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"slug": "these-part-time-professors-make-big-money-teaching-dozens-of-classes-online-are-their-students-learning",
"title": "These Part-Time Professors Make Big Money Teaching Dozens of Classes Online. Are Their Students Learning?",
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"headTitle": "These Part-Time Professors Make Big Money Teaching Dozens of Classes Online. Are Their Students Learning? | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As online classes proliferate, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-community-colleges\">community college\u003c/a> professors have found a hack — repackaging similar courses for hundreds of students at a time and teaching more than a dozen classes in a single semester.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Professor Thien-Huong Ninh Villarreal has at least two tenured, full-time community college jobs, plus recurring part-time gigs over the past 12 months at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uc-berkeley\">UC Berkeley\u003c/a>, Cal State Sacramento, and seven other community colleges. This fall, she’s teaching 30 sociology, ethnic studies and business classes to about 1,100 students.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2024, with roughly the same courseload, she made nearly $800,000, according to public payroll records. CalMatters reached out to her three times for comment, but she never responded.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Community college professors are expected to evaluate student progress and provide direct support without the help of teaching assistants, though that’s nearly impossible at such a scale, said Sarah Thompson, president of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. “Obviously no one has enough time in a week to teach 30 classes and do a good job, so that’s very problematic.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Students walk on the College of Marin campus in Kentfield on July 13, 2026. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However Chris Ferguson, an executive vice chancellor at the office overseeing California’s community colleges, said having multiple teaching jobs is not, by itself, evidence of poor instruction. In an emailed statement to CalMatters, Ferguson, who leads finance and strategic initiatives for the office, said multiple jobs would be a problem if the “faculty member’s workload is preventing the required level of engagement, feedback, assessment, or student support.” In that case, he said the college district — not the statewide college system — should be accountable. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CalMatters analyzed public payroll records from the non-profit \u003ca href=\"https://transparentcalifornia.com/\">Transparent California\u003c/a> and corroborated those records with college course data. The analysis found at least 70 adjuncts, or part-time professors, who were paid by five or more community college districts, California State University or University of California campuses in the same year, including many who taught more than 10 classes in a semester. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of these professors were among the highest paid employees across California’s 116 community colleges. Ninh Villarreal made more than every community college administrator in 2024, even more than Sonya Christian, the chancellor of the state’s community college system, according to CalMatters’ analysis.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of the 70-plus professors did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Others asked CalMatters not to publish the data, which is publicly available, for fear of how it might affect their employment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These professors aren’t breaking any rules. In fact, there are no rules that prevent community college adjuncts from teaching at more than one district.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101071\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A student walks through the Dolores Huerta Plaza at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton on May 7, 2026. (Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Andrew Vanden Heuvel, an adjunct astronomy professor, told CalMatters he teaches roughly 50 online classes and labs from the office above his garage in a small town on the shore of Lake Michigan. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Almost all of his lectures are pre-recorded, and students can listen at any time. It’s called asynchronous instruction. At the UC, Cal State and especially at the state’s community colleges, these kinds of online classes \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/05/online-classes-california/\">are popular and widespread\u003c/a>, a major shift since the COVID-19 pandemic. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vanden Heuvel said he has taught as many as 1,000 students a semester across the country, including in Santa Monica, Salinas, San Jose and Visalia, plus schools in New Mexico, Michigan, Washington and Florida. He said the classes use different iterations of the same, largely introductory content about stars, galaxies and the solar system. Students read information online, interact with online astronomical simulations, watch videos or submit labs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“In its current form, I am not grading anything (by hand),” said Vanden Heuvel. All quizzes are multiple choice and computer-graded — a common feature among many online classes, not just Vanden Heuvel’s. Some students also submit written assignments, which he said he usually grades using an algorithm that only checks whether the work was submitted or not. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About 20% of his course load is in California, he said. “In California, I can get paid as much as eight times as much as I can in Florida.” In 2024, California schools paid him a total of about $320,000, according to the CalMatters analysis. Nationally, he made much more, he said. “Looking over my records, I can tell you that 2024 was the high water mark.” He said he made $758,485.12 that year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Full-time professors cash in \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By law, adjunct faculty are generally limited to teaching three classes per semester at a single community college district, with each district setting its own rules. Most part-time jobs are precarious, with no healthcare, no guarantee of employment and all work assigned on a contract basis. Colleges can strip adjuncts of their classes — and their wages — with little notice.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For union and faculty leaders, who have long said adjuncts are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2024/09/part-time-community-college-faculty/\">underpaid and overworked\u003c/a>, the workload of professors like Ninh Villarreal and Vanden Heuvel comes as a shock. “I don’t know how you can earn that much money, how you can have that many assignments. I mean that’s pretty wild,” said Jim Mahler, the president of the community college council for the California Federation of Teachers. He said he suspects some professors are simply recording their lectures and “just hitting play.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1459\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/01/Foothill-cloud-computing-student-laptop.jpg\" alt=\"A student works on her laptop on the Foothill College campus.\" class=\"wp-image-11798603\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/01/Foothill-cloud-computing-student-laptop.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/01/Foothill-cloud-computing-student-laptop-160x122.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/01/Foothill-cloud-computing-student-laptop-800x608.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/01/Foothill-cloud-computing-student-laptop-1020x775.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A student works on her laptop on the Foothill College campus in Los Altos Hills, California. (Katrina Schwartz/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To make more than $400,000, many of California’s highest earning adjuncts had full-time tenure or tenure-track positions too, the records show. For example: \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>Bobby Seals, an ethnic studies professor, has a full-time position at Evergreen Valley College in San José. He also teaches 14 more courses across four other community college districts, plus \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose-state\">San José State\u003c/a> — a total of about 930 students this semester. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Faramarz Mortezaie is the \u003ca href=\"https://missioncollege.edu/academics/computer-information-technology/#:~:text=Email-,Faramarz%20Mortezaie,-Department%20Chair\">chair of the computer science\u003c/a> department at Mission College in Santa Clara. Part time, he also teaches 11 classes at other campuses, including San José State. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Nicholas Nardi, a full-time psychology professor at Santa Ana College, is teaching 11 more classes at six other schools, including Cal State Los Angeles.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Timothy Durfield, a full-time business professor at Citrus College, teaches an additional 10 classes at four other community college districts. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Walter Meyer, a full-time art history professor at Santa Monica College, teaches 10 additional online classes to students in Los Angeles and Kern counties.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of these professors responded to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ninh Villarreal, the top earner, has often had at least two full-time jobs, according to college officials and public records. She’s been a tenured professor at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento since 2016. In 2023, she got a second full-time job at Reedley College near Fresno, though she returned to part-time status less than a year later. In 2025, she \u003ca href=\"https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/delta/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DC4QJ6697BF5\">got tenure\u003c/a> at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, and the same year, official college documents show she was the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/EEO_Villarreal_25.10.28-2-1.pdf\">inaugural tenure-track faculty\u003c/a> in the ethnic studies department at West Valley College in Saratoga near San José. Cade Story-Yetto, a spokesperson for the district encompassing West Valley College, said Ninh Villarreal is no longer employed there and refused to answer other questions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CalMatters reached out to nearly every one of the state’s 73 community college districts, seeking feedback on our methodology before publication. \u003ca href=\"https://transparentcalifornia.com/\">Transparent California\u003c/a>, part of a nonpartisan think tank advocating for limited government, obtained payroll information directly from the college districts. CalMatters then used that data to compile a list of professors who taught at five or more community college districts, Cal State or UC campuses in 2024, which is the most recent data. The data was corroborated using course catalogs, faculty directories and college hiring documents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While some of the professors taught a few in-person classes, usually at Cal State or UC campuses, CalMatters’ analysis found that many of those who taught at five or more college districts relied heavily on online, asynchronous instruction. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">No one is tracking it \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Universities treat online courses the same as in-person classes: students get the same amount of credit, and teachers are generally paid the same amount. As online courses have become more common, the UC, Cal State and community college systems have spent millions in state funding to ensure they have the same rigor as in-person courses. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Community colleges evaluate the quality of all courses, but they have no way of knowing what a professor’s workload really is. California’s community college districts are independently governed, and no one tracks who teaches across districts or how many classes they teach. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Cal State and UC systems, which are smaller and more centralized than the community colleges, track employment and limit the number of courses each professor can teach. If the instructor is also teaching at a community college, however, they may have no way of knowing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vanden Heuvel, the astronomy professor, said he believes his students are getting an excellent education. “I teach at a certain number of schools because that portfolio gives me the stability I need as an adjunct to survive and thrive,” he said, pointing to his three kids, his wife, who is an elementary school teacher, and the need to be present with his family instead of driving from campus to campus each day. “Now, did I push it further than some people think is morally conscionable? I don’t think so.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Researchers say it’s not clear whether online courses are worse, or better, than traditional in-person education. Students, especially working adults who predominate the community college system, praise online courses for their convenience, but there are known drawbacks. Asynchronous classes in particular have historically offered students less interaction with their professors, which research has found is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/college-beat/2024/09/online-college-courses/\">detrimental to student success\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to teach 50 classes in a semester\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vanden Heuvel posts much of his course material on \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewVandenHeuvel/featured\">YouTube\u003c/a>, where his channels collectively have nearly 5 million views, spread out over more than 300 videos. In his videos, he’s charismatic and personable, taking students into his car, even posting videos while on vacation \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc6yJ0cR-P4\">at Disney World.\u003c/a> His location isn’t a secret, he said — he has always been open about where he lives, both with California’s colleges and his students. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, the first lesson in one of his classes is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IC8ohsuw_w\">video\u003c/a> in which he introduces himself and takes students to his favorite place, Lake Michigan, where he first developed a love of astronomy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State and federal laws require professors to interact with their students, especially in asynchronous online courses. Interaction could include fostering engagement in the classroom or monitoring students’ academic performance, wrote Ferguson, the finance vice chancellor, in his emailed statement. “These requirements apply to every course, regardless of how many colleges or districts employ the instructor.” The federal government has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/college-beat/2024/09/online-college-courses/#:~:text=Nationally%2C%20the%20federal%20government%20is%20concerned%20about%20a%20lack%20of%20oversight%20for%20the%20growing%20number%20of%20online%20courses.\">strengthened its own rules\u003c/a> for online classes over the past few years.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vanden Heuvel said he gives out his personal cell phone to all students and gets as many as 30 emails a day from them, mostly asking to extend assignment deadlines. He said he answers every email. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It would be very easy for students to cheat using AI, he said, especially because quizzes are multiple choice and most written assignments are graded only on completion. “The logic is the equivalent of the Scantron (a multiple-choice grading machine) at the large lecture hall. It’s a defensible instructional practice to assess that way. It’s how lots of assessments are run, be that the GRE or LSAT. I don’t love it.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The promise of online education is to reach students at scale and lower the cost-per-student of education, he said — and that’s exactly what he’s doing by teaching 50 online classes and labs to as many as 1,000 students across the country. In some schools, especially in rural areas, Vanden Heuvel is the only astronomy professor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said his large-scale teaching practices represent his “most successful” experiment, though he acknowledged that many faculty won’t look so favorably upon it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘I’m not a factory of education like that’ \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Part-time faculty, who are cheaper to employ, outnumber tenure-track professors at every one of California’s 73 community college districts, in some cases by more than 5-1. The same imbalance is evident at many Cal State campuses, though their adjuncts, known as lecturers, can work full time and receive benefits. The UC, with a focus on research, has faculty categories that don’t exist at the Cal State or community college system, making comparisons tricky. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It’s well-known that adjuncts teach at multiple districts, but unions often say that they do it out of necessity. Tina Leonard, who teaches American Sign Language, is a perfect example. In 2024, she made just over $84,000 teaching at five community college districts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I am Deaf,” she wrote in an email, “and it is very difficult and competitive for a Deaf educator to get a full-time tenure-track position in ASL.” She said she took additional teaching jobs \u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>in 2024 to cover the cost of her taxes. “Each college withholds as if it is your only job, so when you add them all together, you can end up owing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/053023_SB-ValleyCollege_LJ_CM_06-4394c591.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12109889\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/053023_SB-ValleyCollege_LJ_CM_06-4394c591.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/053023_SB-ValleyCollege_LJ_CM_06-4394c591-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/053023_SB-ValleyCollege_LJ_CM_06-4394c591-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Students work in the library at San Bernardino Valley College on May 30, 2023. (Lauren Justice/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">K. Frindell, the president of a federation of faculty unions, the California Community College Independents, said she wasn’t surprised to see many faculty teaching in multiple districts, even some who are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars. “A loophole has been created,” she said — one that allows districts to cut costs by hiring adjuncts and allows adjuncts to teach at multiple districts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, the total number of community college adjuncts in California is unknown because statewide tallies do not account for professors who teach at multiple districts, said Ferguson. The Cal State system has the same data problem.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adjuncts are often hired for the academic year and then rehired each fall. Numerous legislative proposals have tried but failed to give adjuncts opportunities for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202320240ab260\">additional pay\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1171\">benefits\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/Chancellors-Office/Divisions/College-Finance-and-Facilities-Planning/Fiscal-Standards-and-Accountability-Unit/Full-Time-Faculty-Obligation/\">full-time employment\u003c/a>. In 2022, legislators tried to increase benefits for community college adjuncts, sending $200 million to districts that would then reimburse part-time faculty for health insurance. In the 2024-25 academic year, nearly 7,000 adjuncts used the program, very few of whom were teaching at multiple districts. Many districts chose not to participate, and most of the money remains unspent. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12109890\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Noah Thomas, a professor in the art department at Long Beach City College, on campus in Long Beach on Aug. 3, 2026. (Ariana Drehsler/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Noah Thomas, a community college art professor, said he looked into the new healthcare benefits but found them lacking. “It’s such a convoluted system and the subsidies are kind of pretty low,” he said. “The coverage only applies to me and not to any of my dependents and it’s only for 10 months out of the year because my contract is only 10 months.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas made just over $100,000 in 2024 by commuting among five community college districts in Orange and Los Angeles counties, where he taught in-person studio arts classes. Sometimes, the drives are so long, and the days so jam-packed that he eats lunch in his car, he said. “Financially I’d love to teach as many classes as I could. $800,000 sounds amazing. But I’m not a factory of education like that. I really love teaching students one-on-one and showing them how to actually cut out a piece of cardboard and use a band saw.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The moral dilemma \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Frindell, who represents the independent community college unions, said the solution is not to focus on the professors who teach multiple online classes and earn high six-figure salaries. She wants to see an end to the low pay, precarious employment, and restrictive laws that force adjuncts to teach at multiple districts in the first place. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CalMatters asked higher education leaders in the state Assembly and Senate about adjuncts who are teaching at multiple schools. Alhambra Democratic Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/mike-fong-165455\">Mike Fong\u003c/a>, San Diego Republican Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/carl-demaio-161014\">Carl DeMaio\u003c/a> and Riverside Democratic Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/sabrina-cervantes-36813\">Sabrina Cervantes\u003c/a> did not respond. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because of state and federal rules that require professors to engage with their students, Vanden Heuvel redesigned some of his courses, adding new types of assignments. At times, he said the rules seem like they were “invented to prevent people from doing what I’m doing,” though he added that they are often ineffective if so. “What it feels like in practice is an administrative checked box that is not really connected to meaningful student experience.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, he said he has sought reassurance from other educators about the moral implications of teaching so many students in so many classes, even if legally he is within bounds. “What they say to me, whether they’re just being nice or not, is this sense that adjunct faculty are systematically taken advantage of by higher education, and if you have built a system that allows you to thrive while still providing excellent education, then more power to you.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the end of each semester, Vanden Heuvel said he asks his students to evaluate the course and that they consistently say it’s far above average in quality and knowledge gained and about average in difficulty. “There’s always the sense of like, ‘Is what I’m doing OK or not OK? Am I pushing it a little too far or not?’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He self-published a 600-page book that collects student reflections, mostly about how their relationship with planets, stars and galaxies changed because of his class. He said the book sits in his office, right near his desk\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2026/11/community-college-professors-pay/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As online classes proliferate, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-community-colleges\">community college\u003c/a> professors have found a hack — repackaging similar courses for hundreds of students at a time and teaching more than a dozen classes in a single semester.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As online classes proliferate, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-community-colleges\">community college\u003c/a> professors have found a hack — repackaging similar courses for hundreds of students at a time and teaching more than a dozen classes in a single semester.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Professor Thien-Huong Ninh Villarreal has at least two tenured, full-time community college jobs, plus recurring part-time gigs over the past 12 months at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uc-berkeley\">UC Berkeley\u003c/a>, Cal State Sacramento, and seven other community colleges. This fall, she’s teaching 30 sociology, ethnic studies and business classes to about 1,100 students.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Professor Thien-Huong Ninh Villarreal has at least two tenured, full-time community college jobs, plus recurring part-time gigs over the past 12 months at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uc-berkeley\">UC Berkeley\u003c/a>, Cal State Sacramento, and seven other community colleges. This fall, she’s teaching 30 sociology, ethnic studies and business classes to about 1,100 students.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In 2024, with roughly the same courseload, she made nearly $800,000, according to public payroll records. CalMatters reached out to her three times for comment, but she never responded.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>In 2024, with roughly the same courseload, she made nearly $800,000, according to public payroll records. CalMatters reached out to her three times for comment, but she never responded.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Community college professors are expected to evaluate student progress and provide direct support without the help of teaching assistants, though that’s nearly impossible at such a scale, said Sarah Thompson, president of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. “Obviously no one has enough time in a week to teach 30 classes and do a good job, so that’s very problematic.” \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Community college professors are expected to evaluate student progress and provide direct support without the help of teaching assistants, though that’s nearly impossible at such a scale, said Sarah Thompson, president of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. “Obviously no one has enough time in a week to teach 30 classes and do a good job, so that’s very problematic.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Students walk on the College of Marin campus in Kentfield on July 13, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>However Chris Ferguson, an executive vice chancellor at the office overseeing California’s community colleges, said having multiple teaching jobs is not, by itself, evidence of poor instruction. In an emailed statement to CalMatters, Ferguson, who leads finance and strategic initiatives for the office, said multiple jobs would be a problem if the “faculty member’s workload is preventing the required level of engagement, feedback, assessment, or student support.” In that case, he said the college district — not the statewide college system — should be accountable. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>However Chris Ferguson, an executive vice chancellor at the office overseeing California’s community colleges, said having multiple teaching jobs is not, by itself, evidence of poor instruction. In an emailed statement to CalMatters, Ferguson, who leads finance and strategic initiatives for the office, said multiple jobs would be a problem if the “faculty member’s workload is preventing the required level of engagement, feedback, assessment, or student support.” In that case, he said the college district — not the statewide college system — should be accountable. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>CalMatters analyzed public payroll records from the non-profit \u003ca href=\"https://transparentcalifornia.com/\">Transparent California\u003c/a> and corroborated those records with college course data. The analysis found at least 70 adjuncts, or part-time professors, who were paid by five or more community college districts, California State University or University of California campuses in the same year, including many who taught more than 10 classes in a semester. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>CalMatters analyzed public payroll records from the non-profit \u003ca href=\"https://transparentcalifornia.com/\">Transparent California\u003c/a> and corroborated those records with college course data. The analysis found at least 70 adjuncts, or part-time professors, who were paid by five or more community college districts, California State University or University of California campuses in the same year, including many who taught more than 10 classes in a semester. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Some of these professors were among the highest paid employees across California’s 116 community colleges. Ninh Villarreal made more than every community college administrator in 2024, even more than Sonya Christian, the chancellor of the state’s community college system, according to CalMatters’ analysis.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Some of these professors were among the highest paid employees across California’s 116 community colleges. Ninh Villarreal made more than every community college administrator in 2024, even more than Sonya Christian, the chancellor of the state’s community college system, according to CalMatters’ analysis.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Most of the 70-plus professors did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Others asked CalMatters not to publish the data, which is publicly available, for fear of how it might affect their employment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Most of the 70-plus professors did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Others asked CalMatters not to publish the data, which is publicly available, for fear of how it might affect their employment.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>These professors aren’t breaking any rules. In fact, there are no rules that prevent community college adjuncts from teaching at more than one district.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>These professors aren’t breaking any rules. In fact, there are no rules that prevent community college adjuncts from teaching at more than one district.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101071\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A student walks through the Dolores Huerta Plaza at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton on May 7, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101071\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A student walks through the Dolores Huerta Plaza at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton on May 7, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Andrew Vanden Heuvel, an adjunct astronomy professor, told CalMatters he teaches roughly 50 online classes and labs from the office above his garage in a small town on the shore of Lake Michigan. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Andrew Vanden Heuvel, an adjunct astronomy professor, told CalMatters he teaches roughly 50 online classes and labs from the office above his garage in a small town on the shore of Lake Michigan. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Almost all of his lectures are pre-recorded, and students can listen at any time. It’s called asynchronous instruction. At the UC, Cal State and especially at the state’s community colleges, these kinds of online classes \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/05/online-classes-california/\">are popular and widespread\u003c/a>, a major shift since the COVID-19 pandemic. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Almost all of his lectures are pre-recorded, and students can listen at any time. It’s called asynchronous instruction. At the UC, Cal State and especially at the state’s community colleges, these kinds of online classes \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/05/online-classes-california/\">are popular and widespread\u003c/a>, a major shift since the COVID-19 pandemic. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Vanden Heuvel said he has taught as many as 1,000 students a semester across the country, including in Santa Monica, Salinas, San Jose and Visalia, plus schools in New Mexico, Michigan, Washington and Florida. He said the classes use different iterations of the same, largely introductory content about stars, galaxies and the solar system. Students read information online, interact with online astronomical simulations, watch videos or submit labs. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Vanden Heuvel said he has taught as many as 1,000 students a semester across the country, including in Santa Monica, Salinas, San Jose and Visalia, plus schools in New Mexico, Michigan, Washington and Florida. He said the classes use different iterations of the same, largely introductory content about stars, galaxies and the solar system. Students read information online, interact with online astronomical simulations, watch videos or submit labs. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“In its current form, I am not grading anything (by hand),” said Vanden Heuvel. All quizzes are multiple choice and computer-graded — a common feature among many online classes, not just Vanden Heuvel’s. Some students also submit written assignments, which he said he usually grades using an algorithm that only checks whether the work was submitted or not. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“In its current form, I am not grading anything (by hand),” said Vanden Heuvel. All quizzes are multiple choice and computer-graded — a common feature among many online classes, not just Vanden Heuvel’s. Some students also submit written assignments, which he said he usually grades using an algorithm that only checks whether the work was submitted or not. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>About 20% of his course load is in California, he said. “In California, I can get paid as much as eight times as much as I can in Florida.” In 2024, California schools paid him a total of about $320,000, according to the CalMatters analysis. Nationally, he made much more, he said. “Looking over my records, I can tell you that 2024 was the high water mark.” He said he made $758,485.12 that year. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>About 20% of his course load is in California, he said. “In California, I can get paid as much as eight times as much as I can in Florida.” In 2024, California schools paid him a total of about $320,000, according to the CalMatters analysis. Nationally, he made much more, he said. “Looking over my records, I can tell you that 2024 was the high water mark.” He said he made $758,485.12 that year. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>By law, adjunct faculty are generally limited to teaching three classes per semester at a single community college district, with each district setting its own rules. Most part-time jobs are precarious, with no healthcare, no guarantee of employment and all work assigned on a contract basis. Colleges can strip adjuncts of their classes — and their wages — with little notice.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>By law, adjunct faculty are generally limited to teaching three classes per semester at a single community college district, with each district setting its own rules. Most part-time jobs are precarious, with no healthcare, no guarantee of employment and all work assigned on a contract basis. Colleges can strip adjuncts of their classes — and their wages — with little notice.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>For union and faculty leaders, who have long said adjuncts are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2024/09/part-time-community-college-faculty/\">underpaid and overworked\u003c/a>, the workload of professors like Ninh Villarreal and Vanden Heuvel comes as a shock. “I don’t know how you can earn that much money, how you can have that many assignments. I mean that’s pretty wild,” said Jim Mahler, the president of the community college council for the California Federation of Teachers. He said he suspects some professors are simply recording their lectures and “just hitting play.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>For union and faculty leaders, who have long said adjuncts are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2024/09/part-time-community-college-faculty/\">underpaid and overworked\u003c/a>, the workload of professors like Ninh Villarreal and Vanden Heuvel comes as a shock. “I don’t know how you can earn that much money, how you can have that many assignments. I mean that’s pretty wild,” said Jim Mahler, the president of the community college council for the California Federation of Teachers. He said he suspects some professors are simply recording their lectures and “just hitting play.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>To make more than $400,000, many of California’s highest earning adjuncts had full-time tenure or tenure-track positions too, the records show. For example: \u003c/p>\n",
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"Bobby Seals, an ethnic studies professor, has a full-time position at Evergreen Valley College in San José. He also teaches 14 more courses across four other community college districts, plus San José State — a total of about 930 students this semester. ",
"Faramarz Mortezaie is the chair of the computer science department at Mission College in Santa Clara. Part time, he also teaches 11 classes at other campuses, including San José State. ",
