes arranged his first two years of classes so he would only be on campus two days a week—a strategy that allowed him to avoid hundreds […]
In looking for a new name for California’s fledgling Online Community College, officials wanted something that would attract potential students to the promise of a better future in the Golden State. They also wanted a more widely encompassing moniker for an institution that won’t be only online, despite its original title. The somewhat surprising and […]
With the LA Chamber of Commerce leading the opposition – arguing that the revenue surge wouldn’t make it to the intended classroom cause — and the California Business Roundtable and real estate interests supplying funding for the “no” side. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association lobbed in a legal challenge. The two sides have raised more than $7 […]
The California Community Colleges Board of Governors intends to extend the contract of the system’s chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley through 2023, the board said Tuesday. Oakley’s four-year contract was due to end in December 2020, but the board has decided to give him another four-year contract beginning in December of this year. “Chancellor Oakley has […]
On June 4, voters in the Los Angeles Unified School District will vote on Measure EE, a proposal to enact a special property tax to fund local schools. Approval of the measure would authorize a $0.16-per-square foot parcel tax for twelve years to fund educational improvements, instruction, and programs. School district officials have estimated that […]
The California community college’s faculty association has voted a measure of no confidence in the administration of statewide chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley, citing what the professors’ organization said was a lack of proper consultation and concerns about college funding and the new online college. The unanimous vote last week was aimed not just at Oakley […]
Governor Gavin Newsom proposed adding $10 million to help college students with emergency housing costs but stopped short of expanding the state’s Cal Grant program to cover full expenses of rent and food of all needy students. Newsom did not embrace the massive financial aid increase that some legislators and advocates want to cover students’ […]
U.S. officials no longer think the government will make money off the federal student-loan program and now project it will cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars in coming years, according to a new congressional estimate. The program is losing money after a surge of borrowers defaulting on loans or enrolling in plans that ultimately […]
