“Across these measures, California appears to be changing the conditions that shape who gets access, who is served, and what helps students stay on track once enrolled in college,” the scholar, Royel M. Johnson, associate professor of higher education at the University of Southern California, stated in a policy brief released Tuesday by USC’s Pullias Center for Higher Education, where Johnson is director.
“The next questions are which bills become law, how they are implemented and whether students experience meaningful differences as a result,” Johnson continued.
For the brief, Johnson examined five broad policy areas: dual enrollment; community college baccalaureate degrees; state-level designations of institutions as “serving” a specific population; access for young people who grew up in foster care or became involved in the juvenile court system; and timely delivery of financial aid.
On dual enrollment
On the topic of dual enrollment, Johnson’s brief concludes that a pair of bills could widen student access to college courses while still in high school, but that they may not require the kind support necessary for students to take advantage of that widened access.
AB 1871 would – among other things – eliminate the requirement for students to obtain a recommendation from their principal to participate in dual enrollment.
Johnson describes the principal recommendation requirement as a “discretionary gate.”
“Removing it reduces one point at which access can depend on an individual decision rather than a student’s interest in participating,” Johnson states in the brief.
“Widening the door, however, is not the same as ensuring students are positioned to succeed once they walk through it,” Johnson states. “Students also need clear information about the opportunities available to them and help navigating college coursework.”
On that matter, Johnson notes that AB 2248 addresses “part of the information side of that equation.” by requiring school system officials to tell families about the California College Guidance Initiative, the state’s college and career planning platform, and encouraging them to set up accounts. This requirement would become part of existing requirements to notify families each year about available dual-enrollment and International Baccalaureate courses.
Bachelor’s degrees at community colleges
On the issue of community college baccalaureate degrees, Johnson’s brief examines SB 960 and AB 2694, which would both expand the authority of community colleges to offer programs similar to those at a nearby California State University campus when the CSU program has been impacted for three consecutive years.
Johnson notes that institutional type matters because community college baccalaureate programs graduate higher percentages of Black and Latinx students than baccalaureate programs nationally – 40% versus 26%, respectively. They also graduate a higher percentage of students over age 25 – 70% versus 28% nationally.
“Interviews with community college baccalaureate students have found that many are working adults with family responsibilities who choose these programs because of their proximity, affordability, familiarity and flexibility,” Johnson states in the brief.
But he said it’s unclear how many community college baccalaureate degree holders would have gotten their bachelor’s degrees irrespective of whether the community college option existed.
“If the purpose of the community college baccalaureate is to make a bachelor’s degree attainable for students whom the existing system does not adequately serve, then success should be measured not only by how many programs are created or degrees awarded,” Johnson states. “It should also be measured by whether those programs are extending bachelor’s degree opportunities to students and communities for whom they would otherwise remain out of reach.”
What it means to be ‘serving’
At a time when federal support for Minority-Serving Institutions has become “increasingly uncertain,” according to the brief, California is looking to expand its Black-Serving Institution or BSI model, which looks not only at Black student enrollment but also intentional commitments to serving Black students.
Two bills now before the governor would extend that approach, Johhnson’s brief notes.
One – SB 1255 – would establish a California Hispanic-Serving Institution designation, while a second – AB 2374 – would create parallel designations for institutions serving Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students.
“Both build on the BSI model by asking institutions to show more than enrollment numbers,” the brief states. “Applicants must report student outcomes and describe their goals, strategies, resources and institutional practices for serving the populations for which they seek recognition.”
For foster and court-involved youth
“Getting into college is only one part of the problem for students with foster care experience,” the brief states. “The gap between enrollment and completion points to a different student success problem: what happens after students arrive.”
The brief cites a study that found that while 62% of former foster youth in California had enrolled in college by age 23, only 9.6% had completed a two- or four-year degree.
AB 2768 seeks to ease the enrollment experience by requiring participating institutions to hold off on charging late fees and the like for eligible foster youth until their financial aid is actually disbursed.
For court-involved youth, AB 1659 requires greater coordination for students returning from schools in the juvenile court system. It also requires a designated “transition liaison” and a timeline to make sure court-involved youths’ academic credit doesn’t get delayed or fall through the crack..
“A named liaison cannot eliminate those disruptions, but it does establish responsibility for making sure a student gets from one institution to the next without losing academic momentum,” the brief states.
Timely and adequate financial aid
Beginning in 2027–28, AB 2422 would require Cal State University, community college districts and specified private institutions to extend enrollment and payment deadlines for students when their financial aid gets delayed due to circumstances beyond their control.
“But getting aid to students on time does not answer the question of whether the aid is enough,” the brief notes.
Along those lines, SB 1006 seeks to increase the Cal Grant B access award so that the award amount is tied to inflation starting in the 2027-28 school year. The award, which helps low-income students pay for non-tuition expenses, such as food, housing, transportation and books, is currently capped at $1,648 per year.
Johnson questions whether the measures come with adequate resources to achieve their objectives.
“For now, the immediate question is which of these measures the governor signs,” Johnson states in his brief. “After that, the more important question is whether students experience any real difference because of them.”