"Nicholas Nardi, a full-time psychology professor at Santa Ana College, is teaching 11 more classes at six other schools, including Cal State Los Angeles.",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cli>Bobby Seals, an ethnic studies professor, has a full-time position at Evergreen Valley College in San José. He also teaches 14 more courses across four other community college districts, plus \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose-state\">San José State\u003c/a> — a total of about 930 students this semester. \u003c/li>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cli>Faramarz Mortezaie is the \u003ca href=\"https://missioncollege.edu/academics/computer-information-technology/#:~:text=Email-,Faramarz%20Mortezaie,-Department%20Chair\">chair of the computer science\u003c/a> department at Mission College in Santa Clara. Part time, he also teaches 11 classes at other campuses, including San José State. \u003c/li>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ninh Villarreal, the top earner, has often had at least two full-time jobs, according to college officials and public records. She’s been a tenured professor at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento since 2016. In 2023, she got a second full-time job at Reedley College near Fresno, though she returned to part-time status less than a year later. In 2025, she \u003ca href=\"https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/delta/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DC4QJ6697BF5\">got tenure\u003c/a> at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, and the same year, official college documents show she was the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/EEO_Villarreal_25.10.28-2-1.pdf\">inaugural tenure-track faculty\u003c/a> in the ethnic studies department at West Valley College in Saratoga near San José. Cade Story-Yetto, a spokesperson for the district encompassing West Valley College, said Ninh Villarreal is no longer employed there and refused to answer other questions.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>CalMatters reached out to nearly every one of the state’s 73 community college districts, seeking feedback on our methodology before publication. \u003ca href=\"https://transparentcalifornia.com/\">Transparent California\u003c/a>, part of a nonpartisan think tank advocating for limited government, obtained payroll information directly from the college districts. CalMatters then used that data to compile a list of professors who taught at five or more community college districts, Cal State or UC campuses in 2024, which is the most recent data. The data was corroborated using course catalogs, faculty directories and college hiring documents.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While some of the professors taught a few in-person classes, usually at Cal State or UC campuses, CalMatters’ analysis found that many of those who taught at five or more college districts relied heavily on online, asynchronous instruction. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Universities treat online courses the same as in-person classes: students get the same amount of credit, and teachers are generally paid the same amount. As online courses have become more common, the UC, Cal State and community college systems have spent millions in state funding to ensure they have the same rigor as in-person courses. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Community colleges evaluate the quality of all courses, but they have no way of knowing what a professor’s workload really is. California’s community college districts are independently governed, and no one tracks who teaches across districts or how many classes they teach. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Vanden Heuvel, the astronomy professor, said he believes his students are getting an excellent education. “I teach at a certain number of schools because that portfolio gives me the stability I need as an adjunct to survive and thrive,” he said, pointing to his three kids, his wife, who is an elementary school teacher, and the need to be present with his family instead of driving from campus to campus each day. “Now, did I push it further than some people think is morally conscionable? I don’t think so.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Researchers say it’s not clear whether online courses are worse, or better, than traditional in-person education. Students, especially working adults who predominate the community college system, praise online courses for their convenience, but there are known drawbacks. Asynchronous classes in particular have historically offered students less interaction with their professors, which research has found is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/college-beat/2024/09/online-college-courses/\">detrimental to student success\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Vanden Heuvel posts much of his course material on \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewVandenHeuvel/featured\">YouTube\u003c/a>, where his channels collectively have nearly 5 million views, spread out over more than 300 videos. In his videos, he’s charismatic and personable, taking students into his car, even posting videos while on vacation \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc6yJ0cR-P4\">at Disney World.\u003c/a> His location isn’t a secret, he said — he has always been open about where he lives, both with California’s colleges and his students. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Vanden Heuvel posts much of his course material on \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewVandenHeuvel/featured\">YouTube\u003c/a>, where his channels collectively have nearly 5 million views, spread out over more than 300 videos. In his videos, he’s charismatic and personable, taking students into his car, even posting videos while on vacation \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc6yJ0cR-P4\">at Disney World.\u003c/a> His location isn’t a secret, he said — he has always been open about where he lives, both with California’s colleges and his students. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In fact, the first lesson in one of his classes is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IC8ohsuw_w\">video\u003c/a> in which he introduces himself and takes students to his favorite place, Lake Michigan, where he first developed a love of astronomy. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>State and federal laws require professors to interact with their students, especially in asynchronous online courses. Interaction could include fostering engagement in the classroom or monitoring students’ academic performance, wrote Ferguson, the finance vice chancellor, in his emailed statement. “These requirements apply to every course, regardless of how many colleges or districts employ the instructor.” The federal government has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/college-beat/2024/09/online-college-courses/#:~:text=Nationally%2C%20the%20federal%20government%20is%20concerned%20about%20a%20lack%20of%20oversight%20for%20the%20growing%20number%20of%20online%20courses.\">strengthened its own rules\u003c/a> for online classes over the past few years.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Vanden Heuvel said he gives out his personal cell phone to all students and gets as many as 30 emails a day from them, mostly asking to extend assignment deadlines. He said he answers every email. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It would be very easy for students to cheat using AI, he said, especially because quizzes are multiple choice and most written assignments are graded only on completion. “The logic is the equivalent of the Scantron (a multiple-choice grading machine) at the large lecture hall. It’s a defensible instructional practice to assess that way. It’s how lots of assessments are run, be that the GRE or LSAT. I don’t love it.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The promise of online education is to reach students at scale and lower the cost-per-student of education, he said — and that’s exactly what he’s doing by teaching 50 online classes and labs to as many as 1,000 students across the country. In some schools, especially in rural areas, Vanden Heuvel is the only astronomy professor. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Part-time faculty, who are cheaper to employ, outnumber tenure-track professors at every one of California’s 73 community college districts, in some cases by more than 5-1. The same imbalance is evident at many Cal State campuses, though their adjuncts, known as lecturers, can work full time and receive benefits. The UC, with a focus on research, has faculty categories that don’t exist at the Cal State or community college system, making comparisons tricky. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>It’s well-known that adjuncts teach at multiple districts, but unions often say that they do it out of necessity. Tina Leonard, who teaches American Sign Language, is a perfect example. In 2024, she made just over $84,000 teaching at five community college districts.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I am Deaf,” she wrote in an email, “and it is very difficult and competitive for a Deaf educator to get a full-time tenure-track position in ASL.” She said she took additional teaching jobs \u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>in 2024 to cover the cost of her taxes. “Each college withholds as if it is your only job, so when you add them all together, you can end up owing.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>K. Frindell, the president of a federation of faculty unions, the California Community College Independents, said she wasn’t surprised to see many faculty teaching in multiple districts, even some who are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars. “A loophole has been created,” she said — one that allows districts to cut costs by hiring adjuncts and allows adjuncts to teach at multiple districts.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>K. Frindell, the president of a federation of faculty unions, the California Community College Independents, said she wasn’t surprised to see many faculty teaching in multiple districts, even some who are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars. “A loophole has been created,” she said — one that allows districts to cut costs by hiring adjuncts and allows adjuncts to teach at multiple districts.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In fact, the total number of community college adjuncts in California is unknown because statewide tallies do not account for professors who teach at multiple districts, said Ferguson. The Cal State system has the same data problem.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In fact, the total number of community college adjuncts in California is unknown because statewide tallies do not account for professors who teach at multiple districts, said Ferguson. The Cal State system has the same data problem.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Adjuncts are often hired for the academic year and then rehired each fall. Numerous legislative proposals have tried but failed to give adjuncts opportunities for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202320240ab260\">additional pay\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1171\">benefits\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/Chancellors-Office/Divisions/College-Finance-and-Facilities-Planning/Fiscal-Standards-and-Accountability-Unit/Full-Time-Faculty-Obligation/\">full-time employment\u003c/a>. In 2022, legislators tried to increase benefits for community college adjuncts, sending $200 million to districts that would then reimburse part-time faculty for health insurance. In the 2024-25 academic year, nearly 7,000 adjuncts used the program, very few of whom were teaching at multiple districts. Many districts chose not to participate, and most of the money remains unspent. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Adjuncts are often hired for the academic year and then rehired each fall. Numerous legislative proposals have tried but failed to give adjuncts opportunities for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202320240ab260\">additional pay\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1171\">benefits\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/Chancellors-Office/Divisions/College-Finance-and-Facilities-Planning/Fiscal-Standards-and-Accountability-Unit/Full-Time-Faculty-Obligation/\">full-time employment\u003c/a>. In 2022, legislators tried to increase benefits for community college adjuncts, sending $200 million to districts that would then reimburse part-time faculty for health insurance. In the 2024-25 academic year, nearly 7,000 adjuncts used the program, very few of whom were teaching at multiple districts. Many districts chose not to participate, and most of the money remains unspent. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12109890\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Noah Thomas, a professor in the art department at Long Beach City College, on campus in Long Beach on Aug. 3, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Ariana Drehsler/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12109890\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Noah Thomas, a professor in the art department at Long Beach City College, on campus in Long Beach on Aug. 3, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Ariana Drehsler/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Noah Thomas, a community college art professor, said he looked into the new healthcare benefits but found them lacking. “It’s such a convoluted system and the subsidies are kind of pretty low,” he said. “The coverage only applies to me and not to any of my dependents and it’s only for 10 months out of the year because my contract is only 10 months.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Noah Thomas, a community college art professor, said he looked into the new healthcare benefits but found them lacking. “It’s such a convoluted system and the subsidies are kind of pretty low,” he said. “The coverage only applies to me and not to any of my dependents and it’s only for 10 months out of the year because my contract is only 10 months.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Thomas made just over $100,000 in 2024 by commuting among five community college districts in Orange and Los Angeles counties, where he taught in-person studio arts classes. Sometimes, the drives are so long, and the days so jam-packed that he eats lunch in his car, he said. “Financially I’d love to teach as many classes as I could. $800,000 sounds amazing. But I’m not a factory of education like that. I really love teaching students one-on-one and showing them how to actually cut out a piece of cardboard and use a band saw.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Thomas made just over $100,000 in 2024 by commuting among five community college districts in Orange and Los Angeles counties, where he taught in-person studio arts classes. Sometimes, the drives are so long, and the days so jam-packed that he eats lunch in his car, he said. “Financially I’d love to teach as many classes as I could. $800,000 sounds amazing. But I’m not a factory of education like that. I really love teaching students one-on-one and showing them how to actually cut out a piece of cardboard and use a band saw.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Frindell, who represents the independent community college unions, said the solution is not to focus on the professors who teach multiple online classes and earn high six-figure salaries. She wants to see an end to the low pay, precarious employment, and restrictive laws that force adjuncts to teach at multiple districts in the first place. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Frindell, who represents the independent community college unions, said the solution is not to focus on the professors who teach multiple online classes and earn high six-figure salaries. She wants to see an end to the low pay, precarious employment, and restrictive laws that force adjuncts to teach at multiple districts in the first place. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>CalMatters asked higher education leaders in the state Assembly and Senate about adjuncts who are teaching at multiple schools. Alhambra Democratic Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/mike-fong-165455\">Mike Fong\u003c/a>, San Diego Republican Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/carl-demaio-161014\">Carl DeMaio\u003c/a> and Riverside Democratic Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/sabrina-cervantes-36813\">Sabrina Cervantes\u003c/a> did not respond. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>CalMatters asked higher education leaders in the state Assembly and Senate about adjuncts who are teaching at multiple schools. Alhambra Democratic Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/mike-fong-165455\">Mike Fong\u003c/a>, San Diego Republican Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/carl-demaio-161014\">Carl DeMaio\u003c/a> and Riverside Democratic Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/sabrina-cervantes-36813\">Sabrina Cervantes\u003c/a> did not respond. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Because of state and federal rules that require professors to engage with their students, Vanden Heuvel redesigned some of his courses, adding new types of assignments. At times, he said the rules seem like they were “invented to prevent people from doing what I’m doing,” though he added that they are often ineffective if so. “What it feels like in practice is an administrative checked box that is not really connected to meaningful student experience.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Because of state and federal rules that require professors to engage with their students, Vanden Heuvel redesigned some of his courses, adding new types of assignments. At times, he said the rules seem like they were “invented to prevent people from doing what I’m doing,” though he added that they are often ineffective if so. “What it feels like in practice is an administrative checked box that is not really connected to meaningful student experience.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Still, he said he has sought reassurance from other educators about the moral implications of teaching so many students in so many classes, even if legally he is within bounds. “What they say to me, whether they’re just being nice or not, is this sense that adjunct faculty are systematically taken advantage of by higher education, and if you have built a system that allows you to thrive while still providing excellent education, then more power to you.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Still, he said he has sought reassurance from other educators about the moral implications of teaching so many students in so many classes, even if legally he is within bounds. “What they say to me, whether they’re just being nice or not, is this sense that adjunct faculty are systematically taken advantage of by higher education, and if you have built a system that allows you to thrive while still providing excellent education, then more power to you.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At the end of each semester, Vanden Heuvel said he asks his students to evaluate the course and that they consistently say it’s far above average in quality and knowledge gained and about average in difficulty. “There’s always the sense of like, ‘Is what I’m doing OK or not OK? Am I pushing it a little too far or not?’”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At the end of each semester, Vanden Heuvel said he asks his students to evaluate the course and that they consistently say it’s far above average in quality and knowledge gained and about average in difficulty. “There’s always the sense of like, ‘Is what I’m doing OK or not OK? Am I pushing it a little too far or not?’”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He self-published a 600-page book that collects student reflections, mostly about how their relationship with planets, stars and galaxies changed because of his class. He said the book sits in his office, right near his desk\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>He self-published a 600-page book that collects student reflections, mostly about how their relationship with planets, stars and galaxies changed because of his class. He said the book sits in his office, right near his desk\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2026/11/community-college-professors-pay/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2026/11/community-college-professors-pay/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "There are no rules governing how many classes community college professors can teach. Some are cashing in.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As online classes proliferate, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-community-colleges\">community college\u003c/a> professors have found a hack — repackaging similar courses for hundreds of students at a time and teaching more than a dozen classes in a single semester.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Professor Thien-Huong Ninh Villarreal has at least two tenured, full-time community college jobs, plus recurring part-time gigs over the past 12 months at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/uc-berkeley\">UC Berkeley\u003c/a>, Cal State Sacramento, and seven other community colleges. This fall, she’s teaching 30 sociology, ethnic studies and business classes to about 1,100 students.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2024, with roughly the same courseload, she made nearly $800,000, according to public payroll records. CalMatters reached out to her three times for comment, but she never responded.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Community college professors are expected to evaluate student progress and provide direct support without the help of teaching assistants, though that’s nearly impossible at such a scale, said Sarah Thompson, president of the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. “Obviously no one has enough time in a week to teach 30 classes and do a good job, so that’s very problematic.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12091200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/20260713_COMFILE_GC-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Students walk on the College of Marin campus in Kentfield on July 13, 2026. (Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However Chris Ferguson, an executive vice chancellor at the office overseeing California’s community colleges, said having multiple teaching jobs is not, by itself, evidence of poor instruction. In an emailed statement to CalMatters, Ferguson, who leads finance and strategic initiatives for the office, said multiple jobs would be a problem if the “faculty member’s workload is preventing the required level of engagement, feedback, assessment, or student support.” In that case, he said the college district — not the statewide college system — should be accountable. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CalMatters analyzed public payroll records from the non-profit \u003ca href=\"https://transparentcalifornia.com/\">Transparent California\u003c/a> and corroborated those records with college course data. The analysis found at least 70 adjuncts, or part-time professors, who were paid by five or more community college districts, California State University or University of California campuses in the same year, including many who taught more than 10 classes in a semester. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some of these professors were among the highest paid employees across California’s 116 community colleges. Ninh Villarreal made more than every community college administrator in 2024, even more than Sonya Christian, the chancellor of the state’s community college system, according to CalMatters’ analysis.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of the 70-plus professors did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Others asked CalMatters not to publish the data, which is publicly available, for fear of how it might affect their employment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These professors aren’t breaking any rules. In fact, there are no rules that prevent community college adjuncts from teaching at more than one district.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101071\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/050826-Online-Education-LV-CM-28-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A student walks through the Dolores Huerta Plaza at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton on May 7, 2026. (Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Andrew Vanden Heuvel, an adjunct astronomy professor, told CalMatters he teaches roughly 50 online classes and labs from the office above his garage in a small town on the shore of Lake Michigan. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Almost all of his lectures are pre-recorded, and students can listen at any time. It’s called asynchronous instruction. At the UC, Cal State and especially at the state’s community colleges, these kinds of online classes \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/05/online-classes-california/\">are popular and widespread\u003c/a>, a major shift since the COVID-19 pandemic. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vanden Heuvel said he has taught as many as 1,000 students a semester across the country, including in Santa Monica, Salinas, San Jose and Visalia, plus schools in New Mexico, Michigan, Washington and Florida. He said the classes use different iterations of the same, largely introductory content about stars, galaxies and the solar system. Students read information online, interact with online astronomical simulations, watch videos or submit labs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“In its current form, I am not grading anything (by hand),” said Vanden Heuvel. All quizzes are multiple choice and computer-graded — a common feature among many online classes, not just Vanden Heuvel’s. Some students also submit written assignments, which he said he usually grades using an algorithm that only checks whether the work was submitted or not. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About 20% of his course load is in California, he said. “In California, I can get paid as much as eight times as much as I can in Florida.” In 2024, California schools paid him a total of about $320,000, according to the CalMatters analysis. Nationally, he made much more, he said. “Looking over my records, I can tell you that 2024 was the high water mark.” He said he made $758,485.12 that year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Full-time professors cash in \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By law, adjunct faculty are generally limited to teaching three classes per semester at a single community college district, with each district setting its own rules. Most part-time jobs are precarious, with no healthcare, no guarantee of employment and all work assigned on a contract basis. Colleges can strip adjuncts of their classes — and their wages — with little notice.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For union and faculty leaders, who have long said adjuncts are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2024/09/part-time-community-college-faculty/\">underpaid and overworked\u003c/a>, the workload of professors like Ninh Villarreal and Vanden Heuvel comes as a shock. “I don’t know how you can earn that much money, how you can have that many assignments. I mean that’s pretty wild,” said Jim Mahler, the president of the community college council for the California Federation of Teachers. He said he suspects some professors are simply recording their lectures and “just hitting play.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1459\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/01/Foothill-cloud-computing-student-laptop.jpg\" alt=\"A student works on her laptop on the Foothill College campus.\" class=\"wp-image-11798603\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/01/Foothill-cloud-computing-student-laptop.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/01/Foothill-cloud-computing-student-laptop-160x122.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/01/Foothill-cloud-computing-student-laptop-800x608.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2020/01/Foothill-cloud-computing-student-laptop-1020x775.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A student works on her laptop on the Foothill College campus in Los Altos Hills, California. (Katrina Schwartz/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To make more than $400,000, many of California’s highest earning adjuncts had full-time tenure or tenure-track positions too, the records show. For example: \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>Bobby Seals, an ethnic studies professor, has a full-time position at Evergreen Valley College in San José. He also teaches 14 more courses across four other community college districts, plus \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose-state\">San José State\u003c/a> — a total of about 930 students this semester. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Faramarz Mortezaie is the \u003ca href=\"https://missioncollege.edu/academics/computer-information-technology/#:~:text=Email-,Faramarz%20Mortezaie,-Department%20Chair\">chair of the computer science\u003c/a> department at Mission College in Santa Clara. Part time, he also teaches 11 classes at other campuses, including San José State. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Nicholas Nardi, a full-time psychology professor at Santa Ana College, is teaching 11 more classes at six other schools, including Cal State Los Angeles.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Timothy Durfield, a full-time business professor at Citrus College, teaches an additional 10 classes at four other community college districts. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Walter Meyer, a full-time art history professor at Santa Monica College, teaches 10 additional online classes to students in Los Angeles and Kern counties.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of these professors responded to requests for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ninh Villarreal, the top earner, has often had at least two full-time jobs, according to college officials and public records. She’s been a tenured professor at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento since 2016. In 2023, she got a second full-time job at Reedley College near Fresno, though she returned to part-time status less than a year later. In 2025, she \u003ca href=\"https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/delta/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DC4QJ6697BF5\">got tenure\u003c/a> at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, and the same year, official college documents show she was the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/EEO_Villarreal_25.10.28-2-1.pdf\">inaugural tenure-track faculty\u003c/a> in the ethnic studies department at West Valley College in Saratoga near San José. Cade Story-Yetto, a spokesperson for the district encompassing West Valley College, said Ninh Villarreal is no longer employed there and refused to answer other questions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CalMatters reached out to nearly every one of the state’s 73 community college districts, seeking feedback on our methodology before publication. \u003ca href=\"https://transparentcalifornia.com/\">Transparent California\u003c/a>, part of a nonpartisan think tank advocating for limited government, obtained payroll information directly from the college districts. CalMatters then used that data to compile a list of professors who taught at five or more community college districts, Cal State or UC campuses in 2024, which is the most recent data. The data was corroborated using course catalogs, faculty directories and college hiring documents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While some of the professors taught a few in-person classes, usually at Cal State or UC campuses, CalMatters’ analysis found that many of those who taught at five or more college districts relied heavily on online, asynchronous instruction. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">No one is tracking it \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Universities treat online courses the same as in-person classes: students get the same amount of credit, and teachers are generally paid the same amount. As online courses have become more common, the UC, Cal State and community college systems have spent millions in state funding to ensure they have the same rigor as in-person courses. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Community colleges evaluate the quality of all courses, but they have no way of knowing what a professor’s workload really is. California’s community college districts are independently governed, and no one tracks who teaches across districts or how many classes they teach. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Cal State and UC systems, which are smaller and more centralized than the community colleges, track employment and limit the number of courses each professor can teach. If the instructor is also teaching at a community college, however, they may have no way of knowing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vanden Heuvel, the astronomy professor, said he believes his students are getting an excellent education. “I teach at a certain number of schools because that portfolio gives me the stability I need as an adjunct to survive and thrive,” he said, pointing to his three kids, his wife, who is an elementary school teacher, and the need to be present with his family instead of driving from campus to campus each day. “Now, did I push it further than some people think is morally conscionable? I don’t think so.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Researchers say it’s not clear whether online courses are worse, or better, than traditional in-person education. Students, especially working adults who predominate the community college system, praise online courses for their convenience, but there are known drawbacks. Asynchronous classes in particular have historically offered students less interaction with their professors, which research has found is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/college-beat/2024/09/online-college-courses/\">detrimental to student success\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to teach 50 classes in a semester\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vanden Heuvel posts much of his course material on \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewVandenHeuvel/featured\">YouTube\u003c/a>, where his channels collectively have nearly 5 million views, spread out over more than 300 videos. In his videos, he’s charismatic and personable, taking students into his car, even posting videos while on vacation \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc6yJ0cR-P4\">at Disney World.\u003c/a> His location isn’t a secret, he said — he has always been open about where he lives, both with California’s colleges and his students. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, the first lesson in one of his classes is a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IC8ohsuw_w\">video\u003c/a> in which he introduces himself and takes students to his favorite place, Lake Michigan, where he first developed a love of astronomy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State and federal laws require professors to interact with their students, especially in asynchronous online courses. Interaction could include fostering engagement in the classroom or monitoring students’ academic performance, wrote Ferguson, the finance vice chancellor, in his emailed statement. “These requirements apply to every course, regardless of how many colleges or districts employ the instructor.” The federal government has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/college-beat/2024/09/online-college-courses/#:~:text=Nationally%2C%20the%20federal%20government%20is%20concerned%20about%20a%20lack%20of%20oversight%20for%20the%20growing%20number%20of%20online%20courses.\">strengthened its own rules\u003c/a> for online classes over the past few years.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vanden Heuvel said he gives out his personal cell phone to all students and gets as many as 30 emails a day from them, mostly asking to extend assignment deadlines. He said he answers every email. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It would be very easy for students to cheat using AI, he said, especially because quizzes are multiple choice and most written assignments are graded only on completion. “The logic is the equivalent of the Scantron (a multiple-choice grading machine) at the large lecture hall. It’s a defensible instructional practice to assess that way. It’s how lots of assessments are run, be that the GRE or LSAT. I don’t love it.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The promise of online education is to reach students at scale and lower the cost-per-student of education, he said — and that’s exactly what he’s doing by teaching 50 online classes and labs to as many as 1,000 students across the country. In some schools, especially in rural areas, Vanden Heuvel is the only astronomy professor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said his large-scale teaching practices represent his “most successful” experiment, though he acknowledged that many faculty won’t look so favorably upon it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘I’m not a factory of education like that’ \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Part-time faculty, who are cheaper to employ, outnumber tenure-track professors at every one of California’s 73 community college districts, in some cases by more than 5-1. The same imbalance is evident at many Cal State campuses, though their adjuncts, known as lecturers, can work full time and receive benefits. The UC, with a focus on research, has faculty categories that don’t exist at the Cal State or community college system, making comparisons tricky. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It’s well-known that adjuncts teach at multiple districts, but unions often say that they do it out of necessity. Tina Leonard, who teaches American Sign Language, is a perfect example. In 2024, she made just over $84,000 teaching at five community college districts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I am Deaf,” she wrote in an email, “and it is very difficult and competitive for a Deaf educator to get a full-time tenure-track position in ASL.” She said she took additional teaching jobs \u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>in 2024 to cover the cost of her taxes. “Each college withholds as if it is your only job, so when you add them all together, you can end up owing.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/053023_SB-ValleyCollege_LJ_CM_06-4394c591.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12109889\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/053023_SB-ValleyCollege_LJ_CM_06-4394c591.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/053023_SB-ValleyCollege_LJ_CM_06-4394c591-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/053023_SB-ValleyCollege_LJ_CM_06-4394c591-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Students work in the library at San Bernardino Valley College on May 30, 2023. (Lauren Justice/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">K. Frindell, the president of a federation of faculty unions, the California Community College Independents, said she wasn’t surprised to see many faculty teaching in multiple districts, even some who are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars. “A loophole has been created,” she said — one that allows districts to cut costs by hiring adjuncts and allows adjuncts to teach at multiple districts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, the total number of community college adjuncts in California is unknown because statewide tallies do not account for professors who teach at multiple districts, said Ferguson. The Cal State system has the same data problem.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adjuncts are often hired for the academic year and then rehired each fall. Numerous legislative proposals have tried but failed to give adjuncts opportunities for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202320240ab260\">additional pay\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1171\">benefits\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/Chancellors-Office/Divisions/College-Finance-and-Facilities-Planning/Fiscal-Standards-and-Accountability-Unit/Full-Time-Faculty-Obligation/\">full-time employment\u003c/a>. In 2022, legislators tried to increase benefits for community college adjuncts, sending $200 million to districts that would then reimburse part-time faculty for health insurance. In the 2024-25 academic year, nearly 7,000 adjuncts used the program, very few of whom were teaching at multiple districts. Many districts chose not to participate, and most of the money remains unspent. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12109890\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/11/080326_Adjunct-Extremes_AD_CM_14-9ae6287f-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Noah Thomas, a professor in the art department at Long Beach City College, on campus in Long Beach on Aug. 3, 2026. (Ariana Drehsler/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Noah Thomas, a community college art professor, said he looked into the new healthcare benefits but found them lacking. “It’s such a convoluted system and the subsidies are kind of pretty low,” he said. “The coverage only applies to me and not to any of my dependents and it’s only for 10 months out of the year because my contract is only 10 months.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thomas made just over $100,000 in 2024 by commuting among five community college districts in Orange and Los Angeles counties, where he taught in-person studio arts classes. Sometimes, the drives are so long, and the days so jam-packed that he eats lunch in his car, he said. “Financially I’d love to teach as many classes as I could. $800,000 sounds amazing. But I’m not a factory of education like that. I really love teaching students one-on-one and showing them how to actually cut out a piece of cardboard and use a band saw.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The moral dilemma \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Frindell, who represents the independent community college unions, said the solution is not to focus on the professors who teach multiple online classes and earn high six-figure salaries. She wants to see an end to the low pay, precarious employment, and restrictive laws that force adjuncts to teach at multiple districts in the first place. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CalMatters asked higher education leaders in the state Assembly and Senate about adjuncts who are teaching at multiple schools. Alhambra Democratic Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/mike-fong-165455\">Mike Fong\u003c/a>, San Diego Republican Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/carl-demaio-161014\">Carl DeMaio\u003c/a> and Riverside Democratic Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/sabrina-cervantes-36813\">Sabrina Cervantes\u003c/a> did not respond. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because of state and federal rules that require professors to engage with their students, Vanden Heuvel redesigned some of his courses, adding new types of assignments. At times, he said the rules seem like they were “invented to prevent people from doing what I’m doing,” though he added that they are often ineffective if so. “What it feels like in practice is an administrative checked box that is not really connected to meaningful student experience.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, he said he has sought reassurance from other educators about the moral implications of teaching so many students in so many classes, even if legally he is within bounds. “What they say to me, whether they’re just being nice or not, is this sense that adjunct faculty are systematically taken advantage of by higher education, and if you have built a system that allows you to thrive while still providing excellent education, then more power to you.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the end of each semester, Vanden Heuvel said he asks his students to evaluate the course and that they consistently say it’s far above average in quality and knowledge gained and about average in difficulty. “There’s always the sense of like, ‘Is what I’m doing OK or not OK? Am I pushing it a little too far or not?’”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He self-published a 600-page book that collects student reflections, mostly about how their relationship with planets, stars and galaxies changed because of his class. He said the book sits in his office, right near his desk\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2026/11/community-college-professors-pay/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-pelicans-experience-third-starvation-event-in-four-years",
"title": "California Pelicans Experience Third Starvation Event In Four Years",
"publishDate": 1748629161,
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"headTitle": "California Pelicans Experience Third Starvation Event In Four Years | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, May 30, 2025…\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California’s brown pelicans are in trouble again — and this time it involves infant birds. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1996948/californias-pelicans-are-once-again-starving-this-year-its-the-babies\">This spring marks the third starvation event in four years\u003c/a> for the iconic seabirds. And scientists are still looking for answers. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Overdose deaths are falling nationwide—but in California, they continue to rise.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/05/community-colleges-california/\">People applying to California’s community colleges will soon be required to verify their identities\u003c/a> when they submit their applications. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The board that governs community colleges made the decision after multiple reports of scammers applying \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and getting into\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> schools.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1996948/californias-pelicans-are-once-again-starving-this-year-its-the-babies\">Brown Pelicans Struggle With Illness And Starvation As Experts Search For Solutions\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s the third \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1992933/california-has-a-theory-on-why-brown-pelicans-are-starving-and-dying\">starvation event\u003c/a> in four years for the iconic California seabirds. Experts can’t fully explain why, though they said climate change is at play.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything’s getting weirder,” said Corinne Gibble, a marine bird specialist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We’re having \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1993633/algal-blooms-love-heat-waves-when-is-bay-area-swimming-dangerous-for-humans-and-pets\">harmful algal blooms\u003c/a> and more unexpected weather events. What we can do is get more birds into rehab and better the science around helping them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To explain last year’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1992933/california-has-a-theory-on-why-brown-pelicans-are-starving-and-dying\">starving pelicans\u003c/a>, scientists hypothesized that the birds could not see their prey in choppy, murky water after late-season storms. Another possibility is that anchovies and other fish swam farther below the warm sea surface, too deep for the pelicans to reach. During last year’s event, the state recorded roughly 1,000 pelicans captured for rehabilitation — and in 2022, for similar reasons, 800.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, there are only 250 ailing pelicans tallied so far, but there are new challenges. The seabirds arrived in two waves, sick and then starving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rebecca Duerr, who directs veterinary science at International Bird Rescue, said this spring, a toxic algal bloom first poisoned some adult birds. The blooms, predicted to become \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/habs/climate-change-and-freshwater-harmful-algal-blooms#:~:text=Scientists%20continue%20to%20document%20many,more%20often%20in%20more%20waterbodies.\">more severe with climate change\u003c/a>, have lasted \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02052025/california-toxic-algae-marine-life-poisoning/#:~:text=This%20is%20the%20fourth%20year,for%20longer%2C%E2%80%9D%20Lefebvre%20said.\">longer\u003c/a> this year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then came the starving babies. The majority of the roughly 250 pelicans International Bird Rescue received since March were less than 6 months old. The center gets about two-thirds of the birds statewide and considers 90 birds a month highly unusual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This second wave of almost 200 rescued starving babies is still a mystery. Maybe the algal blooms also affected them. Maybe their successful breeding season just meant higher numbers didn’t learn to forage. \u003c/span>Another theory about these starving young, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Duerr \u003c/span>said, is that their parents, sickened by the harmful algal blooms, might have abandoned them before they were ready to forage alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These young birds didn’t know how to eat yet,” Duerr said. “It’s circumstantial evidence, but it looked like, you know, if mom doesn’t come back, they have to leave the nest or they’ll die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So far, there are less starving pelicans than last year. And, luckily, the numbers show the starvation event slowing down. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>While Overdose Deaths Drop Nationwide, California’s Numbers Climb\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>More than 11,000 people died of a drug overdose in California in 2023, which is about 400 more people than the prior year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tfah.org/people/j-nadine-gracia-md-msce/\">Dr. J. Nadine Gracia\u003c/a> leads \u003ca href=\"https://www.tfah.org/\">Trust for America’s Health\u003c/a>, a nonpartisan group that tracks overdose and suicide trends. She said the western part of the U.S. is seeing some of the sharpest increases — and California’s crisis is being fueled by fentanyl and rising use of stimulants like meth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we need to do is bolster our programs that support addressing adverse childhood experiences and trauma,” Gracia said. “And really invest in resilience, mental health, and substance use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deaths from alcohol and suicide are falling in California. But Gracia warned that progress is fragile — especially as overdoses continue to rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/05/community-colleges-california/\">To Mitigate Financial Aid Fraud, All Prospective Community College Students Will Soon Need To Provide Proof of Identity To Apply\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Under scrutiny from state and federal lawmakers, California’s community colleges are trying to crack down on financial aid fraud. Scammers have increasingly infiltrated the state’s 116 community colleges, posing as students in an effort to steal financial aid from the state and federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a meeting recently, the board that oversees California’s community colleges voted to require all students to verify their identity, which is currently optional for most applicants. The board also considered asking the Legislature for approval to charge students a \u003ca href=\"https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/cccchan/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DGHPTY663CB2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nominal application fee\u003c/a> — which many said should be no more than $10. But after more than two hours of debate, the board rejected that proposal and instead asked staff to “explore” a fee policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students from across the state told board members that they were against imposing a fee, sharing stories of times when they were so poor that they didn’t have a bank account or $10 to buy lunch. Many had personal experiences with fake students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flo Cudal, a student at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, testified about her own experience with scammers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A bot once took my seat in a class I needed to graduate and transfer,” Cudal said. “That fraud almost cost me my future. I understand the need for strong protections, but they must not come at the expense of excluding a real student.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though students have to sign an affidavit swearing that their personal information is valid when they apply, only a few schools require applicants to upload an ID to prove their identity. The board vote means prospective students would be required to submit IDs with their applications.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, May 30, 2025…\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California’s brown pelicans are in trouble again — and this time it involves infant birds. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1996948/californias-pelicans-are-once-again-starving-this-year-its-the-babies\">This spring marks the third starvation event in four years\u003c/a> for the iconic seabirds. And scientists are still looking for answers. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Overdose deaths are falling nationwide—but in California, they continue to rise.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/05/community-colleges-california/\">People applying to California’s community colleges will soon be required to verify their identities\u003c/a> when they submit their applications. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The board that governs community colleges made the decision after multiple reports of scammers applying \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">and getting into\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> schools.\u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1996948/californias-pelicans-are-once-again-starving-this-year-its-the-babies\">Brown Pelicans Struggle With Illness And Starvation As Experts Search For Solutions\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>It’s the third \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1992933/california-has-a-theory-on-why-brown-pelicans-are-starving-and-dying\">starvation event\u003c/a> in four years for the iconic California seabirds. Experts can’t fully explain why, though they said climate change is at play.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything’s getting weirder,” said Corinne Gibble, a marine bird specialist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We’re having \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1993633/algal-blooms-love-heat-waves-when-is-bay-area-swimming-dangerous-for-humans-and-pets\">harmful algal blooms\u003c/a> and more unexpected weather events. What we can do is get more birds into rehab and better the science around helping them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To explain last year’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1992933/california-has-a-theory-on-why-brown-pelicans-are-starving-and-dying\">starving pelicans\u003c/a>, scientists hypothesized that the birds could not see their prey in choppy, murky water after late-season storms. Another possibility is that anchovies and other fish swam farther below the warm sea surface, too deep for the pelicans to reach. During last year’s event, the state recorded roughly 1,000 pelicans captured for rehabilitation — and in 2022, for similar reasons, 800.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, there are only 250 ailing pelicans tallied so far, but there are new challenges. The seabirds arrived in two waves, sick and then starving.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rebecca Duerr, who directs veterinary science at International Bird Rescue, said this spring, a toxic algal bloom first poisoned some adult birds. The blooms, predicted to become \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/habs/climate-change-and-freshwater-harmful-algal-blooms#:~:text=Scientists%20continue%20to%20document%20many,more%20often%20in%20more%20waterbodies.\">more severe with climate change\u003c/a>, have lasted \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02052025/california-toxic-algae-marine-life-poisoning/#:~:text=This%20is%20the%20fourth%20year,for%20longer%2C%E2%80%9D%20Lefebvre%20said.\">longer\u003c/a> this year.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then came the starving babies. The majority of the roughly 250 pelicans International Bird Rescue received since March were less than 6 months old. The center gets about two-thirds of the birds statewide and considers 90 birds a month highly unusual.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This second wave of almost 200 rescued starving babies is still a mystery. Maybe the algal blooms also affected them. Maybe their successful breeding season just meant higher numbers didn’t learn to forage. \u003c/span>Another theory about these starving young, \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Duerr \u003c/span>said, is that their parents, sickened by the harmful algal blooms, might have abandoned them before they were ready to forage alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These young birds didn’t know how to eat yet,” Duerr said. “It’s circumstantial evidence, but it looked like, you know, if mom doesn’t come back, they have to leave the nest or they’ll die.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So far, there are less starving pelicans than last year. And, luckily, the numbers show the starvation event slowing down. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>While Overdose Deaths Drop Nationwide, California’s Numbers Climb\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>More than 11,000 people died of a drug overdose in California in 2023, which is about 400 more people than the prior year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tfah.org/people/j-nadine-gracia-md-msce/\">Dr. J. Nadine Gracia\u003c/a> leads \u003ca href=\"https://www.tfah.org/\">Trust for America’s Health\u003c/a>, a nonpartisan group that tracks overdose and suicide trends. She said the western part of the U.S. is seeing some of the sharpest increases — and California’s crisis is being fueled by fentanyl and rising use of stimulants like meth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we need to do is bolster our programs that support addressing adverse childhood experiences and trauma,” Gracia said. “And really invest in resilience, mental health, and substance use.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deaths from alcohol and suicide are falling in California. But Gracia warned that progress is fragile — especially as overdoses continue to rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/05/community-colleges-california/\">To Mitigate Financial Aid Fraud, All Prospective Community College Students Will Soon Need To Provide Proof of Identity To Apply\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Under scrutiny from state and federal lawmakers, California’s community colleges are trying to crack down on financial aid fraud. Scammers have increasingly infiltrated the state’s 116 community colleges, posing as students in an effort to steal financial aid from the state and federal government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a meeting recently, the board that oversees California’s community colleges voted to require all students to verify their identity, which is currently optional for most applicants. The board also considered asking the Legislature for approval to charge students a \u003ca href=\"https://go.boarddocs.com/ca/cccchan/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DGHPTY663CB2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nominal application fee\u003c/a> — which many said should be no more than $10. But after more than two hours of debate, the board rejected that proposal and instead asked staff to “explore” a fee policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students from across the state told board members that they were against imposing a fee, sharing stories of times when they were so poor that they didn’t have a bank account or $10 to buy lunch. Many had personal experiences with fake students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Flo Cudal, a student at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, testified about her own experience with scammers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A bot once took my seat in a class I needed to graduate and transfer,” Cudal said. “That fraud almost cost me my future. I understand the need for strong protections, but they must not come at the expense of excluding a real student.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though students have to sign an affidavit swearing that their personal information is valid when they apply, only a few schools require applicants to upload an ID to prove their identity. The board vote means prospective students would be required to submit IDs with their applications.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, April 24…\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>As the state grapples with the homeless population of over 187,000 people, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/04/homeless-services-santa-monica/\">a new program\u003c/a> at Santa Monica Community College is training students for jobs to help people get off the streets and into housing. But it also faces an uncertain future.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Farmworkers in the U.S. have historically been excluded from overtime pay. That’s no longer the case in California. But on Wednesday, \u003ca href=\"https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2025/04/23/senate-committee-rejects-sb-628-blocking-tax-credit-relief/\">state lawmakers tabled a proposal\u003c/a> to help ag employers afford that overtime.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/04/homeless-services-santa-monica/\">\u003cb>A New Program Training Students to Help Homeless Californians Faces Funding Struggles\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With more than \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/01/hud-pit-count-2024/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">187,000 people\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> sleeping on California’s streets and in its shelters, the state’s homeless services industry is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/01/california-homeless-worker-shortage/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">struggling to hire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> enough qualified workers to help them. Last year, Santa Monica College set out to fix that. It heralded the state’s first-ever community college program aimed at training the next generation of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smc.edu/news/2024/2024-05-06-smc-to-launch-homeless-service-work-certificate-first-in-california.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">homeless service workers\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the program has fallen victim to many of the same challenges that have long stymied progress on homelessness in California, including \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2023/07/california-homeless-services/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">unreliable funding\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, high attrition rates and political turmoil. In fact, it’s not clear if the much-needed program will persist. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We know the value added when somebody is adequately trained before they’re deployed,” said Vanessa Rios, a senior advisor for workforce development with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which funds the community college program. “It would be a disservice to our system should we not fund and support this effort. Where the dollars (will) come from, I don’t know.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most nonprofits that provide homeless services in California can’t help everyone who asks, in part because they struggle to recruit and retain staff, according to a 2024 \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Homelessness-Service-Providers-Feb-2024.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The new community college program was supposed to fill those holes by giving students the specific skills they need to succeed in homeless services. But amid perennial state budget uncertainty and questions about the region’s homeless services, Rios couldn’t say if her team will be able to fund another round of students at Santa Monica College. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2025/04/23/senate-committee-rejects-sb-628-blocking-tax-credit-relief/\">\u003cb>Senate Committee Blocks Tax Credit Relief for Ag Overtime Wages\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Wednesday, state lawmakers blocked \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SB 628, which would have created a tax credit to help agricultural employers cover the cost of overtime wages paid to farm workers. The proposal has been tabled for now, and it’s unlikely to advance this session.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"entry-title \">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While farmworkers in the U.S. have historically been excluded from overtime pay, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Overtime-for-Agricultural-Workers.html\">that’s no longer the case in California\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But research and data from a \u003ca href=\"https://s.giannini.ucop.edu/uploads/pub/2023/12/13/v27n1_1.pdf\">UC Berkeley study\u003c/a> shows that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/equity-lab/accountability/article283101308.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">agricultural employees have experienced a decline in their take-home pay\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> since the state’s \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ag overtime law took effect in 2019. The reality is that most growers simply cannot afford to pay overtime wages, and as a result, available overtime hours have been significantly reduced.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, April 24…\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>As the state grapples with the homeless population of over 187,000 people, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/04/homeless-services-santa-monica/\">a new program\u003c/a> at Santa Monica Community College is training students for jobs to help people get off the streets and into housing. But it also faces an uncertain future.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Farmworkers in the U.S. have historically been excluded from overtime pay. That’s no longer the case in California. But on Wednesday, \u003ca href=\"https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2025/04/23/senate-committee-rejects-sb-628-blocking-tax-credit-relief/\">state lawmakers tabled a proposal\u003c/a> to help ag employers afford that overtime.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/04/homeless-services-santa-monica/\">\u003cb>A New Program Training Students to Help Homeless Californians Faces Funding Struggles\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With more than \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/01/hud-pit-count-2024/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">187,000 people\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> sleeping on California’s streets and in its shelters, the state’s homeless services industry is \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/01/california-homeless-worker-shortage/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">struggling to hire\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> enough qualified workers to help them. Last year, Santa Monica College set out to fix that. It heralded the state’s first-ever community college program aimed at training the next generation of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smc.edu/news/2024/2024-05-06-smc-to-launch-homeless-service-work-certificate-first-in-california.php\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">homeless service workers\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But the program has fallen victim to many of the same challenges that have long stymied progress on homelessness in California, including \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2023/07/california-homeless-services/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">unreliable funding\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, high attrition rates and political turmoil. In fact, it’s not clear if the much-needed program will persist. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We know the value added when somebody is adequately trained before they’re deployed,” said Vanessa Rios, a senior advisor for workforce development with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which funds the community college program. “It would be a disservice to our system should we not fund and support this effort. Where the dollars (will) come from, I don’t know.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most nonprofits that provide homeless services in California can’t help everyone who asks, in part because they struggle to recruit and retain staff, according to a 2024 \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Homelessness-Service-Providers-Feb-2024.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">study\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The new community college program was supposed to fill those holes by giving students the specific skills they need to succeed in homeless services. But amid perennial state budget uncertainty and questions about the region’s homeless services, Rios couldn’t say if her team will be able to fund another round of students at Santa Monica College. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2025/04/23/senate-committee-rejects-sb-628-blocking-tax-credit-relief/\">\u003cb>Senate Committee Blocks Tax Credit Relief for Ag Overtime Wages\u003c/b>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Wednesday, state lawmakers blocked \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SB 628, which would have created a tax credit to help agricultural employers cover the cost of overtime wages paid to farm workers. The proposal has been tabled for now, and it’s unlikely to advance this session.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"entry-title \">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While farmworkers in the U.S. have historically been excluded from overtime pay, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Overtime-for-Agricultural-Workers.html\">that’s no longer the case in California\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But research and data from a \u003ca href=\"https://s.giannini.ucop.edu/uploads/pub/2023/12/13/v27n1_1.pdf\">UC Berkeley study\u003c/a> shows that \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/equity-lab/accountability/article283101308.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">agricultural employees have experienced a decline in their take-home pay\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> since the state’s \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ag overtime law took effect in 2019. The reality is that most growers simply cannot afford to pay overtime wages, and as a result, available overtime hours have been significantly reduced.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "at-this-california-community-college-full-time-faculty-diversity-is-failing",
"title": "Why This California Community College Only Has 1 Full-Time Black Professor",
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"content": "\u003cp>At Cabrillo College near Santa Cruz, Nikia Chaney stands out. You can spot her bright pink hair from a distance. She’s also the only Black professor out of the community college’s 165 tenured or tenure-track faculty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I first got hired in 2019, I didn’t look up the demographics of the school or anything like that. I was just really happy I had a full-time job,” she said. But after arriving on campus, she started to feel isolated. “You don’t have faculty members who look like you,” she said. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Nikia Chaney, professor, Cabrillo College\"]‘You don’t have faculty members who look like you.’[/pullquote]The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, the agency representing all 116 of the state’s community colleges, wants “to have the makeup of our faculty and staff mirror the student population we serve,” spokesperson Melissa Villarin said. For years, the office has tried to increase diversity as state legislators pumped money into attempted solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Faculty diversity has increased slightly over the past 15 years, but \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/docs/report/2021-equal-employment-opportunity-report-a11y.pdf?la=en&hash=A749704DB539925B90348A325C5F207819A0A912\">a report the chancellor’s office issued in November\u003c/a> acknowledged that “progress remains slow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villarin said that there is no single explanation why but that the problem often lies in recruitment, hiring and retention. For example, the application website for community college jobs is “outdated,” and panels that select candidates often need to be more diverse and better trained, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate \u003ca href=\"https://bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2022-113.pdf\">state audit\u003c/a> released in February 2023, some college districts said it’s hard to find qualified professors when few people in their communities have the necessary graduate degrees. In other cases, the report said, faculty find “higher-paying positions elsewhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a nationwide problem. When everybody is focused on trying to diversify your faculty, it’s going to be your Harvards and Yales who are going to pay you the most,” said Olivia Cheche, a program associate in higher education at the nonprofit think tank New America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"See your college's demographics for tenured and tenure-track faculty\" aria-label=\"Table\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-Qy0qF\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Qy0qF/7/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"535\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Table: Erica Yee, CalMatters Source: \u003ca href=\"https://datamart.cccco.edu/Faculty-Staff/Default.aspx\">California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office\u003c/a>. Get the data: Created with \u003ca href=\"https://www.datawrapper.de/_/Qy0qF/\">Datawrapper\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The largest discrepancy across California’s community colleges is for Latino faculty. Latino students represent nearly half of community college students, but less than 20% of tenured or tenure-track faculty are Latino. The same disparity holds for Latino administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help, state lawmakers and the chancellor’s office have introduced new hiring initiatives and poured an estimated $90 million into reforms in the last 20 years. Half of that money has come in the last three years. But the audit said college districts still have a ways to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Hostile and unwelcoming’ for Black students\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At her first English department meeting, a coworker handed Chaney \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y5EwESDU6GYgX9-B5YDtSrpVt4Z7IC8W/view\">a 2018 report\u003c/a> about diversity at the college. “African American students experience Cabrillo College as a hostile and unwelcoming environment,” the report said, citing interactions with other students, faculty and administrators. These students also noted a lack of representation across the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It made my heart sink,” Chaney said. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Olivia Cheche, program associate, New America\"]‘It’s that idea of having a role model that looks like you. That might be the encouragement a student needs to pursue a higher education.’[/pullquote]Numerous studies show that a more diverse faculty benefits students and can even help to close achievement gaps between white students and students of color. Using years of data from DeAnza College, a community college in Cupertino, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/A-Community-College-Instructor-Like-Me-Race-and-Ethnicity-Interactions-in-the-Classroom.pdf\">one study\u003c/a> found that students who are Black, Latino, and Native American/Pacific Islander get better grades, are more likely to pass a course and are less likely to drop classes when they had a professor who looked like them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s that idea of having a role model that looks like you. That might be the encouragement a student needs to pursue a higher education,” Cheche said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Statewide, the report from the chancellor’s office shows that the percentage of tenured or tenure-track community college professors identifying as Black is about the same as that of Black students: between 5% and 6% in 2022, the most recent data available. The percentage of community college administrators who identify as Black is even higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But representation is uneven. At Lassen Community College in Susanville, there are no full-time Black faculty members, even though more than 1 in 10 students are Black. In San Luis Obispo and at other rural colleges across the state, similar disparities persist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, just over 1% of Cabrillo College students identified as Black, according to data from the chancellor’s office. Chaney is committed to helping those students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know myself as an educator. I’m not going to be able to be in a place and not do anything. It’s what keeps me here, but I also really love it,” she said as she set up a classroom for an end-of-year celebration for students in Umoja, a state-funded academic program to support Black students, though anyone can participate. Umoja has existed on other campuses for years, but Chaney helped launch the first iteration at Cabrillo College last fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11971637\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11971637 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02.jpg\" alt=\"A teacher happily dancing in a classroom of community college students.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor Nikia Chaney leads students and others in dance during an Umoja community event at Cabrillo College in Aptos on Dec. 7, 2023. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Standing underneath a poster for Black History Month, she turned on the music to the sounds of a drum circle. “Do I have some volunteers who are going to get up and dance with me?” she said as people slowly trickled in. About 15 students and staff, most of whom were not Black, attended the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kyla Kientzel, who is biracial and an Umoja student, said she appreciates the efforts that Chaney is making for students like her. “It kind of makes me more comfortable when there’s people that look like me around. I’ve never had a Black teacher before,” she said. One time in Chaney’s English class, Kientzel wrote about her first name, which was given to her by her father, who is Black. “I get to write about my experiences, and she understands,” Kientzel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Catching a flight to work\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Cabrillo College has two campuses, one in the wealthy seaside community of Aptos and another just 20 minutes away in the inland farming town of Watsonville. About 80% of residents in Watsonville identify as Latino, and Latino students there said it had a “welcoming” and “very communal” climate in the campus’ 2018 diversity report. In Aptos, which is 75% white, that welcoming spirit fades, the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across both campuses, about 18% of faculty identify as Latino, compared to roughly 46% of Cabrillo students. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Adam Spickler, trustee, Cabrillo College\"]‘My heart really is there for Nikia [Chaney]. It’s not right, and it’s something we need to address.’[/pullquote]The district is well aware of the lack of diversity, particularly when it comes to Black faculty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My heart really is there for Nikia [Chaney]. It’s not right, and it’s something we need to address,” said Adam Spickler, a trustee of the community college district’s board. “I feel like we’ve done fairly well increasing diversity in other ways. But we need to turn that attention to African American faculty — no doubt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an example of improvements, Spickler pointed to increased diversity among the college’s administration. Out of the 23 administrators this year, three are Black, and four are Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spickler said the overall lack of diversity isn’t surprising given the demographics of Santa Cruz County. While the region has large and growing Latino and Asian communities, about 1.5% is Black, according to the most recent census data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How the demographics of California's community college students compare to its faculty\" aria-label=\"Grouped Bars\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-cde3Q\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/cde3Q/3/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"581\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up in the area and now as a student, Kientzel doesn’t always feel safe. “When I’m by myself, I get treated fine, but when I’m with my brothers, we get followed in stores. We always make sure we have our hands out of our pockets so they don’t think we’re trying to steal anything,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mikias Abesha is the president of the Umoja club and a third-semester student at Cabrillo College. But as an international student from Ethiopia, he finds the lack of diversity isn’t the only challenge. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Mikias Abesha, an international student from Ethiopia, Cabrillo College\"]‘Everything is different. In my first semester, I did not understand any of my teachers.’[/pullquote]“Everything is different,” he said. “In my first semester, I did not understand any of my teachers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His first language is Amharic. He said Umoja was a respite for him, where he met advisors who made him feel at home. Now, his goal is to transfer to UCLA. “Los Angeles will be much more diverse,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Chaney, the experience was untenable. She said her daughter was one of only a few Black students in her elementary school and was often bullied by other students. After living in Santa Cruz County on and off for two years, she decided to move back near friends and family near San Bernardino, where the Black community is also much larger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I need to be in a town where people look like me,” she said. Now, she flies in once a week for classes and campus programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Millions spent to diversify faculty\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Legally, public colleges can’t consider the race or ethnicity of a job candidate because of a constitutional amendment California voters passed in 1996 that banned affirmative action. Voters reaffirmed the ban in 2020. But the chancellor’s office and state auditors agree that colleges can use other means to achieve the same goal — such as providing diversity training to all staff members involved in hiring, so they can better recognize and correct for their own biases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11971638\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11971638 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03.jpg\" alt=\"An aerial shoot of a community college campus.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A general view at Cabrillo College in Aptos on Dec. 7, 2023. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2021, the chancellor’s office required college districts to develop a plan for promoting diversity in hiring. Villarin said 68 out of 73 districts have submitted a plan to the chancellor’s office as of Oct. 1, the final deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the remaining districts include Los Angeles and Glendale, as well as the districts that represent colleges in Eureka, Stockton, Cupertino and Los Altos. They will submit their plans in “the coming days,” she said. [aside label='More Stories on Community College' tag='community-college']Colleges are also required to analyze the demographics of their job applicants, but the state audit found only one out of the four community college districts surveyed had done so. Fermin Villegas, a deputy counsel for the chancellor’s office, said his team would be providing “more oversight and monitoring” in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the millions of dollars the Legislature earmarks each year for efforts to diversify hiring, most are sent to the state’s 73 community college districts, which then distribute it to the 116 community colleges. Last year, most districts received about $139,000, Villarin said. Reports show the districts used the money to mentor and train potential and current faculty, among other efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following recommendations from the chancellor’s office, Cabrillo College is trying a “cluster” model: \u003ca href=\"https://www.cabrillo.edu/human-resources/applicant-resources/\">hiring for eight new \u003c/a>positions simultaneously focused on the candidates’ qualifications in their academic fields and their commitment to serving marginalized students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One advantage of cluster hiring is that it can help avoid scenarios in which one faculty member becomes the token person of color, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.asccc.org/content/cluster-hiring-faculty-diversification\">a memo\u003c/a> from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chaney said she’s not the only advocate for Black students on campus and pointed to the work of a few Black and Latino administrators and staff who support students in other ways. Many arrived at the college within the last year or two and lived in the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chaney said it’s valuable to have mentors who live in the community, but it’s also important to have faculty who know Black culture, even if, like in her case, those two aren’t the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the Umoja event ended, Chaney didn’t have time to clean up, so her colleagues carried the leftover food and supplies to their cars. “I’ve got to run,” she said, hugging each person as she said her goodbye. She drove to San José to catch a flight home that afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>At Cabrillo College near Santa Cruz, Nikia Chaney stands out. You can spot her bright pink hair from a distance. She’s also the only Black professor out of the community college’s 165 tenured or tenure-track faculty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I first got hired in 2019, I didn’t look up the demographics of the school or anything like that. I was just really happy I had a full-time job,” she said. But after arriving on campus, she started to feel isolated. “You don’t have faculty members who look like you,” she said. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, the agency representing all 116 of the state’s community colleges, wants “to have the makeup of our faculty and staff mirror the student population we serve,” spokesperson Melissa Villarin said. For years, the office has tried to increase diversity as state legislators pumped money into attempted solutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Faculty diversity has increased slightly over the past 15 years, but \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/docs/report/2021-equal-employment-opportunity-report-a11y.pdf?la=en&hash=A749704DB539925B90348A325C5F207819A0A912\">a report the chancellor’s office issued in November\u003c/a> acknowledged that “progress remains slow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villarin said that there is no single explanation why but that the problem often lies in recruitment, hiring and retention. For example, the application website for community college jobs is “outdated,” and panels that select candidates often need to be more diverse and better trained, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate \u003ca href=\"https://bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2022-113.pdf\">state audit\u003c/a> released in February 2023, some college districts said it’s hard to find qualified professors when few people in their communities have the necessary graduate degrees. In other cases, the report said, faculty find “higher-paying positions elsewhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a nationwide problem. When everybody is focused on trying to diversify your faculty, it’s going to be your Harvards and Yales who are going to pay you the most,” said Olivia Cheche, a program associate in higher education at the nonprofit think tank New America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"See your college's demographics for tenured and tenure-track faculty\" aria-label=\"Table\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-Qy0qF\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Qy0qF/7/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"535\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Table: Erica Yee, CalMatters Source: \u003ca href=\"https://datamart.cccco.edu/Faculty-Staff/Default.aspx\">California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office\u003c/a>. Get the data: Created with \u003ca href=\"https://www.datawrapper.de/_/Qy0qF/\">Datawrapper\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The largest discrepancy across California’s community colleges is for Latino faculty. Latino students represent nearly half of community college students, but less than 20% of tenured or tenure-track faculty are Latino. The same disparity holds for Latino administrators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To help, state lawmakers and the chancellor’s office have introduced new hiring initiatives and poured an estimated $90 million into reforms in the last 20 years. Half of that money has come in the last three years. But the audit said college districts still have a ways to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Hostile and unwelcoming’ for Black students\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At her first English department meeting, a coworker handed Chaney \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y5EwESDU6GYgX9-B5YDtSrpVt4Z7IC8W/view\">a 2018 report\u003c/a> about diversity at the college. “African American students experience Cabrillo College as a hostile and unwelcoming environment,” the report said, citing interactions with other students, faculty and administrators. These students also noted a lack of representation across the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It made my heart sink,” Chaney said. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It’s that idea of having a role model that looks like you. That might be the encouragement a student needs to pursue a higher education.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Numerous studies show that a more diverse faculty benefits students and can even help to close achievement gaps between white students and students of color. Using years of data from DeAnza College, a community college in Cupertino, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/A-Community-College-Instructor-Like-Me-Race-and-Ethnicity-Interactions-in-the-Classroom.pdf\">one study\u003c/a> found that students who are Black, Latino, and Native American/Pacific Islander get better grades, are more likely to pass a course and are less likely to drop classes when they had a professor who looked like them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s that idea of having a role model that looks like you. That might be the encouragement a student needs to pursue a higher education,” Cheche said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Statewide, the report from the chancellor’s office shows that the percentage of tenured or tenure-track community college professors identifying as Black is about the same as that of Black students: between 5% and 6% in 2022, the most recent data available. The percentage of community college administrators who identify as Black is even higher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But representation is uneven. At Lassen Community College in Susanville, there are no full-time Black faculty members, even though more than 1 in 10 students are Black. In San Luis Obispo and at other rural colleges across the state, similar disparities persist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, just over 1% of Cabrillo College students identified as Black, according to data from the chancellor’s office. Chaney is committed to helping those students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know myself as an educator. I’m not going to be able to be in a place and not do anything. It’s what keeps me here, but I also really love it,” she said as she set up a classroom for an end-of-year celebration for students in Umoja, a state-funded academic program to support Black students, though anyone can participate. Umoja has existed on other campuses for years, but Chaney helped launch the first iteration at Cabrillo College last fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11971637\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11971637 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02.jpg\" alt=\"A teacher happily dancing in a classroom of community college students.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation02-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor Nikia Chaney leads students and others in dance during an Umoja community event at Cabrillo College in Aptos on Dec. 7, 2023. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Standing underneath a poster for Black History Month, she turned on the music to the sounds of a drum circle. “Do I have some volunteers who are going to get up and dance with me?” she said as people slowly trickled in. About 15 students and staff, most of whom were not Black, attended the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kyla Kientzel, who is biracial and an Umoja student, said she appreciates the efforts that Chaney is making for students like her. “It kind of makes me more comfortable when there’s people that look like me around. I’ve never had a Black teacher before,” she said. One time in Chaney’s English class, Kientzel wrote about her first name, which was given to her by her father, who is Black. “I get to write about my experiences, and she understands,” Kientzel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Catching a flight to work\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Cabrillo College has two campuses, one in the wealthy seaside community of Aptos and another just 20 minutes away in the inland farming town of Watsonville. About 80% of residents in Watsonville identify as Latino, and Latino students there said it had a “welcoming” and “very communal” climate in the campus’ 2018 diversity report. In Aptos, which is 75% white, that welcoming spirit fades, the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across both campuses, about 18% of faculty identify as Latino, compared to roughly 46% of Cabrillo students. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The district is well aware of the lack of diversity, particularly when it comes to Black faculty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My heart really is there for Nikia [Chaney]. It’s not right, and it’s something we need to address,” said Adam Spickler, a trustee of the community college district’s board. “I feel like we’ve done fairly well increasing diversity in other ways. But we need to turn that attention to African American faculty — no doubt.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an example of improvements, Spickler pointed to increased diversity among the college’s administration. Out of the 23 administrators this year, three are Black, and four are Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spickler said the overall lack of diversity isn’t surprising given the demographics of Santa Cruz County. While the region has large and growing Latino and Asian communities, about 1.5% is Black, according to the most recent census data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How the demographics of California's community college students compare to its faculty\" aria-label=\"Grouped Bars\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-cde3Q\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/cde3Q/3/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"581\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up in the area and now as a student, Kientzel doesn’t always feel safe. “When I’m by myself, I get treated fine, but when I’m with my brothers, we get followed in stores. We always make sure we have our hands out of our pockets so they don’t think we’re trying to steal anything,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mikias Abesha is the president of the Umoja club and a third-semester student at Cabrillo College. But as an international student from Ethiopia, he finds the lack of diversity isn’t the only challenge. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Everything is different,” he said. “In my first semester, I did not understand any of my teachers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His first language is Amharic. He said Umoja was a respite for him, where he met advisors who made him feel at home. Now, his goal is to transfer to UCLA. “Los Angeles will be much more diverse,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Chaney, the experience was untenable. She said her daughter was one of only a few Black students in her elementary school and was often bullied by other students. After living in Santa Cruz County on and off for two years, she decided to move back near friends and family near San Bernardino, where the Black community is also much larger.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I need to be in a town where people look like me,” she said. Now, she flies in once a week for classes and campus programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Millions spent to diversify faculty\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Legally, public colleges can’t consider the race or ethnicity of a job candidate because of a constitutional amendment California voters passed in 1996 that banned affirmative action. Voters reaffirmed the ban in 2020. But the chancellor’s office and state auditors agree that colleges can use other means to achieve the same goal — such as providing diversity training to all staff members involved in hiring, so they can better recognize and correct for their own biases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11971638\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11971638 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03.jpg\" alt=\"An aerial shoot of a community college campus.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/CMEducation03-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A general view at Cabrillo College in Aptos on Dec. 7, 2023. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2021, the chancellor’s office required college districts to develop a plan for promoting diversity in hiring. Villarin said 68 out of 73 districts have submitted a plan to the chancellor’s office as of Oct. 1, the final deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said the remaining districts include Los Angeles and Glendale, as well as the districts that represent colleges in Eureka, Stockton, Cupertino and Los Altos. They will submit their plans in “the coming days,” she said. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Colleges are also required to analyze the demographics of their job applicants, but the state audit found only one out of the four community college districts surveyed had done so. Fermin Villegas, a deputy counsel for the chancellor’s office, said his team would be providing “more oversight and monitoring” in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of the millions of dollars the Legislature earmarks each year for efforts to diversify hiring, most are sent to the state’s 73 community college districts, which then distribute it to the 116 community colleges. Last year, most districts received about $139,000, Villarin said. Reports show the districts used the money to mentor and train potential and current faculty, among other efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following recommendations from the chancellor’s office, Cabrillo College is trying a “cluster” model: \u003ca href=\"https://www.cabrillo.edu/human-resources/applicant-resources/\">hiring for eight new \u003c/a>positions simultaneously focused on the candidates’ qualifications in their academic fields and their commitment to serving marginalized students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One advantage of cluster hiring is that it can help avoid scenarios in which one faculty member becomes the token person of color, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.asccc.org/content/cluster-hiring-faculty-diversification\">a memo\u003c/a> from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chaney said she’s not the only advocate for Black students on campus and pointed to the work of a few Black and Latino administrators and staff who support students in other ways. Many arrived at the college within the last year or two and lived in the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chaney said it’s valuable to have mentors who live in the community, but it’s also important to have faculty who know Black culture, even if, like in her case, those two aren’t the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the Umoja event ended, Chaney didn’t have time to clean up, so her colleagues carried the leftover food and supplies to their cars. “I’ve got to run,” she said, hugging each person as she said her goodbye. She drove to San José to catch a flight home that afternoon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Following a \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/california-community-colleges-eye-a-different-future-amid-pandemic-disruption/681483\">steep drop\u003c/a> in enrollment during the pandemic, a growing number of community colleges in California are offering free tuition to draw more students and avoid losing funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuition-free community college has been a reality for many students for several decades under the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.cccapply.org/en/money/california-college-promise-grant\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California College Promise Grant,\u003c/a> which waives tuition fees for eligible California residents, as well as those who are \u003ca href=\"https://icangotocollege.com/financial-aid/california-college-promise-grant#:~:text=CCPG%20gets%20awarded%20based%20on,under%20the%20California%20Dream%20Act.\">exempt from non-resident fees \u003c/a>under the California Dream Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For students who don’t qualify, community colleges can also dip into another pot of funding to waive tuition. The separate but similarly named \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/Chancellors-Office/Divisions/Educational-Services-and-Support/Student-Service/What-we-do/California-Promise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Promise\u003c/a>, created under Assembly Bill 19 in 2017, sets aside $46 million annually to be split among the state’s community colleges to support students — and many schools are now using those funds to waive tuition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of the current semester, all 116 California community college campuses offer some form of tuition-free education.[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"community-college\"]That shift seems to be paying off. After years of pandemic-related enrollment decline, a growing number of community colleges across the state, from San Diego to San Jose, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/why-enrollment-is-rebounding-at-californias-community-colleges/697875\">reported significant increases\u003c/a> this fall. That comes after an 8% increase in enrollment last spring across the system of 116 colleges, according to \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2022_23-Enrollment-Memo-for-the-Chancellor_2023.9.21-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a memo prepared by the state chancellor’s office.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tuition-free move has also been well-received by students like Paige Stevens, who attends Folsom Lake College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t even know about it. I was set up on a payment plan, paid my first payment, and then the next time I checked my balance, it said it was paid by the California College Promise Grant. I had to look it up,” Stevens said. “Now that I received this financial aid, I was super excited and enrolled in another two classes to take advantage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some campuses have gone a step further and offered awards to students who may not qualify for the Promise Grant program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the 2020-21 semester, Diablo Valley College in Contra Costa County has been offering a “full-time free tuition award” that refunds tuition to students who are California residents, enrolled in at least 12 units, and are maintaining at least a 2.0 GPA and following an education plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“DVC is experiencing a moderate increase in enrollment this semester, and although many factors impact enrollment, we are confident that the college’s free tuition programs have played a role,” Marisa Greenberg, a spokesperson for the school, said in an email. “We know from conversations with students that receiving free tuition makes it possible for many students to either remain in college or to take more units, thereby accelerating their time to completing a degree or certificate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the \u003ca href=\"https://smccd.edu/freecollege/\">San Mateo County Community College District\u003c/a>, tuition has been waived for all students, regardless of income, since the fall 2022 semester. That year, about 1,500 more students enrolled in the district’s three campuses, as compared to the previous year — marking a roughly 9.5% increase, according to \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://datamart.cccco.edu/students/Student_Headcount_Term_Annual.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chancellor’s Office data\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s ad campaign, as seen in mailers and online ads, has focused heavily on the free-tuition offering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chabot College in Hayward also recently implemented tuition-free enrollment for first-year students, regardless of income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At Chabot College, we understand that the ability to pay or offset college expenses yields a greater probability of enrollment,” President Jamal A. Cooks said in an email. “We wanted to make sure to break down the barriers to postsecondary education,” he added, noting that college offers a path to social mobility.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\nThe growing free-tuition trend comes as community colleges are increasingly feeling pressure to rebuild their student ranks to near pre-pandemic levels to avoid cuts from the state, which, starting in 2025, will largely base funding on enrollment numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chip Woerner, a spokesperson for Los Positas College, said that offering free tuition allows the school to offer students access to other key services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A tuition-free campaign … opens a conversation with students about the many resources available to them at our college,” he said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Joshua Picazo is majoring in media studies at UC Berkeley and is a member of EdSource’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/california-student-journalism-corps\">\u003cem>California Student Journalism Corps\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/tuition-free-access-expanding-across-california-community-college-campuses/699832\">This story originally published on EdSource\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"datePublished": "2023-11-02T12:50:12-07:00",
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"nprByline": "\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/california-student-journalism-corps#:~:text=Joshua%20Picazo%20is,online%20campus%20editions.\">Joshua Picazo\u003c/a>\u003cbr>Ed",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Following a \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/california-community-colleges-eye-a-different-future-amid-pandemic-disruption/681483\">steep drop\u003c/a> in enrollment during the pandemic, a growing number of community colleges in California are offering free tuition to draw more students and avoid losing funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuition-free community college has been a reality for many students for several decades under the \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.cccapply.org/en/money/california-college-promise-grant\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California College Promise Grant,\u003c/a> which waives tuition fees for eligible California residents, as well as those who are \u003ca href=\"https://icangotocollege.com/financial-aid/california-college-promise-grant#:~:text=CCPG%20gets%20awarded%20based%20on,under%20the%20California%20Dream%20Act.\">exempt from non-resident fees \u003c/a>under the California Dream Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For students who don’t qualify, community colleges can also dip into another pot of funding to waive tuition. The separate but similarly named \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/Chancellors-Office/Divisions/Educational-Services-and-Support/Student-Service/What-we-do/California-Promise\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Promise\u003c/a>, created under Assembly Bill 19 in 2017, sets aside $46 million annually to be split among the state’s community colleges to support students — and many schools are now using those funds to waive tuition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of the current semester, all 116 California community college campuses offer some form of tuition-free education.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That shift seems to be paying off. After years of pandemic-related enrollment decline, a growing number of community colleges across the state, from San Diego to San Jose, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/why-enrollment-is-rebounding-at-californias-community-colleges/697875\">reported significant increases\u003c/a> this fall. That comes after an 8% increase in enrollment last spring across the system of 116 colleges, according to \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2022_23-Enrollment-Memo-for-the-Chancellor_2023.9.21-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a memo prepared by the state chancellor’s office.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tuition-free move has also been well-received by students like Paige Stevens, who attends Folsom Lake College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t even know about it. I was set up on a payment plan, paid my first payment, and then the next time I checked my balance, it said it was paid by the California College Promise Grant. I had to look it up,” Stevens said. “Now that I received this financial aid, I was super excited and enrolled in another two classes to take advantage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some campuses have gone a step further and offered awards to students who may not qualify for the Promise Grant program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the 2020-21 semester, Diablo Valley College in Contra Costa County has been offering a “full-time free tuition award” that refunds tuition to students who are California residents, enrolled in at least 12 units, and are maintaining at least a 2.0 GPA and following an education plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“DVC is experiencing a moderate increase in enrollment this semester, and although many factors impact enrollment, we are confident that the college’s free tuition programs have played a role,” Marisa Greenberg, a spokesperson for the school, said in an email. “We know from conversations with students that receiving free tuition makes it possible for many students to either remain in college or to take more units, thereby accelerating their time to completing a degree or certificate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the \u003ca href=\"https://smccd.edu/freecollege/\">San Mateo County Community College District\u003c/a>, tuition has been waived for all students, regardless of income, since the fall 2022 semester. That year, about 1,500 more students enrolled in the district’s three campuses, as compared to the previous year — marking a roughly 9.5% increase, according to \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://datamart.cccco.edu/students/Student_Headcount_Term_Annual.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chancellor’s Office data\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district’s ad campaign, as seen in mailers and online ads, has focused heavily on the free-tuition offering.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chabot College in Hayward also recently implemented tuition-free enrollment for first-year students, regardless of income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At Chabot College, we understand that the ability to pay or offset college expenses yields a greater probability of enrollment,” President Jamal A. Cooks said in an email. “We wanted to make sure to break down the barriers to postsecondary education,” he added, noting that college offers a path to social mobility.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\nThe growing free-tuition trend comes as community colleges are increasingly feeling pressure to rebuild their student ranks to near pre-pandemic levels to avoid cuts from the state, which, starting in 2025, will largely base funding on enrollment numbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chip Woerner, a spokesperson for Los Positas College, said that offering free tuition allows the school to offer students access to other key services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A tuition-free campaign … opens a conversation with students about the many resources available to them at our college,” he said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Joshua Picazo is majoring in media studies at UC Berkeley and is a member of EdSource’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/california-student-journalism-corps\">\u003cem>California Student Journalism Corps\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/tuition-free-access-expanding-across-california-community-college-campuses/699832\">This story originally published on EdSource\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'Radically Different': 8 California Community Colleges Test New Way to Earn Degrees With Less Class Time",
"headTitle": "‘Radically Different’: 8 California Community Colleges Test New Way to Earn Degrees With Less Class Time | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>A revolution is in the making at California’s community colleges: No more grades, no more sitting through lectures or seminars, no more deadlines. In a pilot program taking shape across eight of the state’s community colleges, the only requirement for some associate degrees will be “competency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students who can prove that they have the relevant skills can earn that degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In theory, this model, known as “competency-based education,” could provide students with more flexibility and the potential to attain degrees faster in key job sectors. The pilot is geared toward working adults, many of whom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2023/06/community-college-enrollment-2/\">left community colleges at record rates\u003c/a> during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the state’s population of K-12 students continues to shrink, leaving colleges with fewer students right out of high school, the pilot aims to attract adults who are already in the workforce by “valuing their lived and work experience,” said Madera Community College President Ángel Reyna.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If successful, these community colleges will set themselves apart from every other two-year institution in the country. The pilot, which launched in 2021, provides \u003ca href=\"https://www.datawrapper.de/_/3nzyx/\">eight California community colleges\u003c/a> with up to $515,000 over four years to design a single associate degree program using this new model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is for students to be able to enroll at some point in the 2024–25 academic year, said Aisha Lowe, an executive vice chancellor at the California Community College Chancellor’s Office. In practice, colleges must overcome bureaucratic and logistical hurdles to make the new system work. At least one community college says it is struggling to hit the state’s deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenge is to create something that works “but isn’t so different that colleges can still wrap their heads around it and engage,” Lowe said. “It’s definitely unprecedented.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A new way to measure learning\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The new model restructures the requirements of a degree to reflect what students have learned, rather than the amount of time they spend in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, all college degrees require a certain number of hours spent in a classroom, either in-person or virtually. An associate degree, which California’s community colleges offer, requires roughly 3,000 hours spent in a classroom or on homework in a traditional academic year. That’s why some refer to it as a “two-year degree.” [aside label='More on Education' tag='california-education'] Teachers get paid in part based on the number of hours they teach. Because of the high number of part-time students, the state funds colleges and universities based largely on the number of hours that a student spends in class, not the number of students themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this current system, students may be required to sit through classes to get college credit even if they can demonstrate they already have some of the requisite skills. Students who may have less time for school because of work or family obligations lose out too, said Charla Long, the president of the Competency-Based Education Network, a consultant for California’s pilot program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve created an inequitable system because it’s so time-bound,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the new system, students seeking an associate degree in early childhood education at Shasta College in Redding will take 60 different exams, each one testing a specific skill, said Buffy Tanner, the college’s director of innovation and special projects. Students in the program will have materials to teach themselves, teachers will be available to answer questions and counselors will be able to provide wraparound support. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Charla Long, president, Competency-Based Education Network\"]‘We’ve created an inequitable system because it’s so time-bound.’[/pullquote] Currently, a student is required to take 20 semester-long classes for that same degree. Students in the new program will be able to take an exam up to three times and can move as quickly or as slowly as they want, Tanner said. In-state students in the new program who do not qualify for financial aid will pay the same total tuition, just shy of $2,800 for an associate degree, not including the cost of books, classroom supplies, or other miscellaneous fees. Shasta College, like the other colleges in the pilot, is still trying to figure out how much to pay faculty in the new system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not every student can succeed in this self-paced format. Tanner said the plan is to vet students for the program through questions about their lives and study habits: “Do you need external deadlines? What kind of self-discipline do you have?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to make sure students fully understand what they’re getting into,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A growing phenomenon\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Such \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2023/09/community-colleges/\">alternative education systems\u003c/a> have existed for decades. Since the 1970s, some colleges and universities have experimented with new models of teaching and learning that offer more flexibility and try to evaluate students based on what they know, not on how much time they spent in class, Long said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1997, a group of 19 governors from Western states agreed to develop a private, nonprofit institution, known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.wgu.edu/student-experience/learning/how.html\">Western Governors University\u003c/a>, to provide “competency-based” education. With roughly 150,000 students today, it’s the \u003ca href=\"https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_312.10.asp\">largest higher education institution in the country\u003c/a>. Though headquartered in Utah, the university is entirely online and boasts students from all 50 states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other large for-profit and nonprofit university systems have experimented with the same model, including Capella University, an online college, and Southern New Hampshire University. California followed. In 2018, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2018/gov-brown-pushes-online-community-college-in-his-state-of-the-state-faculty-critic-remains-unmoved/593020\">at the behest of former Gov. Jerry Brown\u003c/a>, the state created a new community college, known as Calbright, which is free, entirely online, and exclusively “competency-based.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is radically different, and an incredibly powerful way to support our students,” Calbright’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.calbright.org/newsroom/blog/what-is-competency-based-education/\">blog\u003c/a> says about its model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/State-of-the-Field-Findings-from-2020-Postsecondary-CBE-Survey-July-2021.pdf\">2020 survey (PDF)\u003c/a> of nearly 500 colleges and universities across the country found that 13% were already offering at least one degree or certificate through competency-based education and roughly half of those surveyed were in the process of adopting one, though the report noted that there’s “considerable variation” about how they define the model.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Late-night homework makes progress slow\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Calbright student Jeremy Cox, the appeal was less about the instructional method and more about the convenience of online education. He started taking online classes in 2016 through for-profit companies such as Udemy and Coursera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960916\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11960916 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02.jpg\" alt='An older man with a blue, collared shirt that says \"Calbright College\" on it stands in a walkway with trees.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02.jpg 2000w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeremy Cox at Seal Beach on Aug. 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Julie A Hotz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“To be able to just pull out a phone and bust out a couple of lessons from Udemy or Coursera, that’s very helpful,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day while at a park near Long Beach with his children, Cox ran into a woman who told him about Calbright College. While Udemy and Coursera do not focus on a particular instructional method, Cox said his experience at Calbright College has been pretty similar, with two key differences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Udemy or Coursera, he said, Calbright provides teachers who are more available and respond quickly to questions via Slack, a messaging app. The other difference is social interaction. He has become involved in building community among his classmates and serves as the college’s first student body president.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calbright has had consistent enrollment growth each academic year since it began, despite \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2021/05/calbright-community-college-audi/\">a scathing report\u003c/a> from the state auditor’s office. State legislators have repeatedly tried to defund the school, pointing to poor academic outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though the college advertises that students can finish certificate programs in less than a year, CalMatters found that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2023/04/calbright-community-college/\">fewer than 10% of Calbright students do\u003c/a>. The data only runs through the spring of 2022, and Calbright was unable to provide updated figures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox said he had intended to complete an IT certification at Calbright in three to six months with a goal of one day getting a job that involves user design, artificial intelligence or blockchain. Now, he expects it to take about a year and a half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My study time is when the kids go to bed. I only have after 10 p.m.,” he said. “And then with student body responsibilities, my time is split between the two. Half of it is with the student body and half is my studies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Creating an ‘unprecedented’ new system\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With this new pilot, these eight community colleges in California aim to go one step further than Calbright College, using a similar concept but creating new curricula and setting up new systems to provide even more flexibility for students. Calbright is not in the pilot, but Lowe said the college has provided advice, such as strategies to support students outside the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the 2024–25 school year, these eight colleges plan to change part of their state funding formula, faculty pay, and financial aid regulations. They’re also adapting the licenses that allow them to operate, a process known as accreditation. These are changes that take years of work and include getting approval from district boards, state officials and federal agencies. Adapting financial aid policies is particularly cumbersome, but Long, president of the Competency-Based Education Network, said if the eight colleges can succeed, they’ll be the first two-year institutions in the country to do it. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Elizabeth Waterbury, music instructor and faculty association president, Shasta College\"]‘This whole framework is going to have to break or change and nobody really knows how to go about doing that.’[/pullquote] If the state’s community colleges can’t adapt to the competency model of no lectures or grades, other schools will beat them to it, said Lowe, an executive vice chancellor of the community college system. She pointed to “for-profits” as the primary competitor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Shasta College, Tanner said the pilot program offered an opportunity to train students as the state ramps up its plans to offer free transitional kindergarten, which is a year of school offered to any 4-year-old before kindergarten. California will need \u003ca href=\"https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/ca-transitional-kindergarten-workforce-brief\">as many as 15,600 new early childhood educators\u003c/a> by 2025–26 to teach transitional kindergarten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State law sets requirements for transitional kindergarten teachers, such as taking 24 units of early education college classes or having comparable professional experience. For those who already have some background in early childhood education, but not enough to meet the requirements, the new course model could allow them to “quickly demonstrate that they know their stuff,” Tanner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Unions and faculty leaders voice concern\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The success of the pilot depends on the support of the faculty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Take a look at teacher load, teacher contracts — that’s all connected to time in the classroom, lecture hours. This whole framework is going to have to break or change and nobody really knows how to go about doing that,” said Elizabeth Waterbury, a music instructor and the faculty association president at Shasta College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While she supports the idea, she’s concerned about what the new system could do to faculty pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m afraid we may be the ones who could make it more difficult for California to transition to competency-based education,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tanner and her colleagues haven’t yet tried to sell the faculty union on the pilot. Instead, they plan to ask faculty involved in the pilot program to track their time so that the college first understands the workload.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, faculty leaders from the Madera Community College Academic Senate expressed concerns about the ways this new model might impact their pay and intellectual property, college president Reyna said. The development of the new program has been on “pause” ever since, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960915\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11960915 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03.jpg\" alt=\"The campus of Madera Community College is show. A pole with the school's flag hangs on a pole. Students walk with backpacks.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03.jpg 2000w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Madera Community College banner hanging over the main walkway on campus on Aug. 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Aug. 25, the Madera Community College Academic Senate issued \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/CBE-Resolution-adopted-08.25.23.pdf\">a resolution (PDF) \u003c/a>saying it was “deeply concerned” about the direction of the pilot program and asked the college to “reconsider” participating. However, the former president of the academic senate, Brad Millar, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Attachment-C-Madera_Direct-Assessment-Competency-Based-Education-Collaborative-RFA-20-040.pdf\">already signed off on the formation of the program\u003c/a> on March 7, 2021, when the college submitted its application to join the pilot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in its resolution, the academic senate said anyone who signed the application on behalf of the group never sought approval from its members. When the members of the academic senate did discuss the program on Nov. 18, 2022, it “failed to garner support,” according to the resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In concept, there are many benefits,” Bill Turini, president of the Madera Community College Academic Senate, told CalMatters. One potential concern is that the model could lead to less qualified teachers in some instances, he said. He said the program is “still an abstraction” but pointed to other, simpler changes that he said yield similar results, such as more online instruction and flexible start dates. [pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Leticia Barajas, faculty member and president of academic senate, East Los Angeles College\"]‘We’ve now grown to an older student population. This is about institutional transformative change.’[/pullquote] Madera Community College is the newest community college in the state, officially recognized in 2020. It is part of a large district that includes Fresno City College, Clovis Community College, and Reedley College. None of the other schools in the district are participating in the pilot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any policy that we want to change at Madera Community College to accommodate competency-based education, it impacts the three other colleges,” Reyna said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>East Los Angeles College is the only college participating in the pilot among a nine-college district. It’s the largest community college district in the nation. It’s been slow to implement some of the changes required by the pilot program, but success there could make it easier for other colleges in the district to follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you talk to faculty who’ve been here longer than 10 years and their picture of an East Los Angeles College student, they envision a 20-year-old student taking 15 units (full-time) at the Monterey Park campus. We’ve now grown to an older student population,” said Leticia Barajas, a faculty member and president of the college’s academic senate. “This is about institutional transformative change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Eight California community colleges are trying a new education model that defines success by the skills a student learns, versus the time spent in a classroom.",
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"title": "'Radically Different': 8 California Community Colleges Test New Way to Earn Degrees With Less Class Time | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A revolution is in the making at California’s community colleges: No more grades, no more sitting through lectures or seminars, no more deadlines. In a pilot program taking shape across eight of the state’s community colleges, the only requirement for some associate degrees will be “competency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students who can prove that they have the relevant skills can earn that degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In theory, this model, known as “competency-based education,” could provide students with more flexibility and the potential to attain degrees faster in key job sectors. The pilot is geared toward working adults, many of whom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2023/06/community-college-enrollment-2/\">left community colleges at record rates\u003c/a> during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the state’s population of K-12 students continues to shrink, leaving colleges with fewer students right out of high school, the pilot aims to attract adults who are already in the workforce by “valuing their lived and work experience,” said Madera Community College President Ángel Reyna.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If successful, these community colleges will set themselves apart from every other two-year institution in the country. The pilot, which launched in 2021, provides \u003ca href=\"https://www.datawrapper.de/_/3nzyx/\">eight California community colleges\u003c/a> with up to $515,000 over four years to design a single associate degree program using this new model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is for students to be able to enroll at some point in the 2024–25 academic year, said Aisha Lowe, an executive vice chancellor at the California Community College Chancellor’s Office. In practice, colleges must overcome bureaucratic and logistical hurdles to make the new system work. At least one community college says it is struggling to hit the state’s deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The challenge is to create something that works “but isn’t so different that colleges can still wrap their heads around it and engage,” Lowe said. “It’s definitely unprecedented.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A new way to measure learning\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The new model restructures the requirements of a degree to reflect what students have learned, rather than the amount of time they spend in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, all college degrees require a certain number of hours spent in a classroom, either in-person or virtually. An associate degree, which California’s community colleges offer, requires roughly 3,000 hours spent in a classroom or on homework in a traditional academic year. That’s why some refer to it as a “two-year degree.” \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Teachers get paid in part based on the number of hours they teach. Because of the high number of part-time students, the state funds colleges and universities based largely on the number of hours that a student spends in class, not the number of students themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this current system, students may be required to sit through classes to get college credit even if they can demonstrate they already have some of the requisite skills. Students who may have less time for school because of work or family obligations lose out too, said Charla Long, the president of the Competency-Based Education Network, a consultant for California’s pilot program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve created an inequitable system because it’s so time-bound,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the new system, students seeking an associate degree in early childhood education at Shasta College in Redding will take 60 different exams, each one testing a specific skill, said Buffy Tanner, the college’s director of innovation and special projects. Students in the program will have materials to teach themselves, teachers will be available to answer questions and counselors will be able to provide wraparound support. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Currently, a student is required to take 20 semester-long classes for that same degree. Students in the new program will be able to take an exam up to three times and can move as quickly or as slowly as they want, Tanner said. In-state students in the new program who do not qualify for financial aid will pay the same total tuition, just shy of $2,800 for an associate degree, not including the cost of books, classroom supplies, or other miscellaneous fees. Shasta College, like the other colleges in the pilot, is still trying to figure out how much to pay faculty in the new system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not every student can succeed in this self-paced format. Tanner said the plan is to vet students for the program through questions about their lives and study habits: “Do you need external deadlines? What kind of self-discipline do you have?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to make sure students fully understand what they’re getting into,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A growing phenomenon\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Such \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2023/09/community-colleges/\">alternative education systems\u003c/a> have existed for decades. Since the 1970s, some colleges and universities have experimented with new models of teaching and learning that offer more flexibility and try to evaluate students based on what they know, not on how much time they spent in class, Long said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1997, a group of 19 governors from Western states agreed to develop a private, nonprofit institution, known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.wgu.edu/student-experience/learning/how.html\">Western Governors University\u003c/a>, to provide “competency-based” education. With roughly 150,000 students today, it’s the \u003ca href=\"https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_312.10.asp\">largest higher education institution in the country\u003c/a>. Though headquartered in Utah, the university is entirely online and boasts students from all 50 states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other large for-profit and nonprofit university systems have experimented with the same model, including Capella University, an online college, and Southern New Hampshire University. California followed. In 2018, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2018/gov-brown-pushes-online-community-college-in-his-state-of-the-state-faculty-critic-remains-unmoved/593020\">at the behest of former Gov. Jerry Brown\u003c/a>, the state created a new community college, known as Calbright, which is free, entirely online, and exclusively “competency-based.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is radically different, and an incredibly powerful way to support our students,” Calbright’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.calbright.org/newsroom/blog/what-is-competency-based-education/\">blog\u003c/a> says about its model.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.air.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/State-of-the-Field-Findings-from-2020-Postsecondary-CBE-Survey-July-2021.pdf\">2020 survey (PDF)\u003c/a> of nearly 500 colleges and universities across the country found that 13% were already offering at least one degree or certificate through competency-based education and roughly half of those surveyed were in the process of adopting one, though the report noted that there’s “considerable variation” about how they define the model.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Late-night homework makes progress slow\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For Calbright student Jeremy Cox, the appeal was less about the instructional method and more about the convenience of online education. He started taking online classes in 2016 through for-profit companies such as Udemy and Coursera.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960916\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11960916 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02.jpg\" alt='An older man with a blue, collared shirt that says \"Calbright College\" on it stands in a walkway with trees.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02.jpg 2000w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege02-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jeremy Cox at Seal Beach on Aug. 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Julie A Hotz/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“To be able to just pull out a phone and bust out a couple of lessons from Udemy or Coursera, that’s very helpful,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One day while at a park near Long Beach with his children, Cox ran into a woman who told him about Calbright College. While Udemy and Coursera do not focus on a particular instructional method, Cox said his experience at Calbright College has been pretty similar, with two key differences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Udemy or Coursera, he said, Calbright provides teachers who are more available and respond quickly to questions via Slack, a messaging app. The other difference is social interaction. He has become involved in building community among his classmates and serves as the college’s first student body president.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calbright has had consistent enrollment growth each academic year since it began, despite \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2021/05/calbright-community-college-audi/\">a scathing report\u003c/a> from the state auditor’s office. State legislators have repeatedly tried to defund the school, pointing to poor academic outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though the college advertises that students can finish certificate programs in less than a year, CalMatters found that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2023/04/calbright-community-college/\">fewer than 10% of Calbright students do\u003c/a>. The data only runs through the spring of 2022, and Calbright was unable to provide updated figures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cox said he had intended to complete an IT certification at Calbright in three to six months with a goal of one day getting a job that involves user design, artificial intelligence or blockchain. Now, he expects it to take about a year and a half.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My study time is when the kids go to bed. I only have after 10 p.m.,” he said. “And then with student body responsibilities, my time is split between the two. Half of it is with the student body and half is my studies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Creating an ‘unprecedented’ new system\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With this new pilot, these eight community colleges in California aim to go one step further than Calbright College, using a similar concept but creating new curricula and setting up new systems to provide even more flexibility for students. Calbright is not in the pilot, but Lowe said the college has provided advice, such as strategies to support students outside the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the 2024–25 school year, these eight colleges plan to change part of their state funding formula, faculty pay, and financial aid regulations. They’re also adapting the licenses that allow them to operate, a process known as accreditation. These are changes that take years of work and include getting approval from district boards, state officials and federal agencies. Adapting financial aid policies is particularly cumbersome, but Long, president of the Competency-Based Education Network, said if the eight colleges can succeed, they’ll be the first two-year institutions in the country to do it. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> If the state’s community colleges can’t adapt to the competency model of no lectures or grades, other schools will beat them to it, said Lowe, an executive vice chancellor of the community college system. She pointed to “for-profits” as the primary competitor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Shasta College, Tanner said the pilot program offered an opportunity to train students as the state ramps up its plans to offer free transitional kindergarten, which is a year of school offered to any 4-year-old before kindergarten. California will need \u003ca href=\"https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/ca-transitional-kindergarten-workforce-brief\">as many as 15,600 new early childhood educators\u003c/a> by 2025–26 to teach transitional kindergarten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State law sets requirements for transitional kindergarten teachers, such as taking 24 units of early education college classes or having comparable professional experience. For those who already have some background in early childhood education, but not enough to meet the requirements, the new course model could allow them to “quickly demonstrate that they know their stuff,” Tanner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Unions and faculty leaders voice concern\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The success of the pilot depends on the support of the faculty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Take a look at teacher load, teacher contracts — that’s all connected to time in the classroom, lecture hours. This whole framework is going to have to break or change and nobody really knows how to go about doing that,” said Elizabeth Waterbury, a music instructor and the faculty association president at Shasta College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While she supports the idea, she’s concerned about what the new system could do to faculty pay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m afraid we may be the ones who could make it more difficult for California to transition to competency-based education,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tanner and her colleagues haven’t yet tried to sell the faculty union on the pilot. Instead, they plan to ask faculty involved in the pilot program to track their time so that the college first understands the workload.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, faculty leaders from the Madera Community College Academic Senate expressed concerns about the ways this new model might impact their pay and intellectual property, college president Reyna said. The development of the new program has been on “pause” ever since, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11960915\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11960915 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03.jpg\" alt=\"The campus of Madera Community College is show. A pole with the school's flag hangs on a pole. Students walk with backpacks.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03.jpg 2000w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/09/CMCollege03-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Madera Community College banner hanging over the main walkway on campus on Aug. 28, 2023. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters/CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Aug. 25, the Madera Community College Academic Senate issued \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/CBE-Resolution-adopted-08.25.23.pdf\">a resolution (PDF) \u003c/a>saying it was “deeply concerned” about the direction of the pilot program and asked the college to “reconsider” participating. However, the former president of the academic senate, Brad Millar, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Attachment-C-Madera_Direct-Assessment-Competency-Based-Education-Collaborative-RFA-20-040.pdf\">already signed off on the formation of the program\u003c/a> on March 7, 2021, when the college submitted its application to join the pilot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in its resolution, the academic senate said anyone who signed the application on behalf of the group never sought approval from its members. When the members of the academic senate did discuss the program on Nov. 18, 2022, it “failed to garner support,” according to the resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In concept, there are many benefits,” Bill Turini, president of the Madera Community College Academic Senate, told CalMatters. One potential concern is that the model could lead to less qualified teachers in some instances, he said. He said the program is “still an abstraction” but pointed to other, simpler changes that he said yield similar results, such as more online instruction and flexible start dates. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> Madera Community College is the newest community college in the state, officially recognized in 2020. It is part of a large district that includes Fresno City College, Clovis Community College, and Reedley College. None of the other schools in the district are participating in the pilot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any policy that we want to change at Madera Community College to accommodate competency-based education, it impacts the three other colleges,” Reyna said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>East Los Angeles College is the only college participating in the pilot among a nine-college district. It’s the largest community college district in the nation. It’s been slow to implement some of the changes required by the pilot program, but success there could make it easier for other colleges in the district to follow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you talk to faculty who’ve been here longer than 10 years and their picture of an East Los Angeles College student, they envision a 20-year-old student taking 15 units (full-time) at the Monterey Park campus. We’ve now grown to an older student population,” said Leticia Barajas, a faculty member and president of the college’s academic senate. “This is about institutional transformative change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California Community College Students Face Tough Barriers When Transferring",
"headTitle": "California Community College Students Face Tough Barriers When Transferring | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Jacob Beeman’s transfer goals were pushed back by about a year because he was taking the wrong community college classes to transfer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had been jumping through all these hoops to try and get the right classes I needed to transfer and going off the advice of people who I trusted to know what they were doing,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Except Beeman, 26, who was interested in transferring into the University of California system to study chemical engineering, said he was incorrectly advised by three different advisers while attending Fresno City College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Different advisers thought I needed one particular class — a communications class,” he said. “And then I found out later that that particular class UC didn’t accept, so I had to sign up for another one. And then I was told the UC doesn’t actually require a communications class at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beeman’s experience is familiar to many students. A recent EdSource special report, “\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/despite-decades-of-calls-to-action-california-community-college-students-face-roadblocks-to-transfer/689984\">A broken system of university transfers\u003c/a>,” detailed the barriers for students who want to transfer into the state’s public universities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a\u003ca href=\"https://collegecampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/imported-files/Chutes-or-Ladders-final-web.pdf\"> 2021 study (PDF)\u003c/a> found, only 2.5% actually do so in two years or less and 23% in four years or less. EdSource also conducted a survey of current and former students, which revealed that over half had difficulties with the transfer process. The responses reflect the problems that the state, universities and two-year colleges have addressed or are working to improve but former and current students say they continue to experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it came to understanding the courses they needed to take to transfer, among 586 respondents, more than 52% agreed with Beeman that the process was difficult to understand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most current students indicated they had successfully transferred to a four-year university, but nearly half said they had found the transfer process difficult to understand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Do you agree with this statement: The transfer process from a community college to a university is easy to understand\" aria-label=\"Bar Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-u1H78\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/u1H78/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"300\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 700 people responded, with 45% identifying as current students and nearly 47% as former students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After his experience, Beeman said his attitude about transfer changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It empowered me to take it into my own hands,” said Beeman who started by reading the detailed transfer agreements between the California community colleges, the California State University system and the UC system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jacob Beeman, incoming UC Riverside student\"]‘I had been jumping through all these hoops to try and get the right classes I needed to transfer and going off the advice of people who I trusted to know what they were doing.’[/pullquote]\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beeman said it wasn’t easy. He would compare the agreements to figure out which classes he needed and return to the transfer center to see if they agreed with his assessment. Finally, he was able to put together a plan that worked for him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beeman graduated from Fresno City College this spring with plans to attend UC Riverside this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aisha Lowe, the community college system’s vice chancellor for educational services, said she understands students’ frustrations and confusion with the transfer process. She cited “local authority” that allows individual CSU campuses to determine whether certain associate degrees will be accepted for transfer into their campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really leaves our students in a position where if they want to be competitive, they end up taking a multiplicity of courses so that they can align to a diversity of requirements across any particular set of university institutions that they’re trying to gain admissions into,” Lowe said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC also makes its own rules about transfers and last week declared its opposition to automatically admitting students who complete an “associate degree for transfer,” saying it would leave some students unprepared for their majors because they would enter lacking required courses. CSU has adopted the pathway, and lawmakers are pushing it as a way to ease transfer from community colleges to the nine UC campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Years to transfer\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For some community college students, current and former, it’s taken years or even decades to complete their transfer goal. Among current students who took the survey, more than 68% reported it’s taking them more than two years to complete their community college degree, with nearly 8% of them reporting it’s taking more than four years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Marvin Espinoza, current CSU San Bernardino student\"]‘I was working full-time and going to school at night. Most of my classmates relied heavily on each other to keep informed.’[/pullquote]Marvin Espinoza said he found there was little support for working students when he first enrolled in community college in 1991. He would eventually transfer to CSU Dominguez Hills in 1997.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was working full-time and going to school at night,” he said. “Most of my classmates relied heavily on each other to keep informed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Espinoza, who was also supporting a family while in college, said he ultimately transferred with more than 100 credit hours because, at the time, he had to take a host of remedial classes, which don’t offer credit. The vast majority of remedial education in California’s community colleges was\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/dozens-of-community-colleges-offer-remedial-classes-bill-to-ban-them-awaits-newsoms-signature/677640\"> banned only\u003c/a> last year when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1705.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was very discouraging,” said Espinoza, who dropped and withdrew from a variety of classes during his community college time while studying child development at LA Southwest. After being placed on academic probation, Espinoza had to appeal to the college that he would gradually pass his classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to get out of there,” he said, adding that it was his determination and his work within Los Angeles Unified School District to move up the career ladder that encouraged him to get his degree and pursue a transfer. At the time, Espinoza worked as a teaching aide and traveling playground supervisor for the school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Espinoza is pursuing his doctoral degree from CSU San Bernardino where he’s working on a dissertation examining the experiences of Black and Latino males’ transitioning to college. Espinoza, who describes himself as Black, said he wants to use his experience to help other men of color earn their degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most respondents — nearly 77% of 648 of them — said they took breaks or dropped out of college for financial, academic, family or work obligations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It took Arlene Del Bene nearly 40 years, and three community colleges, to eventually transfer to UC Davis. She first enrolled in Hartnell College shortly after graduating from high school in 1979.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More on California Community Colleges' tag='california-community-colleges']“I had always wanted to go to UC, even when I was in high school,” Del Bene said. “I’m a first-generation college student, or at least I was at the time. I was the oldest in my family, but I didn’t know how to get (to UC).”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Del Bene said there wasn’t a road map for transferring. And eventually, other priorities like getting married, having children, and maintaining a job became more important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Del Bene watched her younger siblings and children attend and graduate from college. But she remained determined to earn a UC degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until 2000 that Del Bene enrolled once again at Los Medanos College to try to transfer again. By then she had four children and was working full-time. It would be another 15 years before she would transfer to UC Davis in 2015, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The importance of counseling\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Out of 648 respondents, nearly 82% reported they had an adviser who guided them in selecting their college courses. And of the 18% of respondents who said they didn’t have an adviser, 32% said having help would have made the process easier for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Do you agree with this statement: It is or was easy to schedule a timely appointment with my counselor or adviser\" aria-label=\"Bar Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-1mZg8\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/1mZg8/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"300\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mauricio Gonzalez became so disillusioned with California’s transfer process, both as a student and later as a college counselor, that he decided to do something about it: He left his job to launch a tech startup to help students navigate the college experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez, originally from King City in Salinas Valley, enrolled at Cuesta College in 1994.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Mauricio Gonzalez, college counselor\"]‘I’m going straight to the students and their families. My wife and I said enough is enough. We left our jobs to revolutionize how people survive higher ed. And I say ‘survive’ because it’s survival.’[/pullquote]A first-generation college student, Gonzalez said he likely would have dropped out if not for Janet Flores, a counselor he met by chance at Cuesta. Flores, who was Latina, helped keep him motivated and eventually became his mentor. Before being introduced to Flores, Gonzalez said he never met faculty or staff “who resembled me” or who understood him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She understood why I didn’t really have a goal or a plan. She understood all that, and she took me under her wing and started counseling me,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Gonzalez entered college, he didn’t know what he wanted to study but decided on Chicano studies after Flores introduced him to her own undergraduate major.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before those classes, I never saw my people in history books. I was only taught white history. We were taught that we are farmworkers, that we are the labor, that we are the cleaners of the home, the construction workers. But those classes changed my life. I now understood systematic racism and discrimination,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He eventually transferred to Sonoma State University and, drawing inspiration from Flores, would go on to get his master’s degree in counseling at San Jose State.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since finishing his master’s in 2001, Gonzalez has worked as a counselor at community colleges, most recently at Sacramento City College. But he became discouraged when, as one of 10 counselors, he could only see a maximum of 10 students a day for 30 minutes at a time. It wasn’t enough time with students, and Gonzalez realized that most students aren’t fortunate enough to build relationships with counselors like he did with Flores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s hoping he can make more of an impact with his new company, called \u003ca href=\"https://inspirame.com/\">Inspirame\u003c/a> — or “inspire me” in Spanish. One of its main features is to take information about courses and degree programs and simplify it for students. Students can also find out what financial aid they are eligible to receive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m going straight to the students and their families. My wife and I said enough is enough. We left our jobs to revolutionize how people survive higher ed. And I say ‘survive’ because it’s survival,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Confusing pathways\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Confusion over what courses to take also affects students who return to community colleges for advanced training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laura Jennings had already had her teaching degree when she moved from Delaware to California with her military husband. But, in order to continue teaching special education in the state, Jennings needed certifications in autism and English as a second language. So, in 2013, she enrolled at Solano Community College near Travis Air Force Base, where her husband was stationed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Laura Jennings, special education teacher\"]‘Figuring out which classes to take was difficult and the advisers really had no clue about state licensure or how any of the courses related to what I was trying to accomplish in terms of career movement. That was frustrating.’[/pullquote]“Figuring out which classes to take was difficult and the advisers really had no clue about state licensure or how any of the courses related to what I was trying to accomplish in terms of career movement,” Jennings, 41, said. “That was frustrating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennings, who worked as a teacher on a provisional license at the time, said she contacted the military veterans representative in Solano County for help and reached out to the state’s teacher credentialing office, which eventually helped her figure out that she needed six autism and eight ESL classes. But Solano’s class schedules required her to take them one at a time, which meant finishing in two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always did look at the community college and thinking this is the place where you get the lowest cost, and usually you can enroll, do the class, and be done,” she said. “You don’t have to do the huge admissions process of a university, but it’s just really hard to get classes that you want at the time that you want them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennings learned that she could finish the credentials online in one year at the former non-profit Brandman University, now UMass Global. Although choosing a private, nonprofit or for-profit institution tends to cost students more than attending a community college, Jennings said she worked as a teacher on a provisional license and her school covered her tuition costs. Jennings said she also didn’t qualify for any financial aid at the community college because she already had a degree and is married.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe if I was about to get my degree, I would’ve advocated more and said, ‘Hey, we need to change this, it needs to be easier,” Jennings said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennings was among the 5% who said they did not complete their program or degree. She ended up becoming a website builder with skills she learned from Google training through Coursera, an open online learning platform that partners with businesses, universities and colleges to provide degrees and certifications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would rather have taken those classes in person, too,” she said. “But the community colleges don’t really offer those accelerated programs that are online.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A smooth transfer for some\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite the barriers to transfer, 36% of respondents said it was easy for them to understand which courses they needed to take for transfer, of which nearly 8% reported it was extremely easy to understand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How easy was/is it for you to know which courses are needed for transfer?\" aria-label=\"Bar Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-cxior\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/cxior/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"274\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A transfer system often described as complex and confusing was anything but that for Alex Moxon, something he attributes to his counselors at Butte College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moxon started at the University of Arizona, but after a semester returned to his hometown near Chico and enrolled in 2019 at Butte.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While at Butte, Moxon met regularly with an adviser who helped guide him through his computer science bachelor’s degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I first showed up for orientation, I met with this adviser and she asked me what my goals were and what I was thinking degree-wise and where I wanted to go. And based on that, she gave me a road map of what classes I needed to take and which ones would transfer to CSU,” Moxon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moxon said he met in person with that adviser every semester. On top of that, he got regular emails from her as she checked in to see how his classes were going and make sure he was staying on track. Once he got to Chico State, he had a similarly positive experience with the computer science faculty, who held workshops and provided him with road maps each semester so he knew what classes to take. He graduated in 2021 and now works for American Express as a software engineer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956340\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956340\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01.jpg\" alt=\"The outside of a community college student services building. It's a large, gray building with many windows. College students are seen with backpacks entering and exiting the building on a sunny day.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students walk around campus at East Los Angeles College on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022 in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His only complaint about the process was having to hand-deliver his transcripts to Chico State after two attempts by mail, a snafu his roommates faced as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatiana Torres, who was recently accepted as a transfer student to UC Berkeley for this fall, also described her experience as mostly positive. She credits this to her assertive nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up in Contra Costa County, Torres always dreamed of attending Berkeley. Her aunt, the first in their family to go to college, attended Berkeley. Torres’ dad would also often take her to volleyball games at Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More Stories on the UC System' tag='university-of-california']After Torres was rejected from most of UC’s campuses when she was a senior in high school, she decided to attend a community college, Los Medanos, and try to transfer to Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres aimed to finish her classes at Los Medanos within one year, an ambitious but doable goal because she entered with 23 credits from Advanced Placement and dual enrollment classes she took in high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Transferring within one year was “really stressful,” said Torres, who took classes last summer and over the winter term. Among the most challenging tasks was making sure she was taking the specific courses she needed for her political science major.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres said she would often show up at the transfer center at Los Medanos, ask to meet with counselors and “ask a lot of questions.” She also joined a mentorship program and got paired with a student from Berkeley who had successfully transferred. Torres said she talked to her mentor “all the time” and the two of them worked tirelessly on the essays that Torres submitted as part of her application, which she felt were crucial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was ultimately accepted both at Berkeley and at UC Davis and chose to enroll at Berkeley, where she begins classes in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You definitely have to go out, and you have to look for resources and advocate for yourself,” Torres said of the transfer process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/transferring-from-california-community-colleges-its-a-tough-road-edsource-survey-finds/693791\">This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Jacob Beeman’s transfer goals were pushed back by about a year because he was taking the wrong community college classes to transfer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had been jumping through all these hoops to try and get the right classes I needed to transfer and going off the advice of people who I trusted to know what they were doing,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Except Beeman, 26, who was interested in transferring into the University of California system to study chemical engineering, said he was incorrectly advised by three different advisers while attending Fresno City College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Different advisers thought I needed one particular class — a communications class,” he said. “And then I found out later that that particular class UC didn’t accept, so I had to sign up for another one. And then I was told the UC doesn’t actually require a communications class at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beeman’s experience is familiar to many students. A recent EdSource special report, “\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/despite-decades-of-calls-to-action-california-community-college-students-face-roadblocks-to-transfer/689984\">A broken system of university transfers\u003c/a>,” detailed the barriers for students who want to transfer into the state’s public universities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a\u003ca href=\"https://collegecampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/imported-files/Chutes-or-Ladders-final-web.pdf\"> 2021 study (PDF)\u003c/a> found, only 2.5% actually do so in two years or less and 23% in four years or less. EdSource also conducted a survey of current and former students, which revealed that over half had difficulties with the transfer process. The responses reflect the problems that the state, universities and two-year colleges have addressed or are working to improve but former and current students say they continue to experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it came to understanding the courses they needed to take to transfer, among 586 respondents, more than 52% agreed with Beeman that the process was difficult to understand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most current students indicated they had successfully transferred to a four-year university, but nearly half said they had found the transfer process difficult to understand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Do you agree with this statement: The transfer process from a community college to a university is easy to understand\" aria-label=\"Bar Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-u1H78\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/u1H78/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"300\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 700 people responded, with 45% identifying as current students and nearly 47% as former students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After his experience, Beeman said his attitude about transfer changed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It empowered me to take it into my own hands,” said Beeman who started by reading the detailed transfer agreements between the California community colleges, the California State University system and the UC system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beeman said it wasn’t easy. He would compare the agreements to figure out which classes he needed and return to the transfer center to see if they agreed with his assessment. Finally, he was able to put together a plan that worked for him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beeman graduated from Fresno City College this spring with plans to attend UC Riverside this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aisha Lowe, the community college system’s vice chancellor for educational services, said she understands students’ frustrations and confusion with the transfer process. She cited “local authority” that allows individual CSU campuses to determine whether certain associate degrees will be accepted for transfer into their campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really leaves our students in a position where if they want to be competitive, they end up taking a multiplicity of courses so that they can align to a diversity of requirements across any particular set of university institutions that they’re trying to gain admissions into,” Lowe said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC also makes its own rules about transfers and last week declared its opposition to automatically admitting students who complete an “associate degree for transfer,” saying it would leave some students unprepared for their majors because they would enter lacking required courses. CSU has adopted the pathway, and lawmakers are pushing it as a way to ease transfer from community colleges to the nine UC campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Years to transfer\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For some community college students, current and former, it’s taken years or even decades to complete their transfer goal. Among current students who took the survey, more than 68% reported it’s taking them more than two years to complete their community college degree, with nearly 8% of them reporting it’s taking more than four years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Marvin Espinoza said he found there was little support for working students when he first enrolled in community college in 1991. He would eventually transfer to CSU Dominguez Hills in 1997.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was working full-time and going to school at night,” he said. “Most of my classmates relied heavily on each other to keep informed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Espinoza, who was also supporting a family while in college, said he ultimately transferred with more than 100 credit hours because, at the time, he had to take a host of remedial classes, which don’t offer credit. The vast majority of remedial education in California’s community colleges was\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/dozens-of-community-colleges-offer-remedial-classes-bill-to-ban-them-awaits-newsoms-signature/677640\"> banned only\u003c/a> last year when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1705.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was very discouraging,” said Espinoza, who dropped and withdrew from a variety of classes during his community college time while studying child development at LA Southwest. After being placed on academic probation, Espinoza had to appeal to the college that he would gradually pass his classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to get out of there,” he said, adding that it was his determination and his work within Los Angeles Unified School District to move up the career ladder that encouraged him to get his degree and pursue a transfer. At the time, Espinoza worked as a teaching aide and traveling playground supervisor for the school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, Espinoza is pursuing his doctoral degree from CSU San Bernardino where he’s working on a dissertation examining the experiences of Black and Latino males’ transitioning to college. Espinoza, who describes himself as Black, said he wants to use his experience to help other men of color earn their degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most respondents — nearly 77% of 648 of them — said they took breaks or dropped out of college for financial, academic, family or work obligations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It took Arlene Del Bene nearly 40 years, and three community colleges, to eventually transfer to UC Davis. She first enrolled in Hartnell College shortly after graduating from high school in 1979.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I had always wanted to go to UC, even when I was in high school,” Del Bene said. “I’m a first-generation college student, or at least I was at the time. I was the oldest in my family, but I didn’t know how to get (to UC).”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Del Bene said there wasn’t a road map for transferring. And eventually, other priorities like getting married, having children, and maintaining a job became more important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Del Bene watched her younger siblings and children attend and graduate from college. But she remained determined to earn a UC degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until 2000 that Del Bene enrolled once again at Los Medanos College to try to transfer again. By then she had four children and was working full-time. It would be another 15 years before she would transfer to UC Davis in 2015, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The importance of counseling\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Out of 648 respondents, nearly 82% reported they had an adviser who guided them in selecting their college courses. And of the 18% of respondents who said they didn’t have an adviser, 32% said having help would have made the process easier for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Do you agree with this statement: It is or was easy to schedule a timely appointment with my counselor or adviser\" aria-label=\"Bar Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-1mZg8\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/1mZg8/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"300\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mauricio Gonzalez became so disillusioned with California’s transfer process, both as a student and later as a college counselor, that he decided to do something about it: He left his job to launch a tech startup to help students navigate the college experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gonzalez, originally from King City in Salinas Valley, enrolled at Cuesta College in 1994.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I’m going straight to the students and their families. My wife and I said enough is enough. We left our jobs to revolutionize how people survive higher ed. And I say ‘survive’ because it’s survival.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A first-generation college student, Gonzalez said he likely would have dropped out if not for Janet Flores, a counselor he met by chance at Cuesta. Flores, who was Latina, helped keep him motivated and eventually became his mentor. Before being introduced to Flores, Gonzalez said he never met faculty or staff “who resembled me” or who understood him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She understood why I didn’t really have a goal or a plan. She understood all that, and she took me under her wing and started counseling me,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Gonzalez entered college, he didn’t know what he wanted to study but decided on Chicano studies after Flores introduced him to her own undergraduate major.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Before those classes, I never saw my people in history books. I was only taught white history. We were taught that we are farmworkers, that we are the labor, that we are the cleaners of the home, the construction workers. But those classes changed my life. I now understood systematic racism and discrimination,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He eventually transferred to Sonoma State University and, drawing inspiration from Flores, would go on to get his master’s degree in counseling at San Jose State.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since finishing his master’s in 2001, Gonzalez has worked as a counselor at community colleges, most recently at Sacramento City College. But he became discouraged when, as one of 10 counselors, he could only see a maximum of 10 students a day for 30 minutes at a time. It wasn’t enough time with students, and Gonzalez realized that most students aren’t fortunate enough to build relationships with counselors like he did with Flores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s hoping he can make more of an impact with his new company, called \u003ca href=\"https://inspirame.com/\">Inspirame\u003c/a> — or “inspire me” in Spanish. One of its main features is to take information about courses and degree programs and simplify it for students. Students can also find out what financial aid they are eligible to receive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m going straight to the students and their families. My wife and I said enough is enough. We left our jobs to revolutionize how people survive higher ed. And I say ‘survive’ because it’s survival,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Confusing pathways\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Confusion over what courses to take also affects students who return to community colleges for advanced training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Laura Jennings had already had her teaching degree when she moved from Delaware to California with her military husband. But, in order to continue teaching special education in the state, Jennings needed certifications in autism and English as a second language. So, in 2013, she enrolled at Solano Community College near Travis Air Force Base, where her husband was stationed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Figuring out which classes to take was difficult and the advisers really had no clue about state licensure or how any of the courses related to what I was trying to accomplish in terms of career movement. That was frustrating.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Figuring out which classes to take was difficult and the advisers really had no clue about state licensure or how any of the courses related to what I was trying to accomplish in terms of career movement,” Jennings, 41, said. “That was frustrating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennings, who worked as a teacher on a provisional license at the time, said she contacted the military veterans representative in Solano County for help and reached out to the state’s teacher credentialing office, which eventually helped her figure out that she needed six autism and eight ESL classes. But Solano’s class schedules required her to take them one at a time, which meant finishing in two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I always did look at the community college and thinking this is the place where you get the lowest cost, and usually you can enroll, do the class, and be done,” she said. “You don’t have to do the huge admissions process of a university, but it’s just really hard to get classes that you want at the time that you want them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennings learned that she could finish the credentials online in one year at the former non-profit Brandman University, now UMass Global. Although choosing a private, nonprofit or for-profit institution tends to cost students more than attending a community college, Jennings said she worked as a teacher on a provisional license and her school covered her tuition costs. Jennings said she also didn’t qualify for any financial aid at the community college because she already had a degree and is married.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe if I was about to get my degree, I would’ve advocated more and said, ‘Hey, we need to change this, it needs to be easier,” Jennings said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennings was among the 5% who said they did not complete their program or degree. She ended up becoming a website builder with skills she learned from Google training through Coursera, an open online learning platform that partners with businesses, universities and colleges to provide degrees and certifications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would rather have taken those classes in person, too,” she said. “But the community colleges don’t really offer those accelerated programs that are online.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A smooth transfer for some\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite the barriers to transfer, 36% of respondents said it was easy for them to understand which courses they needed to take for transfer, of which nearly 8% reported it was extremely easy to understand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How easy was/is it for you to know which courses are needed for transfer?\" aria-label=\"Bar Chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-cxior\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/cxior/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"274\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A transfer system often described as complex and confusing was anything but that for Alex Moxon, something he attributes to his counselors at Butte College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moxon started at the University of Arizona, but after a semester returned to his hometown near Chico and enrolled in 2019 at Butte.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While at Butte, Moxon met regularly with an adviser who helped guide him through his computer science bachelor’s degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I first showed up for orientation, I met with this adviser and she asked me what my goals were and what I was thinking degree-wise and where I wanted to go. And based on that, she gave me a road map of what classes I needed to take and which ones would transfer to CSU,” Moxon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moxon said he met in person with that adviser every semester. On top of that, he got regular emails from her as she checked in to see how his classes were going and make sure he was staying on track. Once he got to Chico State, he had a similarly positive experience with the computer science faculty, who held workshops and provided him with road maps each semester so he knew what classes to take. He graduated in 2021 and now works for American Express as a software engineer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956340\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11956340\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01.jpg\" alt=\"The outside of a community college student services building. It's a large, gray building with many windows. College students are seen with backpacks entering and exiting the building on a sunny day.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/EdSourceCommunityCollege01-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students walk around campus at East Los Angeles College on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022 in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>His only complaint about the process was having to hand-deliver his transcripts to Chico State after two attempts by mail, a snafu his roommates faced as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tatiana Torres, who was recently accepted as a transfer student to UC Berkeley for this fall, also described her experience as mostly positive. She credits this to her assertive nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing up in Contra Costa County, Torres always dreamed of attending Berkeley. Her aunt, the first in their family to go to college, attended Berkeley. Torres’ dad would also often take her to volleyball games at Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>After Torres was rejected from most of UC’s campuses when she was a senior in high school, she decided to attend a community college, Los Medanos, and try to transfer to Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres aimed to finish her classes at Los Medanos within one year, an ambitious but doable goal because she entered with 23 credits from Advanced Placement and dual enrollment classes she took in high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Transferring within one year was “really stressful,” said Torres, who took classes last summer and over the winter term. Among the most challenging tasks was making sure she was taking the specific courses she needed for her political science major.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Torres said she would often show up at the transfer center at Los Medanos, ask to meet with counselors and “ask a lot of questions.” She also joined a mentorship program and got paired with a student from Berkeley who had successfully transferred. Torres said she talked to her mentor “all the time” and the two of them worked tirelessly on the essays that Torres submitted as part of her application, which she felt were crucial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was ultimately accepted both at Berkeley and at UC Davis and chose to enroll at Berkeley, where she begins classes in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You definitely have to go out, and you have to look for resources and advocate for yourself,” Torres said of the transfer process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/transferring-from-california-community-colleges-its-a-tough-road-edsource-survey-finds/693791\">This story originally appeared in EdSource.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "State's Promise to Build More Campus Housing Hits Setbacks",
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"headTitle": "State’s Promise to Build More Campus Housing Hits Setbacks | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Campus housing: Students can’t get enough of it, and California public campuses can’t build dorm rooms fast enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed delaying by a year \u003ca href=\"https://ebudget.ca.gov/2023-24/pdf/BudgetSummary/HigherEducation.pdf#page=7\">nearly $1.2 billion in loans and grants (PDF)\u003c/a> that would build housing for thousands of students at affordable rates — money the state promised campuses in last year’s state budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom seeks the delay to help balance the state’s projected $22.5 billion budget deficit in 2023–24. But lawmakers who hold huge sway over higher-education finances are adamant that no money is pulled from the state’s recent, unprecedented \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2022/07/student-housing-affordable-dorms/\">multibillion-dollar down payment\u003c/a> on affordable student housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding to the intrigue, the Legislature’s own top policy adviser, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, proposed that the state \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/2023/03/california-flood-reservoir-rain-snow/#:~:text=From%20CalMatters%20higher%20education%20reporter%20Mikhail%20Zinshteyn%3A\">completely drop its investment in student housing\u003c/a> or at least change how the money is spent. One such idea? Renege on \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2023/4733/Student-Housing-030923.pdf#page=8\">a promise to continue sending community colleges grants (PDF)\u003c/a> to build more student housing for next year.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Assemblymember Kevin McCarty\"]‘This is such a priority for the Senate and the Assembly the last couple years and just checks so many boxes: Housing crisis, check. College affordability, check. Enrollment growth for students, check.’[/pullquote]Ultimately the state must have a balanced budget before June 30, but if the last three legislative budget hearings on higher education are any indication, how much — and when — to spend on student housing will be a key point of friction between the Democrat-controlled Legislature and Newsom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor’s plans to delay housing funding is “something that we don’t support, and we’re going to be looking at other options,” said Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, a Democrat from Sacramento and chair of the Assembly’s budget subcommittee on education, at a Tuesday hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is such a priority for the Senate and the Assembly the last couple years and just checks so many boxes: Housing crisis, check. College affordability, check. Enrollment growth for students, check,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Newsom gets his way, the $750 million campus housing grants slated for 2023–24 would drop to $500 million, and the remaining $250 million would become available in 2024–25. And rather than spending a combined $1.8 billion on \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2022/01/student-housing-2/\">campus no-interest loans\u003c/a> in 2023–24 and 2024–25, Newsom proposed zero dollars in 2023–24 and spreading the funds across the subsequent two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Effectively the governor’s budget maintains the overall funding commitment for these two student housing programs,” said Michelle Nguyen of the Department of Finance, an office in the governor’s administration. “But given the budget outlook, the governor’s budget proposes funding delays for these programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That may be bad news for the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/multimedia/podcasts/gimme-shelter/2022/11/california-student-housing-crisis/\">hundreds of thousands of college students\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2022/01/student-housing-2/#:~:text=The%20system%20has%20made%20strides%3A\">desperate pursuit\u003c/a> of housing — even if these state efforts can build only a fraction of the living quarters survey data say is needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sparing campus-housing funding from cuts is a bipartisan sentiment in the Legislature. It’s important that “we have the funding available and not delayed … in order to build housing necessary to accommodate those students in the universities, especially when the state is requiring a certain level of enrollment for each university,” said Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, a Republican from Rancho Cucamonga, at a Senate subcommittee hearing last Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirty campuses remain unfazed and have submitted plans exceeding $2.1 billion to build as many as 12,700 additional dorm beds with low rents. The size of the projects varies, including 1,553 affordable beds at UC Riverside, 517 at San José State and 117 at Lassen Community College in northeastern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the University of California, the state grants supplement plans to construct \u003ca href=\"https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar23/j1.pdf#page=3\">an extra 22,000 beds by 2028 (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Included in the state grant mix is housing for UC graduate students — 236 dorm beds at UC Merced, a campus \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2023/01/uc-housing-problem-persists-for-graduate-students/\">with just nine beds for graduate students\u003c/a> at a time when affordable housing was a major rallying cry for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2023/01/six-takeaways-for-californians-after-the-uc-graduate-student-worker-strike/\">students striking late last fall\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All told, the University of California’s \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/March%2014%20Sub%202%20%20Agenda.pdf#page=4\">six grant proposals pencil out to about $108,000 per affordable bed (PDF)\u003c/a>; Cal State’s three projects \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/March%2014%20Sub%202%20%20Agenda.pdf#page=4\">would cost $170,000 per bed (PDF)\u003c/a>; and the 21 plans submitted by community colleges — schools with little experience building student housing — \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/March%2014%20Sub%202%20%20Agenda.pdf#page=5\">would cost $205,000 per bed (PDF)\u003c/a>. (Overall, last year’s approved state-funded dorms \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2022/07/student-housing-affordable-dorms/#:~:text=affordable%20through%20the%20grant\">were slightly more expensive\u003c/a> per bed.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the Legislature and Newsom agree to pull no dollars from the housing grant in 2023–24, most of those plans will go unfunded by the program. That’s because last year’s spending road map called for pouring $750 million into the grant in 2023–24 — about a third of the money colleges and universities are seeking.[aside postID=\"news_11937658,news_11938865\" label=\"Related Posts\"]It’s a case of déjà vu: When the affordable housing grant program took applications from campuses for the first time in 2021, 42 campuses submitted construction bids totaling $2.8 billion — well above the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2022/07/student-housing-affordable-dorms/#:~:text=Lawmakers%20initially%20created%20a%20%24500%20million%20pot\">$500 million the state planned to spend\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the state eyeing \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2022/05/newsom-budget-spending/\">a $100 billion budget surplus last year\u003c/a>, lawmakers and Newsom nearly tripled last year’s budget for the housing grant program, in part by advancing money from future budgets, ultimately greenlighting the construction of roughly 7,300 affordable residencies for students with lower incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-budget/2023/01/california-budget-newsom-deficit/\">multibillion-dollar deficit\u003c/a> projected across several years, the state spending more to approve a larger number of projects isn’t likely this year. The Legislature and governor’s office will pick projects based on a rubric that takes into account details such as an area’s unmet need and the number of affordable beds new construction will create.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, budgeting is an inexact science. The Cal State system is reporting that its construction costs for the nine dorms it sought to build last year rose by 14% between fall 2021 — when the system submitted their plans — and this January. A CSU senior official told lawmakers Tuesday that its campuses found most of the necessary outside funds, but the system still needs another $12 million in grant funds to pay for the projects approved last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC also saw costs grow, but they’re paying for those internally, a university official told lawmakers yesterday. A court ruling \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/02/california-cannabis-emerald-triangle/#:~:text=Is%20noise%20from%20student%20parties%20a%20type%20of%20pollution%3F%C2%A0\">stalling UC Berkeley’s housing plans\u003c/a> is another headwind for the UC.\u003cbr>\nCosts rising quickly is another reason some lawmakers don’t want to delay building student housing. It’s likely “that delays will increase costs and lessen the number of beds projects can deliver,” staff for the \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/March%2014%20Sub%202%20%20Agenda.pdf#page=7\">Assembly’s budget subcommittee on education wrote (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers also considered whether the state should fund the no-interest loan program rather than the housing grants for the upcoming year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An official at the Legislative Analyst’s Office, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2023/4733/Student-Housing-030923.pdf#page=7\">which floated the idea in a report (PDF)\u003c/a>, said there’s some merit to that because campuses could build more affordable housing with the same amount of money under the loan program. Also, as campuses repay the state, the loan fund is replenished, allowing lawmakers to approve a new generation of campus housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the analyst’s office warned that some campuses that budgeted to have grant dollars may not be able to afford their projects with just a loan at no interest. Also, it’s likely that dorms built with loan money — while still affordable — will have larger rents than grant-funded housing. Typically, campuses issue bonds to build dorms and repay those with interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCarty also suggested that the state should pass on funding the dorm plans that community colleges submitted this year because they “aren’t ready for prime time.” He said the state could supply community colleges the money in 18 months to two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A senior official at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office disputed that assertion. “All of these projects are not in an aspirational stage,” said Lizette Navarette, interim deputy chancellor. The plans submitted have “demonstrated need, a viable financial plan, community support and extensive student need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, some students don’t want to wait on the state to produce more housing: A coalition of student groups recently sponsored \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/03/20/top-climate-scientists-warn-planet-on-track-for-catastrophic-warming-heres-what-world-leaders-can-do-now/\">a bill that would encourage more private developers to construct homes for students\u003c/a> off campus. \u003ca href=\"https://a36.asmdc.org/press-releases/20230315-assemblymember-eduardo-garcia-and-student-homes-coalition-announce\">Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Coachella, is the author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The availability of off-campus housing is just as necessary,” said Zachariah Wooden, vice president for the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, at a press conference yesterday.\u003cbr>\n[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to delay state funds to student housing because of the state's budget deficit. Lawmakers have different ideas on what kind of compromise might be reached.",
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"title": "State's Promise to Build More Campus Housing Hits Setbacks | KQED",
"description": "Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to delay state funds to student housing because of the state's budget deficit. Lawmakers have different ideas on what kind of compromise might be reached.",
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"headline": "State's Promise to Build More Campus Housing Hits Setbacks",
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"nprByline": "\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/mikhailzinshteyn/\">Mikhail Zinshteyn\u003c/a>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Campus housing: Students can’t get enough of it, and California public campuses can’t build dorm rooms fast enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed delaying by a year \u003ca href=\"https://ebudget.ca.gov/2023-24/pdf/BudgetSummary/HigherEducation.pdf#page=7\">nearly $1.2 billion in loans and grants (PDF)\u003c/a> that would build housing for thousands of students at affordable rates — money the state promised campuses in last year’s state budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom seeks the delay to help balance the state’s projected $22.5 billion budget deficit in 2023–24. But lawmakers who hold huge sway over higher-education finances are adamant that no money is pulled from the state’s recent, unprecedented \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2022/07/student-housing-affordable-dorms/\">multibillion-dollar down payment\u003c/a> on affordable student housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding to the intrigue, the Legislature’s own top policy adviser, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, proposed that the state \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/2023/03/california-flood-reservoir-rain-snow/#:~:text=From%20CalMatters%20higher%20education%20reporter%20Mikhail%20Zinshteyn%3A\">completely drop its investment in student housing\u003c/a> or at least change how the money is spent. One such idea? Renege on \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2023/4733/Student-Housing-030923.pdf#page=8\">a promise to continue sending community colleges grants (PDF)\u003c/a> to build more student housing for next year.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘This is such a priority for the Senate and the Assembly the last couple years and just checks so many boxes: Housing crisis, check. College affordability, check. Enrollment growth for students, check.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ultimately the state must have a balanced budget before June 30, but if the last three legislative budget hearings on higher education are any indication, how much — and when — to spend on student housing will be a key point of friction between the Democrat-controlled Legislature and Newsom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor’s plans to delay housing funding is “something that we don’t support, and we’re going to be looking at other options,” said Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, a Democrat from Sacramento and chair of the Assembly’s budget subcommittee on education, at a Tuesday hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is such a priority for the Senate and the Assembly the last couple years and just checks so many boxes: Housing crisis, check. College affordability, check. Enrollment growth for students, check,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Newsom gets his way, the $750 million campus housing grants slated for 2023–24 would drop to $500 million, and the remaining $250 million would become available in 2024–25. And rather than spending a combined $1.8 billion on \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2022/01/student-housing-2/\">campus no-interest loans\u003c/a> in 2023–24 and 2024–25, Newsom proposed zero dollars in 2023–24 and spreading the funds across the subsequent two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Effectively the governor’s budget maintains the overall funding commitment for these two student housing programs,” said Michelle Nguyen of the Department of Finance, an office in the governor’s administration. “But given the budget outlook, the governor’s budget proposes funding delays for these programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That may be bad news for the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/multimedia/podcasts/gimme-shelter/2022/11/california-student-housing-crisis/\">hundreds of thousands of college students\u003c/a> in \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2022/01/student-housing-2/#:~:text=The%20system%20has%20made%20strides%3A\">desperate pursuit\u003c/a> of housing — even if these state efforts can build only a fraction of the living quarters survey data say is needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sparing campus-housing funding from cuts is a bipartisan sentiment in the Legislature. It’s important that “we have the funding available and not delayed … in order to build housing necessary to accommodate those students in the universities, especially when the state is requiring a certain level of enrollment for each university,” said Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, a Republican from Rancho Cucamonga, at a Senate subcommittee hearing last Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirty campuses remain unfazed and have submitted plans exceeding $2.1 billion to build as many as 12,700 additional dorm beds with low rents. The size of the projects varies, including 1,553 affordable beds at UC Riverside, 517 at San José State and 117 at Lassen Community College in northeastern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the University of California, the state grants supplement plans to construct \u003ca href=\"https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar23/j1.pdf#page=3\">an extra 22,000 beds by 2028 (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Included in the state grant mix is housing for UC graduate students — 236 dorm beds at UC Merced, a campus \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2023/01/uc-housing-problem-persists-for-graduate-students/\">with just nine beds for graduate students\u003c/a> at a time when affordable housing was a major rallying cry for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2023/01/six-takeaways-for-californians-after-the-uc-graduate-student-worker-strike/\">students striking late last fall\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All told, the University of California’s \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/March%2014%20Sub%202%20%20Agenda.pdf#page=4\">six grant proposals pencil out to about $108,000 per affordable bed (PDF)\u003c/a>; Cal State’s three projects \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/March%2014%20Sub%202%20%20Agenda.pdf#page=4\">would cost $170,000 per bed (PDF)\u003c/a>; and the 21 plans submitted by community colleges — schools with little experience building student housing — \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/March%2014%20Sub%202%20%20Agenda.pdf#page=5\">would cost $205,000 per bed (PDF)\u003c/a>. (Overall, last year’s approved state-funded dorms \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2022/07/student-housing-affordable-dorms/#:~:text=affordable%20through%20the%20grant\">were slightly more expensive\u003c/a> per bed.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if the Legislature and Newsom agree to pull no dollars from the housing grant in 2023–24, most of those plans will go unfunded by the program. That’s because last year’s spending road map called for pouring $750 million into the grant in 2023–24 — about a third of the money colleges and universities are seeking.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It’s a case of déjà vu: When the affordable housing grant program took applications from campuses for the first time in 2021, 42 campuses submitted construction bids totaling $2.8 billion — well above the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2022/07/student-housing-affordable-dorms/#:~:text=Lawmakers%20initially%20created%20a%20%24500%20million%20pot\">$500 million the state planned to spend\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the state eyeing \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2022/05/newsom-budget-spending/\">a $100 billion budget surplus last year\u003c/a>, lawmakers and Newsom nearly tripled last year’s budget for the housing grant program, in part by advancing money from future budgets, ultimately greenlighting the construction of roughly 7,300 affordable residencies for students with lower incomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-budget/2023/01/california-budget-newsom-deficit/\">multibillion-dollar deficit\u003c/a> projected across several years, the state spending more to approve a larger number of projects isn’t likely this year. The Legislature and governor’s office will pick projects based on a rubric that takes into account details such as an area’s unmet need and the number of affordable beds new construction will create.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, budgeting is an inexact science. The Cal State system is reporting that its construction costs for the nine dorms it sought to build last year rose by 14% between fall 2021 — when the system submitted their plans — and this January. A CSU senior official told lawmakers Tuesday that its campuses found most of the necessary outside funds, but the system still needs another $12 million in grant funds to pay for the projects approved last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC also saw costs grow, but they’re paying for those internally, a university official told lawmakers yesterday. A court ruling \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/02/california-cannabis-emerald-triangle/#:~:text=Is%20noise%20from%20student%20parties%20a%20type%20of%20pollution%3F%C2%A0\">stalling UC Berkeley’s housing plans\u003c/a> is another headwind for the UC.\u003cbr>\nCosts rising quickly is another reason some lawmakers don’t want to delay building student housing. It’s likely “that delays will increase costs and lessen the number of beds projects can deliver,” staff for the \u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sites/abgt.assembly.ca.gov/files/March%2014%20Sub%202%20%20Agenda.pdf#page=7\">Assembly’s budget subcommittee on education wrote (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawmakers also considered whether the state should fund the no-interest loan program rather than the housing grants for the upcoming year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An official at the Legislative Analyst’s Office, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2023/4733/Student-Housing-030923.pdf#page=7\">which floated the idea in a report (PDF)\u003c/a>, said there’s some merit to that because campuses could build more affordable housing with the same amount of money under the loan program. Also, as campuses repay the state, the loan fund is replenished, allowing lawmakers to approve a new generation of campus housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the analyst’s office warned that some campuses that budgeted to have grant dollars may not be able to afford their projects with just a loan at no interest. Also, it’s likely that dorms built with loan money — while still affordable — will have larger rents than grant-funded housing. Typically, campuses issue bonds to build dorms and repay those with interest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCarty also suggested that the state should pass on funding the dorm plans that community colleges submitted this year because they “aren’t ready for prime time.” He said the state could supply community colleges the money in 18 months to two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A senior official at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office disputed that assertion. “All of these projects are not in an aspirational stage,” said Lizette Navarette, interim deputy chancellor. The plans submitted have “demonstrated need, a viable financial plan, community support and extensive student need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, some students don’t want to wait on the state to produce more housing: A coalition of student groups recently sponsored \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2023/03/20/top-climate-scientists-warn-planet-on-track-for-catastrophic-warming-heres-what-world-leaders-can-do-now/\">a bill that would encourage more private developers to construct homes for students\u003c/a> off campus. \u003ca href=\"https://a36.asmdc.org/press-releases/20230315-assemblymember-eduardo-garcia-and-student-homes-coalition-announce\">Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Coachella, is the author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The availability of off-campus housing is just as necessary,” said Zachariah Wooden, vice president for the Student Senate for California Community Colleges, at a press conference yesterday.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "california-colleges-kick-off-new-school-year-with-few-if-any-covid-restrictions",
"title": "California Colleges Kick Off New School Year With Few, if Any, COVID Restrictions",
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"headTitle": "California Colleges Kick Off New School Year With Few, if Any, COVID Restrictions | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Students at California’s public colleges and universities will begin returning to campuses this month, and many of them will be welcomed back to full in-person classrooms, no mask mandates and few COVID-19 testing requirements. At some community colleges, students won’t even be required to be vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than two years into the pandemic, COVID-19 restrictions have been significantly eased across the University of California, California State University and the state’s system of 116 community colleges, which together enroll some 2.5 million students. That’s the case even as the colleges prepare to deal with another virus — monkeypox — potentially spreading on their campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11911266,news_11900125\"]It’s a stark contrast to last fall when indoor mask mandates were the norm at colleges across the state and many campuses also routinely tested all students for the virus. Amid the threat of the delta variant at that time, campuses were also preparing to move classes online if necessary. At least one CSU campus, Stanislaus State, delayed in-person classes for about five weeks at the start of the fall 2021 term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The specific protocols in place this year vary across the campuses, especially at the 72 brick-and-mortar community college districts governed by locally elected boards. Some of those districts never had vaccine mandates, and some have rescinded vaccine mandates ahead of the fall term, which is underway at some colleges and begins later this month at others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Systemwide vaccine mandates are still in effect at UC and CSU, but many campuses in those systems no longer require students and staff to mask indoors and have stopped requiring students to be regularly tested for the virus. Fall classes have started at most CSU campuses and begin this week at two UC campuses, Merced and Berkeley. UC’s other seven undergraduate campuses are on the quarter calendar and resume classes in mid-September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11923270\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11923270\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"students walk through a plaza at UC Berkeley\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1761\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-1020x702.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-1536x1057.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-2048x1409.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-1920x1321.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People walk through Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus. More than two years into the pandemic, COVID-19 restrictions have been significantly eased across the University of California system. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gone also are the days of online classes aimed at preventing the spread of the virus. UC and CSU are at full capacity in their dorms, are holding almost all classes face-to-face and have no plans to shift to online classes. A bigger share of community college courses are being offered remotely, but that’s largely due to student demand for online instruction and not due to COVID. Many community college students, who are typically older and often work or have family obligations, have told the colleges they prefer remote learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even campuses that want strict COVID restrictions are finding it difficult to keep them in place because, in many cases, it would run counter to public health guidance to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Contra Costa Community College District, home to three colleges, had an indoor mask mandate as recently as this summer but decided to lift that requirement ahead of the fall term to align with Contra Costa County’s public health department. Tim Leong, a spokesperson for the district, said district officials were torn over that decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are students and employees that still feel very concerned about their health, but we also are realistic to know that it’s hard to have an answer that’s going to win with every person,” Leong said. “I think to be the only entity that’s requiring masks — that’s difficult when everybody is running to places like the grocery store or the mall and there’s no mask mandate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Fewer masks, less testing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many of the state’s other large community college districts also have done away with requiring masks, including the Los Angeles Community College District, the Sacramento-based Los Rios Community College District and the Fresno-based State Center Community College District.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Tim Leong, spokesperson, Contra Costa Community College District\"]‘It’s hard to have an answer that’s going to win with every person … [T]o be the only entity that’s requiring masks — that’s difficult when everybody is running to places like the grocery store or the mall and there’s no mask mandate.’[/pullquote]The same is true at many CSU campuses, including Maritime, Chico State and San Luis Obispo, as well as at UC campuses such as Davis and UCLA, which lifted its mandate on August 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But just because masks aren’t required doesn’t mean they won’t be worn. Most campuses that aren’t mandating masks are still strongly recommending them. At UC Riverside, students living on campus are required to wear masks while moving into campus housing, but not after that. Riverside also didn’t have a mask mandate in the spring, but most students still have chosen to wear masks around the campus, said Sheila Hedayati, executive director of the Environmental Health and Safety department at the campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our students are fantastic and very conscientious. I see more masks than I see full faces,” Hedayati said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few colleges do still require indoor masking, including UC Irvine, which last month reinstated that requirement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the CSU system, Long Beach is among the campuses that will require masks indoors to start the new academic year because of an “ongoing wave of Covid-19 infections from the current dominant variant,” President Jane Close Conoley said in a message to the campus community earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether students need to be tested for the virus also depends on where they attend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some campuses, like College of the Canyons in northern Los Angeles County and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, testing isn’t required. Other campuses, including those in the Los Rios and State Center community college districts, require routine testing only for students who aren’t vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few campuses, including UC Davis and UC Irvine, require students living in campus housing to be tested upon moving in, but routine testing isn’t mandated after that, except for unvaccinated students at Irvine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Riverside has one of the stricter testing policies in the state. In addition to requiring weekly testing of unvaccinated students, the campus also will mandate testing every two weeks for students living on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11923283\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11923283\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-scaled.jpg\" alt='students walk in front of large letters that read \"UCR\" on the UC Riverside campus' width=\"2560\" height=\"1751\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-800x547.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-1020x698.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-1536x1051.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-2048x1401.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-1920x1313.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Riverside students walk past the UCR letters in the quad in 2021. The school is heading into the 2022-2023 academic year with one of the stricter testing policies in the state. \u003ccite>(Terry Pierson/The Press-Enterprise via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The easing of COVID-19 restrictions at some colleges also applies to vaccine rules. The state’s largest community college district, the Los Angeles district that’s home to nine colleges, rescinded its vaccine mandate over the summer, said William Boyer, a spokesperson for the district. The Coast Community College District, based in Orange County, also rescinded its vaccine mandate this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some community colleges, though, continue to require vaccines for students taking classes in person, including the Contra Costa, Los Rios and State Center districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The systemwide vaccine mandates at CSU and UC also remain in effect and soon may require an additional shot for students. Currently, both systems require students to have their booster shots, and a second booster could soon be available to college-age students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Davis officials are anticipating that a second booster will be available to students as soon as next month, said Cindy Schorzman, medical director of Student Health and Counseling Services. If that happens, students across UC would need to get the booster. Schorzman added that there likely will be a grace period for students, but it probably won’t be a long one.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Back to in-person classes, more online at community colleges\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Across UC and CSU, face-to-face instruction is the norm entering the new academic year. At Chico State, 80% of classes will be in person. At San Luis Obispo, about 98% of courses will be in-person, a 13% increase from last year. UC Irvine is holding all classes in person except for a few that are being held online for academic purposes and not for reasons related to the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Classes were also mostly held in person last fall, but with the delta variant spreading rapidly at that time, campus officials across UC and CSU were preparing to quickly pivot to online classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This fall, moving courses online across the systems is highly unlikely, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think any of us really want to see a point where we go back to a stay-at-home situation, with online classes,” said David Souleles, director of UC Irvine’s COVID-19 response team. “Across the country, if you look at state and local governments, that’s not on the table for the most part.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sean Murphy, a spokesperson for Chico State, said the campus successfully held classes last year during the delta and omicron surges. Officials there are confident they can do the same this fall, though he added that “we have the mechanisms in place to change the mode of instruction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11923284\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11923284\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a young woman with dark hair in a green jacket sits with a black mask at a laptop\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1578\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-800x493.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-1020x629.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-1536x947.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-2048x1263.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-1920x1184.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">First-year student Karla Pulgarin was among the students who attended in-person instruction at Los Angeles City College beginning in 2021. The Los Angeles Community College District, which includes nine schools, rescinded its vaccine mandate over the summer. \u003ccite>(Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The situation is much different at most community colleges, which are still offering more courses online than before the pandemic. In the Los Rios district, 50% of classes are still being offered online, compared with 15% pre-pandemic. About half of courses are also online at College of the Canyons and the Los Angeles district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the most part, those colleges are offering many online courses not for public health reasons, but because students have indicated they prefer remote classes. Community colleges across the state have suffered dramatic enrollment declines since the onset of the pandemic, with the system as a whole losing hundreds of thousands of students. Colleges are doing what they can to bring students back, and that often means offering online classes, which often receive more enrollments than in-person classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At College of the Canyons, about three-quarters of students attend part-time and are often “doing other things, like working or caring for family or both,” said Eric Harnish, a spokesperson for the college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So, having the flexibility to attend online is something they really appreciate,” he added. “And by having significant numbers of classes online, we’re giving them the opportunity to actually attend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Monitoring monkeypox\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To varying degrees, many California colleges are ready to confront positive cases of the monkeypox virus on their campuses, which has already happened at a few universities across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with campuses across the three systems said they are consulting with their local health officials on plans and possible responses. Supply of the monkeypox vaccine is low across the country, but officials said they have requested vaccines as soon as they’re available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At UC Davis, if a student believes they have monkeypox symptoms, that student will get a telehealth appointment and, if needed, will be tested for the virus. If that student needs treatment, the campus plans to work with Yolo County’s public health department to secure that treatment, or the student can get treated through UC Davis Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the experience of dealing with COVID-19 could help colleges respond to monkeypox, the virus also will present new challenges, said Souleles, the UC Irvine official. One of the main differences is that if a student contracts monkeypox, the isolation period could be much longer than is required for COVID. Instead of the five or seven days of isolation that COVID requires, a positive case of monkeypox could necessitate that a student isolates four to six weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to think through what that means and how that might be managed, like where that isolation takes place, whether it’s on campus or at home or case-by-case-dependent. So we’re making sure we have a plan and that we’re communicating that in advance of our return to fall, so that families and students know what to expect,” Souleles said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/california-colleges-open-for-fall-term-with-relaxed-covid-rules/677040\">\u003cem>This story was originally reported by EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "More than two years into the pandemic, the start of the fall term has meant few mask mandates, less testing and more face-to-face classes on campuses statewide.",
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"title": "California Colleges Kick Off New School Year With Few, if Any, COVID Restrictions | KQED",
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"nprByline": "\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/author/mburke\">Michael Burke\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/author/asmith\">Ashley A. Smith\u003c/a>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Students at California’s public colleges and universities will begin returning to campuses this month, and many of them will be welcomed back to full in-person classrooms, no mask mandates and few COVID-19 testing requirements. At some community colleges, students won’t even be required to be vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than two years into the pandemic, COVID-19 restrictions have been significantly eased across the University of California, California State University and the state’s system of 116 community colleges, which together enroll some 2.5 million students. That’s the case even as the colleges prepare to deal with another virus — monkeypox — potentially spreading on their campuses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It’s a stark contrast to last fall when indoor mask mandates were the norm at colleges across the state and many campuses also routinely tested all students for the virus. Amid the threat of the delta variant at that time, campuses were also preparing to move classes online if necessary. At least one CSU campus, Stanislaus State, delayed in-person classes for about five weeks at the start of the fall 2021 term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The specific protocols in place this year vary across the campuses, especially at the 72 brick-and-mortar community college districts governed by locally elected boards. Some of those districts never had vaccine mandates, and some have rescinded vaccine mandates ahead of the fall term, which is underway at some colleges and begins later this month at others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Systemwide vaccine mandates are still in effect at UC and CSU, but many campuses in those systems no longer require students and staff to mask indoors and have stopped requiring students to be regularly tested for the virus. Fall classes have started at most CSU campuses and begin this week at two UC campuses, Merced and Berkeley. UC’s other seven undergraduate campuses are on the quarter calendar and resume classes in mid-September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11923270\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11923270\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"students walk through a plaza at UC Berkeley\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1761\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-800x550.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-1020x702.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-160x110.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-1536x1057.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-2048x1409.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1385201995-1920x1321.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People walk through Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus. More than two years into the pandemic, COVID-19 restrictions have been significantly eased across the University of California system. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gone also are the days of online classes aimed at preventing the spread of the virus. UC and CSU are at full capacity in their dorms, are holding almost all classes face-to-face and have no plans to shift to online classes. A bigger share of community college courses are being offered remotely, but that’s largely due to student demand for online instruction and not due to COVID. Many community college students, who are typically older and often work or have family obligations, have told the colleges they prefer remote learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even campuses that want strict COVID restrictions are finding it difficult to keep them in place because, in many cases, it would run counter to public health guidance to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Contra Costa Community College District, home to three colleges, had an indoor mask mandate as recently as this summer but decided to lift that requirement ahead of the fall term to align with Contra Costa County’s public health department. Tim Leong, a spokesperson for the district, said district officials were torn over that decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are students and employees that still feel very concerned about their health, but we also are realistic to know that it’s hard to have an answer that’s going to win with every person,” Leong said. “I think to be the only entity that’s requiring masks — that’s difficult when everybody is running to places like the grocery store or the mall and there’s no mask mandate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Fewer masks, less testing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many of the state’s other large community college districts also have done away with requiring masks, including the Los Angeles Community College District, the Sacramento-based Los Rios Community College District and the Fresno-based State Center Community College District.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘It’s hard to have an answer that’s going to win with every person … [T]o be the only entity that’s requiring masks — that’s difficult when everybody is running to places like the grocery store or the mall and there’s no mask mandate.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The same is true at many CSU campuses, including Maritime, Chico State and San Luis Obispo, as well as at UC campuses such as Davis and UCLA, which lifted its mandate on August 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But just because masks aren’t required doesn’t mean they won’t be worn. Most campuses that aren’t mandating masks are still strongly recommending them. At UC Riverside, students living on campus are required to wear masks while moving into campus housing, but not after that. Riverside also didn’t have a mask mandate in the spring, but most students still have chosen to wear masks around the campus, said Sheila Hedayati, executive director of the Environmental Health and Safety department at the campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our students are fantastic and very conscientious. I see more masks than I see full faces,” Hedayati said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few colleges do still require indoor masking, including UC Irvine, which last month reinstated that requirement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the CSU system, Long Beach is among the campuses that will require masks indoors to start the new academic year because of an “ongoing wave of Covid-19 infections from the current dominant variant,” President Jane Close Conoley said in a message to the campus community earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whether students need to be tested for the virus also depends on where they attend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At some campuses, like College of the Canyons in northern Los Angeles County and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, testing isn’t required. Other campuses, including those in the Los Rios and State Center community college districts, require routine testing only for students who aren’t vaccinated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A few campuses, including UC Davis and UC Irvine, require students living in campus housing to be tested upon moving in, but routine testing isn’t mandated after that, except for unvaccinated students at Irvine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Riverside has one of the stricter testing policies in the state. In addition to requiring weekly testing of unvaccinated students, the campus also will mandate testing every two weeks for students living on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11923283\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11923283\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-scaled.jpg\" alt='students walk in front of large letters that read \"UCR\" on the UC Riverside campus' width=\"2560\" height=\"1751\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-800x547.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-1020x698.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-1536x1051.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-2048x1401.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1235588015-1920x1313.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UC Riverside students walk past the UCR letters in the quad in 2021. The school is heading into the 2022-2023 academic year with one of the stricter testing policies in the state. \u003ccite>(Terry Pierson/The Press-Enterprise via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The easing of COVID-19 restrictions at some colleges also applies to vaccine rules. The state’s largest community college district, the Los Angeles district that’s home to nine colleges, rescinded its vaccine mandate over the summer, said William Boyer, a spokesperson for the district. The Coast Community College District, based in Orange County, also rescinded its vaccine mandate this summer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some community colleges, though, continue to require vaccines for students taking classes in person, including the Contra Costa, Los Rios and State Center districts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The systemwide vaccine mandates at CSU and UC also remain in effect and soon may require an additional shot for students. Currently, both systems require students to have their booster shots, and a second booster could soon be available to college-age students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Davis officials are anticipating that a second booster will be available to students as soon as next month, said Cindy Schorzman, medical director of Student Health and Counseling Services. If that happens, students across UC would need to get the booster. Schorzman added that there likely will be a grace period for students, but it probably won’t be a long one.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Back to in-person classes, more online at community colleges\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Across UC and CSU, face-to-face instruction is the norm entering the new academic year. At Chico State, 80% of classes will be in person. At San Luis Obispo, about 98% of courses will be in-person, a 13% increase from last year. UC Irvine is holding all classes in person except for a few that are being held online for academic purposes and not for reasons related to the virus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Classes were also mostly held in person last fall, but with the delta variant spreading rapidly at that time, campus officials across UC and CSU were preparing to quickly pivot to online classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This fall, moving courses online across the systems is highly unlikely, officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think any of us really want to see a point where we go back to a stay-at-home situation, with online classes,” said David Souleles, director of UC Irvine’s COVID-19 response team. “Across the country, if you look at state and local governments, that’s not on the table for the most part.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sean Murphy, a spokesperson for Chico State, said the campus successfully held classes last year during the delta and omicron surges. Officials there are confident they can do the same this fall, though he added that “we have the mechanisms in place to change the mode of instruction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11923284\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11923284\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"a young woman with dark hair in a green jacket sits with a black mask at a laptop\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1578\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-800x493.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-1020x629.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-1536x947.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-2048x1263.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/08/GettyImages-1234977936-1920x1184.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">First-year student Karla Pulgarin was among the students who attended in-person instruction at Los Angeles City College beginning in 2021. The Los Angeles Community College District, which includes nine schools, rescinded its vaccine mandate over the summer. \u003ccite>(Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The situation is much different at most community colleges, which are still offering more courses online than before the pandemic. In the Los Rios district, 50% of classes are still being offered online, compared with 15% pre-pandemic. About half of courses are also online at College of the Canyons and the Los Angeles district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the most part, those colleges are offering many online courses not for public health reasons, but because students have indicated they prefer remote classes. Community colleges across the state have suffered dramatic enrollment declines since the onset of the pandemic, with the system as a whole losing hundreds of thousands of students. Colleges are doing what they can to bring students back, and that often means offering online classes, which often receive more enrollments than in-person classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At College of the Canyons, about three-quarters of students attend part-time and are often “doing other things, like working or caring for family or both,” said Eric Harnish, a spokesperson for the college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So, having the flexibility to attend online is something they really appreciate,” he added. “And by having significant numbers of classes online, we’re giving them the opportunity to actually attend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Monitoring monkeypox\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To varying degrees, many California colleges are ready to confront positive cases of the monkeypox virus on their campuses, which has already happened at a few universities across the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with campuses across the three systems said they are consulting with their local health officials on plans and possible responses. Supply of the monkeypox vaccine is low across the country, but officials said they have requested vaccines as soon as they’re available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At UC Davis, if a student believes they have monkeypox symptoms, that student will get a telehealth appointment and, if needed, will be tested for the virus. If that student needs treatment, the campus plans to work with Yolo County’s public health department to secure that treatment, or the student can get treated through UC Davis Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the experience of dealing with COVID-19 could help colleges respond to monkeypox, the virus also will present new challenges, said Souleles, the UC Irvine official. One of the main differences is that if a student contracts monkeypox, the isolation period could be much longer than is required for COVID. Instead of the five or seven days of isolation that COVID requires, a positive case of monkeypox could necessitate that a student isolates four to six weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to think through what that means and how that might be managed, like where that isolation takes place, whether it’s on campus or at home or case-by-case-dependent. So we’re making sure we have a plan and that we’re communicating that in advance of our return to fall, so that families and students know what to expect,” Souleles said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2022/california-colleges-open-for-fall-term-with-relaxed-covid-rules/677040\">\u003cem>This story was originally reported by EdSource.\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>After community college enrollment collapsed in late 2020, California lawmakers last year gave the system of public two-year colleges $120 million to help stem the tide of departing students and bring them back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, progress has been uneven. Through last fall, just 17 of California’s 116 community colleges have seen the number of students they enroll grow since the fall of 2020. At 42 colleges, more students left in the fall of 2021 than in the fall of 2020, according to a CalMatters analysis of system enrollment data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials acknowledge that the number of students attending continued to sag systemwide. “Fall 2021 headcount is down approximately 7% from fall 2020 and down 20% overall compared to fall 2019,” \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Fall-2021-Enrollment-Memo-1.pdf\">a cratering of more than 300,000 students over those two years\u003c/a>, said a March memo from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While $120 million may be a rounding error in the state’s $47 billion commitment to higher education for the current budget year, it’s still a large chunk of change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom now wants to send another $150 million to community colleges to further bolster their reenrollment efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The expected return on investment is unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While colleges received $20 million to stimulate reenrollment in March of last year — well before fall term began — the remaining $100 million only reached colleges in the middle of September at the earliest, several weeks after nearly all colleges started their fall semesters. While most state higher education financial support is annual, this money was one-time.[aside postID=news_11901253 label='California Budget Proposal']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means the bulk of the money’s impact can’t be measured yet. The full package’s effect on student enrollment for the spring is also unknown because colleges don’t report their student population numbers until around July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nor will the public ever truly know how colleges spend this money: Lawmakers and the governor last year didn’t include any reporting requirements for colleges to show how they are using the reenrollment dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chancellor’s office of the community colleges supports Newsom’s plan for reenrollment money \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/College-Finance-and-Facilities/Budget-News/September-2021/2022-23-System-Budget-Request_For-BOG-Approval-V2.pdf?la=en&hash=3C80202CA5CA33709515A814A38679200A386CEF#page=14\">but in its budget request last year\u003c/a> sought $20 million in annual support, not $150 million one-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-enrollment-big-picture\">Enrollment big picture\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Early signs suggest the $120 million for reenrollment has made a difference in stabilizing campus student populations, but other factors also are responsible for bringing more students back or keeping them from leaving. Offering more courses in person played a role, several college administrators said, as did billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief aid for students and colleges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the enrollment loss is outside the control of colleges. The labor market is sizzling now, with rampant labor shortages leading employers to pay well above minimum wage for positions that typically don’t require a college education. Historically, community college enrollment swells during economic downturns when employers are more selective, prizing applicants with college degrees. But enrollment dips when the economy is hot because adults don’t view education as an immediate ticket toward gainful employment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The whole California community college system isn’t likely to return to its fall 2019 enrollment levels until two or three years from now, said John Hetts, a visiting executive for the chancellor’s office who oversees enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colleges will have to work harder to keep their student populations steady. The public K-12 system is projected to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/whats-next-for-californias-k-12-enrollment/#:~:text=COVID%2D19%20hastened%20this%20trend,persistent%20declines%20in%20some%20districts.\">shrink by nearly 600,000 students in eight years\u003c/a>. California’s overall population \u003ca href=\"https://dof.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/Forecasting/Demographics/Documents/E-1_2021PressRelease.pdf\">has been either stagnant or in slight decline\u003c/a>. Enrollment growth will have to come from more adults who aren’t recent high school graduates — including the roughly 3 million 25- to 54-year-olds who \u003ca href=\"https://californiacompetes.org/assets/general-files/Untapped-Opportunity-Report-final.pdf\">already have some college but no degree\u003c/a> — and from college efforts to retain a greater share of their existing students, Hetts said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Declining enrollment leads to proposed layoffs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>City College of San Francisco (CCSF) is no stranger to \u003ca href=\"https://datamart.cccco.edu/Students/Enrollment_Status.aspx\">declining enrollment\u003c/a>. The college has suffered a downward trend in its student body beginning in 2012, when a \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/old/Press_Release_on_CCSF_Accreditation_July_3_2013.pdf\">years-long battle\u003c/a> over its accreditation began. In 2014, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) voted to revoke CCSF's accreditation, saying the college was lacking in many areas, including “standards for instructional programs, student support services, library and learning support services and facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CCSF appealed the decision, and ultimately retained its accreditation in 2017, but the battle hurt the reputation of CCSF and, in turn, its enrollment.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Ron Richardson, CCSF professor\"]'[Chancellor Martin] seems set on downsizing, bowing into political pressure to turn us from a community college that serves immigrants who need to learn English in order to survive, older learners, and anyone who wants to learn into a junior college, which serves only those looking for certificates or transfer to four-year colleges to earn degrees.'[/pullquote]In the spring of 2011, CCSF boasted a total enrollment of over 83,000 students. By the fall of 2016, enrollment fell to nearly half that, at 45,479 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After regaining its accreditation, CCSF launched Free City, a program that offers free tuition to San Francisco residents and financial assistance for others, partly in a bid to boost enrollment. The program was at least in part responsible for an increase in enrollment in the 2017-2018 school year of over 10,000 students, ending a five-year downturn in enrollment. For a few years, it seemed that enrollment was looking up at CCSF, or at least stabilizing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, enrollment at CCSF nosedived, and the college currently posts some of its lowest enrollment figures ever, at 24,791 students. This, in addition to ongoing budget woes at the college, led CCSF's chancellor, David Martin, to propose layoffs of 58 full-time teachers at the college earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ron Richardson is an English professor and representative at the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 (AFT 2121), the union representing CCSF faculty. He says that laying off teachers will lead to a drastic cut in course offerings, which will lead to a further decline in enrollment, sending the college into a \"death spiral.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AFT 2121 says that the counseling, English as a second language, and English departments would see the most layoffs under the proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"[Chancellor Martin] seems set on downsizing, bowing into political pressure to turn us from a community college that serves immigrants who need to learn English in order to survive, older learners, and anyone who wants to learn into a junior college, which serves only those looking for certificates or transfer to four-year colleges to earn degrees,\" Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AFT 2121 has submitted an \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OSrLsjuxlEBvjW6_3V1yx7YIZ2p0bdZx/view?link_id=1&&link_id=1&can_id=9e3ec1f8c201032c0acafa25bf90e961&source=email-bot-to-vote-on-downsizing-revenue-unity-coalition-presents-alternative&email_referrer=email_1454910&email_subject=bot-to-vote-on-downsizing-revenue-unity-coalition-presents-alternative\">alternate budget proposal\u003c/a> that they say alleviates the need for layoffs. Richardson says the increased state funding for community colleges is part of the reason layoffs are not necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-financial-aid-helpers\">Financial aid helpers\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Río Hondo College, in a suburban pocket of eastern Los Angeles County, saw its number of students inch up from 16,292 to 16,370 since fall 2020. That’s still well short of the more than 21,000 enrolled in fall 2019, but makes it one of the very few community colleges that managed to actually grow in the past year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Signing up students for financial aid has been key, Río Hondo officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The college used $200,000 of its $1.2 million in reenrollment money to hire 10 part-time staffers who coached students through applying for federal and state financial aid. All that money came from last year’s smaller March allotment of reenrollment funding.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Stephen Kibui, vice president of finance, Río Hondo College\"]Before the pandemic, if a student owed the campus any amount of money, that student could not register for classes. Now, registration is open to students with outstanding balances.[/pullquote]The goal at the start of last fall was to increase the number of new and current students applying for financial aid by 5%, a target the school hit, said Earic Dixon-Peters, vice president of student services at the college. With state or federal dollars in hand, more students remain in school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Río Hondo also is setting aside $4 million in federal COVID-19 relief to pardon students’ campus debt, such as from unpaid tuition bills. Before the pandemic, if a student owed the campus any amount of money, that student could not register for classes. Now, registration is open to students with outstanding balances. So far 4,000 students took up the college on that offer, leading to $1.7 million in fee forgiveness, said Stephen Kibui, vice president of finance at Río Hondo.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-shift-to-in-person-helping\">Shift to in-person helping\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At Santa Barbara City College, enrollment inched up to 13,855 students in fall 2021 compared to 13,664 the previous year, which is still short of the 14,874 enrolled in fall 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the college’s $1.2 million share of the state reenrollment money had nothing to do with it. The college moved the first installment in March to this fiscal year. As for the remaining $1 million? “We didn’t even know about it till October,” said Kindred Murillo, the college’s interim president. Fall classes at Santa Barbara began August 23.[aside label='More on Education' tag='education']Helping to fuel the enrollment uptick? More in-person classes, Murillo said. In fall 2021, about 70% of classes were online compared to around 88% in fall 2020. Pre-pandemic, about 17% of the college’s classes were online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lost students were “the students that really do well in in-person classes and were struggling in the online program,” said Murillo. The college’s push for more in-person classes included a focus on noncredit courses, such as English language courses, Murillo said. Students in those courses are less likely to be able to take classes online, either because of insufficient internet and computer access or language barriers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State reenrollment funds are helping to boost spring enrollment, Murillo said. The college used some of the money for a reenrollment event in December that brought back 150 students for spring. Students appreciate that 50% of the college’s courses will be in person, Murillo said. The college also is using part of the state funds to dole out $500 to select students to cover books and other school supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-isolated-idyll-a-rural-college-perspective\">Isolated idyll, a rural college perspective\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>College of the Siskiyous, the state’s northernmost community college located an hour from the Oregon border, also saw a modest rebound in the number of students attending last fall. Among students in credit-bearing classes, enrollment increased from around 1,300 to 1,400, a campus administrator said. That’s still below the 1,800 enrolled in credit-bearing courses in fall 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The college has so far used about $36,000 of its reenrollment money to print schedules and mail them out to its service area — roughly the size of Rhode Island. Administrators figured sending out physical copies of the course schedule would reach potential students in the rural north who either lacked reliable internet or were unaccustomed to online content. “That could have contributed to some of our enrollment growth,” said Char Perlas, interim superintendent/president of the college.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Selena Johnson, musical theater student\"]'It was really hard to go from being excited about going on tour across the state — and being able to have that energy when we would meet up and learn together — to being completely isolated.'[/pullquote]It also plans to use much of its roughly $400,000 in reenrollment and retention money as a down payment for an outreach department with three staffers, though the college will have to find other, ongoing sources of money to foot the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But because the college is so isolated, it struggles to hire instructors, an ongoing problem that likely prevents the campus from enrolling more students. For instance, the college has an engineering degree, but there are semesters in which it offers no engineering courses, administrators said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-re-enrollment-success\">Reenrollment success\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>More than just printed schedules or outreach, though, it’s likely just a consistent return to in-person learning that will boost enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Expanded in-person learning and COVID-19 safeguards lured back Selena Johnson, a musical theater student. Before the pandemic cut the spring term short in 2020, Johnson was taking courses full-time. But the next 18 months of online instruction were a struggle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was really hard to go from being excited about going on tour across the state — and being able to have that energy when we would meet up and learn together — to being completely isolated,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She quit school last fall to work, unsure if she’d ever earn a degree. But the college’s commitment to COVID-19 safety precautions and the return of in-person choir classes brought her back to school this spring on a part-time basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a pace that works for her, and if she takes two classes next fall and two more the spring after, she’ll be able to graduate before summer of 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">KQED's Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman contributed reporting for this story.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After community college enrollment collapsed in late 2020, California lawmakers last year gave the system of public two-year colleges $120 million to help stem the tide of departing students and bring them back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, progress has been uneven. Through last fall, just 17 of California’s 116 community colleges have seen the number of students they enroll grow since the fall of 2020. At 42 colleges, more students left in the fall of 2021 than in the fall of 2020, according to a CalMatters analysis of system enrollment data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials acknowledge that the number of students attending continued to sag systemwide. “Fall 2021 headcount is down approximately 7% from fall 2020 and down 20% overall compared to fall 2019,” \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Fall-2021-Enrollment-Memo-1.pdf\">a cratering of more than 300,000 students over those two years\u003c/a>, said a March memo from the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While $120 million may be a rounding error in the state’s $47 billion commitment to higher education for the current budget year, it’s still a large chunk of change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom now wants to send another $150 million to community colleges to further bolster their reenrollment efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The expected return on investment is unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While colleges received $20 million to stimulate reenrollment in March of last year — well before fall term began — the remaining $100 million only reached colleges in the middle of September at the earliest, several weeks after nearly all colleges started their fall semesters. While most state higher education financial support is annual, this money was one-time.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means the bulk of the money’s impact can’t be measured yet. The full package’s effect on student enrollment for the spring is also unknown because colleges don’t report their student population numbers until around July.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nor will the public ever truly know how colleges spend this money: Lawmakers and the governor last year didn’t include any reporting requirements for colleges to show how they are using the reenrollment dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chancellor’s office of the community colleges supports Newsom’s plan for reenrollment money \u003ca href=\"https://www.cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-Website/College-Finance-and-Facilities/Budget-News/September-2021/2022-23-System-Budget-Request_For-BOG-Approval-V2.pdf?la=en&hash=3C80202CA5CA33709515A814A38679200A386CEF#page=14\">but in its budget request last year\u003c/a> sought $20 million in annual support, not $150 million one-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-enrollment-big-picture\">Enrollment big picture\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Early signs suggest the $120 million for reenrollment has made a difference in stabilizing campus student populations, but other factors also are responsible for bringing more students back or keeping them from leaving. Offering more courses in person played a role, several college administrators said, as did billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief aid for students and colleges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the enrollment loss is outside the control of colleges. The labor market is sizzling now, with rampant labor shortages leading employers to pay well above minimum wage for positions that typically don’t require a college education. Historically, community college enrollment swells during economic downturns when employers are more selective, prizing applicants with college degrees. But enrollment dips when the economy is hot because adults don’t view education as an immediate ticket toward gainful employment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The whole California community college system isn’t likely to return to its fall 2019 enrollment levels until two or three years from now, said John Hetts, a visiting executive for the chancellor’s office who oversees enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Colleges will have to work harder to keep their student populations steady. The public K-12 system is projected to \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/whats-next-for-californias-k-12-enrollment/#:~:text=COVID%2D19%20hastened%20this%20trend,persistent%20declines%20in%20some%20districts.\">shrink by nearly 600,000 students in eight years\u003c/a>. California’s overall population \u003ca href=\"https://dof.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/Forecasting/Demographics/Documents/E-1_2021PressRelease.pdf\">has been either stagnant or in slight decline\u003c/a>. Enrollment growth will have to come from more adults who aren’t recent high school graduates — including the roughly 3 million 25- to 54-year-olds who \u003ca href=\"https://californiacompetes.org/assets/general-files/Untapped-Opportunity-Report-final.pdf\">already have some college but no degree\u003c/a> — and from college efforts to retain a greater share of their existing students, Hetts said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Declining enrollment leads to proposed layoffs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>City College of San Francisco (CCSF) is no stranger to \u003ca href=\"https://datamart.cccco.edu/Students/Enrollment_Status.aspx\">declining enrollment\u003c/a>. The college has suffered a downward trend in its student body beginning in 2012, when a \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/old/Press_Release_on_CCSF_Accreditation_July_3_2013.pdf\">years-long battle\u003c/a> over its accreditation began. In 2014, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) voted to revoke CCSF's accreditation, saying the college was lacking in many areas, including “standards for instructional programs, student support services, library and learning support services and facilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CCSF appealed the decision, and ultimately retained its accreditation in 2017, but the battle hurt the reputation of CCSF and, in turn, its enrollment.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "'[Chancellor Martin] seems set on downsizing, bowing into political pressure to turn us from a community college that serves immigrants who need to learn English in order to survive, older learners, and anyone who wants to learn into a junior college, which serves only those looking for certificates or transfer to four-year colleges to earn degrees.'",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In the spring of 2011, CCSF boasted a total enrollment of over 83,000 students. By the fall of 2016, enrollment fell to nearly half that, at 45,479 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After regaining its accreditation, CCSF launched Free City, a program that offers free tuition to San Francisco residents and financial assistance for others, partly in a bid to boost enrollment. The program was at least in part responsible for an increase in enrollment in the 2017-2018 school year of over 10,000 students, ending a five-year downturn in enrollment. For a few years, it seemed that enrollment was looking up at CCSF, or at least stabilizing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, enrollment at CCSF nosedived, and the college currently posts some of its lowest enrollment figures ever, at 24,791 students. This, in addition to ongoing budget woes at the college, led CCSF's chancellor, David Martin, to propose layoffs of 58 full-time teachers at the college earlier this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ron Richardson is an English professor and representative at the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121 (AFT 2121), the union representing CCSF faculty. He says that laying off teachers will lead to a drastic cut in course offerings, which will lead to a further decline in enrollment, sending the college into a \"death spiral.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AFT 2121 says that the counseling, English as a second language, and English departments would see the most layoffs under the proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"[Chancellor Martin] seems set on downsizing, bowing into political pressure to turn us from a community college that serves immigrants who need to learn English in order to survive, older learners, and anyone who wants to learn into a junior college, which serves only those looking for certificates or transfer to four-year colleges to earn degrees,\" Richardson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>AFT 2121 has submitted an \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OSrLsjuxlEBvjW6_3V1yx7YIZ2p0bdZx/view?link_id=1&&link_id=1&can_id=9e3ec1f8c201032c0acafa25bf90e961&source=email-bot-to-vote-on-downsizing-revenue-unity-coalition-presents-alternative&email_referrer=email_1454910&email_subject=bot-to-vote-on-downsizing-revenue-unity-coalition-presents-alternative\">alternate budget proposal\u003c/a> that they say alleviates the need for layoffs. Richardson says the increased state funding for community colleges is part of the reason layoffs are not necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-financial-aid-helpers\">Financial aid helpers\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Río Hondo College, in a suburban pocket of eastern Los Angeles County, saw its number of students inch up from 16,292 to 16,370 since fall 2020. That’s still well short of the more than 21,000 enrolled in fall 2019, but makes it one of the very few community colleges that managed to actually grow in the past year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Signing up students for financial aid has been key, Río Hondo officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The college used $200,000 of its $1.2 million in reenrollment money to hire 10 part-time staffers who coached students through applying for federal and state financial aid. All that money came from last year’s smaller March allotment of reenrollment funding.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The goal at the start of last fall was to increase the number of new and current students applying for financial aid by 5%, a target the school hit, said Earic Dixon-Peters, vice president of student services at the college. With state or federal dollars in hand, more students remain in school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Río Hondo also is setting aside $4 million in federal COVID-19 relief to pardon students’ campus debt, such as from unpaid tuition bills. Before the pandemic, if a student owed the campus any amount of money, that student could not register for classes. Now, registration is open to students with outstanding balances. So far 4,000 students took up the college on that offer, leading to $1.7 million in fee forgiveness, said Stephen Kibui, vice president of finance at Río Hondo.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-shift-to-in-person-helping\">Shift to in-person helping\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At Santa Barbara City College, enrollment inched up to 13,855 students in fall 2021 compared to 13,664 the previous year, which is still short of the 14,874 enrolled in fall 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the college’s $1.2 million share of the state reenrollment money had nothing to do with it. The college moved the first installment in March to this fiscal year. As for the remaining $1 million? “We didn’t even know about it till October,” said Kindred Murillo, the college’s interim president. Fall classes at Santa Barbara began August 23.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Helping to fuel the enrollment uptick? More in-person classes, Murillo said. In fall 2021, about 70% of classes were online compared to around 88% in fall 2020. Pre-pandemic, about 17% of the college’s classes were online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lost students were “the students that really do well in in-person classes and were struggling in the online program,” said Murillo. The college’s push for more in-person classes included a focus on noncredit courses, such as English language courses, Murillo said. Students in those courses are less likely to be able to take classes online, either because of insufficient internet and computer access or language barriers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State reenrollment funds are helping to boost spring enrollment, Murillo said. The college used some of the money for a reenrollment event in December that brought back 150 students for spring. Students appreciate that 50% of the college’s courses will be in person, Murillo said. The college also is using part of the state funds to dole out $500 to select students to cover books and other school supplies.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-isolated-idyll-a-rural-college-perspective\">Isolated idyll, a rural college perspective\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>College of the Siskiyous, the state’s northernmost community college located an hour from the Oregon border, also saw a modest rebound in the number of students attending last fall. Among students in credit-bearing classes, enrollment increased from around 1,300 to 1,400, a campus administrator said. That’s still below the 1,800 enrolled in credit-bearing courses in fall 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The college has so far used about $36,000 of its reenrollment money to print schedules and mail them out to its service area — roughly the size of Rhode Island. Administrators figured sending out physical copies of the course schedule would reach potential students in the rural north who either lacked reliable internet or were unaccustomed to online content. “That could have contributed to some of our enrollment growth,” said Char Perlas, interim superintendent/president of the college.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "'It was really hard to go from being excited about going on tour across the state — and being able to have that energy when we would meet up and learn together — to being completely isolated.'",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>It also plans to use much of its roughly $400,000 in reenrollment and retention money as a down payment for an outreach department with three staffers, though the college will have to find other, ongoing sources of money to foot the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But because the college is so isolated, it struggles to hire instructors, an ongoing problem that likely prevents the campus from enrolling more students. For instance, the college has an engineering degree, but there are semesters in which it offers no engineering courses, administrators said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-re-enrollment-success\">Reenrollment success\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>More than just printed schedules or outreach, though, it’s likely just a consistent return to in-person learning that will boost enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Expanded in-person learning and COVID-19 safeguards lured back Selena Johnson, a musical theater student. Before the pandemic cut the spring term short in 2020, Johnson was taking courses full-time. But the next 18 months of online instruction were a struggle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was really hard to go from being excited about going on tour across the state — and being able to have that energy when we would meet up and learn together — to being completely isolated,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She quit school last fall to work, unsure if she’d ever earn a degree. But the college’s commitment to COVID-19 safety precautions and the return of in-person choir classes brought her back to school this spring on a part-time basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a pace that works for her, and if she takes two classes next fall and two more the spring after, she’ll be able to graduate before summer of 2023.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">KQED's Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman contributed reporting for this story.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The head of California’s new online-only community college \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2020/calbright-college-president-resigns/622071\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announced her resignation\u003c/a> Monday, just shy of a year on the job and less than four months since the controversial school opened its virtual doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calbright College President and CEO Heather Hiles will leave her post on March 31, and remain on administrative leave until then, an unexpected development that has prompted critics of the school to question its future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leadership of the college has been taken over by Calbright’s chief operating officer, Derek Gordon, and chief technology officer, Ari Bader-Natal. The school plans to appoint an interim chief executive officer until a new president and CEO is hired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hiles resigned of her own volition, according to Taylor Huckaby, the college’s communications director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our board appreciates the leadership provided by Ms. Hiles during her tenure as Calbright’s chief executive officer,” said Tom Epstein, president of the college’s board of trustees, in a statement Monday. “She led the launch of the start-up college that has already enrolled hundreds of students. Systems are in place to expand operations over time to meet the college’s goal of providing flexible online job-based learning opportunities to help adult workers in California obtain the skills they need to advance their careers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size='medium' align='right' citation=\"California Federation of Teachers President Jeff Freitas\"]‘Unfortunately, so much money has been spent for so few students that could have been used for the same targeted student community.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hiles’ sudden departure, less than a year into her four-year contract, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2019/calbright-faces-questions-weeks-before-opening/615920\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">revived previously stated concerns\u003c/a> by community college faculty groups over the amount of money the college — and Hiles — has received to develop programs they contend already exist within the other 114 community colleges. The college receives about $20 million annually for operating costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The entirely online, free community college \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2019/hundreds-sign-up-for-the-new-calbright-college/618055\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">opened its virtual doors in October\u003c/a>, and has since enrolled more than 300 students in one of three program pathways, all of which are self-paced and designed to be completed in under one year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The college was seen as a bold initiative championed by former Gov. Jerry Brown to serve so-called “stranded workers” — older workers who need additional skills to advance in their careers without having to go back to college to get a degree. Although anyone can enroll in the college, Brown envisioned it specifically serving underemployed adult students, between the ages of 25 and 34, working part time or stuck in positions that don’t pay a living wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Faculty Association of California Community Colleges President Debbie Klein and Executive Director Evan Hawkins said, “We wish Heather Hiles the best in her future endeavors. … Unfortunately, new leadership alone will not fix this inherently flawed use of state resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group, which represents more than 9,000 members and advocates for community college faculty, said there have been serious concerns since Calbright’s inception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We continue to question the value of Calbright. The college has already received $140 million of state funding while violating the Educational Code with duplication,” the statement said. ”Its per-student funding is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars as our other colleges receive the lowest per-student funding, and the college is now without leadership only months after opening its doors to students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Federation of Teachers, the union representing 30,000 community college employees, including faculty members, has been opposed to the online college since Brown first proposed it. Last year, the union threatened a lawsuit if the online college failed to immediately meet goals that had been outlined by the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CFT President Jeff Freitas said the union had voiced its criticism about how much Hiles was paid, her previous professional position, the lack of transparency at Calbright and the direction Hiles was moving the college. Among the criticisms: that Hiles’ starting salary of $385,000 exceeded that of statewide community colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley by nearly $75,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, so much money has been spent for so few students that could have been used for the same targeted student community,” Freitas said, referring to Calbright’s focus on helping working adults achieve the certificates they need for better-paying, higher-skilled jobs. He said those funds would have been better used at existing community colleges with similar online programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"calbright-college\"]As part of Calbright’s mission, the school has pledged to partner with employers and unions to offer apprenticeships to students in the school’s three professional programs — information technology, medical coding and cybersecurity. Although those apprenticeships were expected to be revealed this spring, no arrangements with companies or unions have yet been announced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hiles, a technology entrepreneur and former deputy director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2019/former-gates-foundation-exec-and-entrepreneur-to-lead-californias-new-online-community-college/608272\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hired\u003c/a> last February to lead the state’s 115th community college. In addition to base salary and ongoing living adjustments, Hiles’ contract also included yearly performance bonuses up to $10,000 in the first year that could have increased to as much as $40,000 in the fourth year, and a $10,000 annual vehicle allowance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huckaby said there is a separation agreement, but it has not yet been made public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A representative from Chancellor Oakley’s office said it would not be commenting at this time on Hiles’ resignation. In September, Oakley said the new college should be given ample time to establish itself and get underway, although he acknowledged mistakes had been made over the previous year, including Hiles’ push to grant \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2019/03/carolyn-carpeneti-online-college-contract-newsom-willie-brown/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a no-bid contract\u003c/a> of up to $500,000 to an executive recruiter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the most recent setback, board of trustees President Epstein said he was optimistic about the college’s potential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We look forward to working closely with the public officials who entrusted us with oversight responsibility of Calbright to make the college a success,” Epstein said. “Calbright has the potential to be a powerful resource to help millions of low-income and disadvantaged Californians move up the economic ladder. We are determined to fulfill that goal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The head of California’s new online-only community college \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2020/calbright-college-president-resigns/622071\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announced her resignation\u003c/a> Monday, just shy of a year on the job and less than four months since the controversial school opened its virtual doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Calbright College President and CEO Heather Hiles will leave her post on March 31, and remain on administrative leave until then, an unexpected development that has prompted critics of the school to question its future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leadership of the college has been taken over by Calbright’s chief operating officer, Derek Gordon, and chief technology officer, Ari Bader-Natal. The school plans to appoint an interim chief executive officer until a new president and CEO is hired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hiles resigned of her own volition, according to Taylor Huckaby, the college’s communications director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our board appreciates the leadership provided by Ms. Hiles during her tenure as Calbright’s chief executive officer,” said Tom Epstein, president of the college’s board of trustees, in a statement Monday. “She led the launch of the start-up college that has already enrolled hundreds of students. Systems are in place to expand operations over time to meet the college’s goal of providing flexible online job-based learning opportunities to help adult workers in California obtain the skills they need to advance their careers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hiles’ sudden departure, less than a year into her four-year contract, \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2019/calbright-faces-questions-weeks-before-opening/615920\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">revived previously stated concerns\u003c/a> by community college faculty groups over the amount of money the college — and Hiles — has received to develop programs they contend already exist within the other 114 community colleges. The college receives about $20 million annually for operating costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The entirely online, free community college \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2019/hundreds-sign-up-for-the-new-calbright-college/618055\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">opened its virtual doors in October\u003c/a>, and has since enrolled more than 300 students in one of three program pathways, all of which are self-paced and designed to be completed in under one year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The college was seen as a bold initiative championed by former Gov. Jerry Brown to serve so-called “stranded workers” — older workers who need additional skills to advance in their careers without having to go back to college to get a degree. Although anyone can enroll in the college, Brown envisioned it specifically serving underemployed adult students, between the ages of 25 and 34, working part time or stuck in positions that don’t pay a living wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, Faculty Association of California Community Colleges President Debbie Klein and Executive Director Evan Hawkins said, “We wish Heather Hiles the best in her future endeavors. … Unfortunately, new leadership alone will not fix this inherently flawed use of state resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group, which represents more than 9,000 members and advocates for community college faculty, said there have been serious concerns since Calbright’s inception.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We continue to question the value of Calbright. The college has already received $140 million of state funding while violating the Educational Code with duplication,” the statement said. ”Its per-student funding is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars as our other colleges receive the lowest per-student funding, and the college is now without leadership only months after opening its doors to students.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Federation of Teachers, the union representing 30,000 community college employees, including faculty members, has been opposed to the online college since Brown first proposed it. Last year, the union threatened a lawsuit if the online college failed to immediately meet goals that had been outlined by the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CFT President Jeff Freitas said the union had voiced its criticism about how much Hiles was paid, her previous professional position, the lack of transparency at Calbright and the direction Hiles was moving the college. Among the criticisms: that Hiles’ starting salary of $385,000 exceeded that of statewide community colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley by nearly $75,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, so much money has been spent for so few students that could have been used for the same targeted student community,” Freitas said, referring to Calbright’s focus on helping working adults achieve the certificates they need for better-paying, higher-skilled jobs. He said those funds would have been better used at existing community colleges with similar online programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As part of Calbright’s mission, the school has pledged to partner with employers and unions to offer apprenticeships to students in the school’s three professional programs — information technology, medical coding and cybersecurity. Although those apprenticeships were expected to be revealed this spring, no arrangements with companies or unions have yet been announced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hiles, a technology entrepreneur and former deputy director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2019/former-gates-foundation-exec-and-entrepreneur-to-lead-californias-new-online-community-college/608272\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hired\u003c/a> last February to lead the state’s 115th community college. In addition to base salary and ongoing living adjustments, Hiles’ contract also included yearly performance bonuses up to $10,000 in the first year that could have increased to as much as $40,000 in the fourth year, and a $10,000 annual vehicle allowance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huckaby said there is a separation agreement, but it has not yet been made public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A representative from Chancellor Oakley’s office said it would not be commenting at this time on Hiles’ resignation. In September, Oakley said the new college should be given ample time to establish itself and get underway, although he acknowledged mistakes had been made over the previous year, including Hiles’ push to grant \u003ca class=\"external\" href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2019/03/carolyn-carpeneti-online-college-contract-newsom-willie-brown/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a no-bid contract\u003c/a> of up to $500,000 to an executive recruiter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the most recent setback, board of trustees President Epstein said he was optimistic about the college’s potential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We look forward to working closely with the public officials who entrusted us with oversight responsibility of Calbright to make the college a success,” Epstein said. “Calbright has the potential to be a powerful resource to help millions of low-income and disadvantaged Californians move up the economic ladder. We are determined to fulfill that goal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Chytchua Muyco graduated from high school over a decade ago, attending college didn’t feel like an option. Her family couldn’t afford tuition, so her aunt helped her find a job working for San Mateo County. It was a good, stable job that paid well, but Muyco soon discovered its limits. Her supervisor told her she was smart and organized, but that if she wanted to advance she’d need a college degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So that’s why I went back to school, to figure out what job should I do where it’s fully utilizing my potential,” Muyco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a lot of college students in Muyco’s position. Over 40% of California community college students are over the age of 25 and are already working adults. Many go back to school to expand their opportunities — like Muyco — but it’s easy for financial obligations, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/10/24/772018032/vital-federal-program-to-help-parents-in-college-is-a-drop-in-the-bucket\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lack of child care\u003c/a> and work demands to get in the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muyco was in her early 20s when she started at \u003ca href=\"https://collegeofsanmateo.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">College of San Mateo\u003c/a> (CSM). She couldn’t afford to stop working, but she looked for jobs that had flexible schedules. She also wasn’t sure what she wanted to do — initially she thought she’d try to become a doctor. That dream faded with her first biology class, which she didn’t love. She dabbled in economics, psychology, political science, taking one or two classes a semester.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muyco was pursuing school, but at the same time her financial obligations — rent, car, food, sending money to family in the Philippines — were more real to her than a degree. She would often drop classes when things got hectic at work. In the midst of it all, she got married and moved to Newark, which made for a brutal commute to school and work. But she never gave up on school completely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I initially thought my skills weren’t good enough to pursue something like engineering,” Muyco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the help of supportive professors at CSM, she found she liked math and was good at it, too. She decided to pursue chemical engineering. Once she found her passion, there were more tough decisions to make.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside tag=\"college-try\" label=\"More From The College Try Series\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I realized that if I had kept just taking one or two classes, it would take me forever,” Muyco said. “So I had to really sit down with my husband and talk about finances and really decide to just go full time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muyco’s husband, William Ung, has always supported her dreams of further education, even when it’s been hard to make ends meet living on one salary in the Bay Area. The couple met when they both worked for San Mateo County, and neither had a college degree. Ung was taking classes at San Jose State University, slowly plugging away at a political science degree. But, unlike his wife, he’s never found the thing that drives him. He knows it’s not always easy to find an inspiring career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to afford her the time to find what she was passionate about,” he said. “And then when she finally found it, to pursue it. I never want her to look back and say, ‘I wish I had tried this or I wish I had done this.’ I want her to look back and say, ‘Well, we did everything we could.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Muyco and Ung decided to have a child, she took two years off from school for the pregnancy and the first year of his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was actually ready to quit school,” Muyco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://nscresearchcenter.org/some-college-no-degree-2019/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thirty-six million\u003c/a> Americans — \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2018/adults-who-started-college-but-never-finished-need-help-returning-for-diplomas/603440\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">4 million of whom are Californians\u003c/a> — have attended some college, but don’t have a degree. They drop out for all kinds of reasons, but the strain of juggling family responsibilities is a common one. Worse, many students who leave college without a degree have \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/07/09/738985632/these-are-the-people-struggling-the-most-to-pay-back-student-loans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">racked up student debt\u003c/a>, but haven’t found more job opportunities because they never got the degree. These students are one of the groups most likely to have trouble paying back their loans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muyco doesn’t have student debt because she and Ung have carefully planned their finances around her school costs. After her son was born, Muyco still had a few units to complete at community college before she would be transfer-ready, and it all seemed like a lot. But then she thought about what her life would be like after her son grew up, when he didn’t need her as much anymore. She wanted to have her own passions and a life beyond being a parent. And she thought about the model she’d be setting for her son if she quit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to be an example to him and show him that, even if there’s all these obstacles, whether it’s financial or time, if you really want to pursue something, it can be possible. It might be difficult, but it’s possible,” Muyco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11788445\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11788445 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Chytchua Muyco with her son.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1281\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chytchua Muyco with her son. \u003ccite>(Stephanie Lister/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Becoming parents put even more financial pressure on the family. Muyco and Ung finally decided to move in with Ung’s parents in San Mateo to save money and shorten their commutes. They know they’re lucky to have that option, but living with extended family presents its own stressors on their relationship. On top of the fact they are sleep-deprived and don’t get to see each other much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We inevitably argue because we’re both tired,” Ung said. “I try to always let her know that this is only a temporary thing. And I try to tell myself that, too, when financially it’s a struggle, when I don’t get to see her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m very fortunate in the fact that my husband is very supportive,” Muyco said. “But also, he realizes that when you finish, it opens up more doors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce estimate that \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/georgetown-cew/thinking-about-college-pay-attention-to-these-5-rules-da2d5f9265fe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">two-thirds of jobs today require at least some college\u003c/a>. But getting a college degree as an adult is notoriously difficult for all the reasons Muyco has faced — adults have to work, take care of families, and the \u003ca href=\"https://nscresearchcenter.org/signaturereport11/\">road is often longer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Muyco, the end is finally in sight. She transferred to San Jose State University this fall as a junior in the engineering department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never thought I would transfer,” Muyco said. “It’s pretty amazing. I just kept taking classes, but I never thought I was going to get to this point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The classes are harder now, and more expensive, but Muyco is determined to finish. Looking back on the journey so far, she says, “Having my son, because I had so much support, was not the most difficult part. I think it was staying motivated and reminding myself that if I just keep chipping away at it I’ll get to that point when I’m done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her husband is looking forward to that day, too. They’ve spent so many years hustling, managing schedules, coordinating rides and scrimping that he can’t even really imagine it. He’s not sure what life will look like. He just keeps reminding himself — and Muyco when she’s struggling — that it’s a short-term pain for long-term benefit.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Chytchua Muyco graduated from high school over a decade ago, attending college didn’t feel like an option. Her family couldn’t afford tuition, so her aunt helped her find a job working for San Mateo County. It was a good, stable job that paid well, but Muyco soon discovered its limits. Her supervisor told her she was smart and organized, but that if she wanted to advance she’d need a college degree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So that’s why I went back to school, to figure out what job should I do where it’s fully utilizing my potential,” Muyco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a lot of college students in Muyco’s position. Over 40% of California community college students are over the age of 25 and are already working adults. Many go back to school to expand their opportunities — like Muyco — but it’s easy for financial obligations, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/10/24/772018032/vital-federal-program-to-help-parents-in-college-is-a-drop-in-the-bucket\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lack of child care\u003c/a> and work demands to get in the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muyco was in her early 20s when she started at \u003ca href=\"https://collegeofsanmateo.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">College of San Mateo\u003c/a> (CSM). She couldn’t afford to stop working, but she looked for jobs that had flexible schedules. She also wasn’t sure what she wanted to do — initially she thought she’d try to become a doctor. That dream faded with her first biology class, which she didn’t love. She dabbled in economics, psychology, political science, taking one or two classes a semester.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muyco was pursuing school, but at the same time her financial obligations — rent, car, food, sending money to family in the Philippines — were more real to her than a degree. She would often drop classes when things got hectic at work. In the midst of it all, she got married and moved to Newark, which made for a brutal commute to school and work. But she never gave up on school completely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I initially thought my skills weren’t good enough to pursue something like engineering,” Muyco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the help of supportive professors at CSM, she found she liked math and was good at it, too. She decided to pursue chemical engineering. Once she found her passion, there were more tough decisions to make.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I realized that if I had kept just taking one or two classes, it would take me forever,” Muyco said. “So I had to really sit down with my husband and talk about finances and really decide to just go full time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muyco’s husband, William Ung, has always supported her dreams of further education, even when it’s been hard to make ends meet living on one salary in the Bay Area. The couple met when they both worked for San Mateo County, and neither had a college degree. Ung was taking classes at San Jose State University, slowly plugging away at a political science degree. But, unlike his wife, he’s never found the thing that drives him. He knows it’s not always easy to find an inspiring career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to afford her the time to find what she was passionate about,” he said. “And then when she finally found it, to pursue it. I never want her to look back and say, ‘I wish I had tried this or I wish I had done this.’ I want her to look back and say, ‘Well, we did everything we could.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Muyco and Ung decided to have a child, she took two years off from school for the pregnancy and the first year of his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was actually ready to quit school,” Muyco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://nscresearchcenter.org/some-college-no-degree-2019/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thirty-six million\u003c/a> Americans — \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2018/adults-who-started-college-but-never-finished-need-help-returning-for-diplomas/603440\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">4 million of whom are Californians\u003c/a> — have attended some college, but don’t have a degree. They drop out for all kinds of reasons, but the strain of juggling family responsibilities is a common one. Worse, many students who leave college without a degree have \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/07/09/738985632/these-are-the-people-struggling-the-most-to-pay-back-student-loans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">racked up student debt\u003c/a>, but haven’t found more job opportunities because they never got the degree. These students are one of the groups most likely to have trouble paying back their loans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Muyco doesn’t have student debt because she and Ung have carefully planned their finances around her school costs. After her son was born, Muyco still had a few units to complete at community college before she would be transfer-ready, and it all seemed like a lot. But then she thought about what her life would be like after her son grew up, when he didn’t need her as much anymore. She wanted to have her own passions and a life beyond being a parent. And she thought about the model she’d be setting for her son if she quit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to be an example to him and show him that, even if there’s all these obstacles, whether it’s financial or time, if you really want to pursue something, it can be possible. It might be difficult, but it’s possible,” Muyco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11788445\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11788445 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Chytchua Muyco with her son.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1281\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2019/11/RS40259__DSC6696-qut-1200x801.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chytchua Muyco with her son. \u003ccite>(Stephanie Lister/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Becoming parents put even more financial pressure on the family. Muyco and Ung finally decided to move in with Ung’s parents in San Mateo to save money and shorten their commutes. They know they’re lucky to have that option, but living with extended family presents its own stressors on their relationship. On top of the fact they are sleep-deprived and don’t get to see each other much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We inevitably argue because we’re both tired,” Ung said. “I try to always let her know that this is only a temporary thing. And I try to tell myself that, too, when financially it’s a struggle, when I don’t get to see her.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m very fortunate in the fact that my husband is very supportive,” Muyco said. “But also, he realizes that when you finish, it opens up more doors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce estimate that \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/georgetown-cew/thinking-about-college-pay-attention-to-these-5-rules-da2d5f9265fe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">two-thirds of jobs today require at least some college\u003c/a>. But getting a college degree as an adult is notoriously difficult for all the reasons Muyco has faced — adults have to work, take care of families, and the \u003ca href=\"https://nscresearchcenter.org/signaturereport11/\">road is often longer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Muyco, the end is finally in sight. She transferred to San Jose State University this fall as a junior in the engineering department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I never thought I would transfer,” Muyco said. “It’s pretty amazing. I just kept taking classes, but I never thought I was going to get to this point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The classes are harder now, and more expensive, but Muyco is determined to finish. Looking back on the journey so far, she says, “Having my son, because I had so much support, was not the most difficult part. I think it was staying motivated and reminding myself that if I just keep chipping away at it I’ll get to that point when I’m done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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