College Beat

People walk past an “End Overdose” outreach table with informational materials and QR codes set up in a public plaza.

This new California law will offer college students rehab before discipline for overdosing

College students who seek help for substance use after an overdose face disciplinary action by their campus. A new California law, written in part by students themselves, will require public universities to offer rehabilitation services to students rather than discipline.

Alina Ta

Small bottles of a product labeled “feel free,” advertised for mood lift, energy, and focus, are displayed for sale inside a convenience store. A sign indicates the product costs $8.99 and must be purchased by customers age 21 or older.

Once given out at USC, this banned, opioid-like product is still cropping up in California

A drinkable product called Feel Free was once marketed to USC students as a wellness tonic. It contains an addictive, opioid-like ingredient called kratom leaf, now banned for sale by the California Department of Public Health but still available in many stores. A new bill in the Legislature would make the ban permanent in California.

Phoebe Huss

A person wearing a white sweater with blue stripes on the arm and a blue UCLA shirt underneath stands in a field near an apartment building, with tree branches poking into the background.

How college students can earn $10,000 for making a difference in CA communities

The popular College Corps program pays students up to $10,000 for community service work including tutoring incarcerated youth, assisting at food banks and more. The program is expanding from 45 to 52 campuses, adding hundreds of more students.

Brittany Oceguera

An illustration in green, red, blue and yellow tones that shows a desktop computer screen with an open window tab that resembles a Pokemon battle scene. At one end of the screen is a pixelated student and at the other is a wolf that represents a chatbot. The illustration includes a bubble text that reads "where can students get free food on campus?" alongside other bubbles of text with red exclamation points.

California colleges spend millions on faulty AI systems: ‘The chatbot is outdated’

Community colleges are spending millions on AI-powered chatbots that students say often give inaccurate answers. Many might see upgrades this year.

Martin Romero

Kayla Monnette, 20, of Corona, Calif. majors in cognitive science at the University of California San Diego. Photo by Mohammad Djauhari for CalMatters

College Beat

Pandemic tests an already-fragile college mental health system

This spring, as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted campus life for college students across California, UC San Diego sophomore Kayla Monnette had trouble sleeping at night. The stress of moving to online classes, figuring out how to safely buy food during quarantine, and worrying about the well-being of her immunocompromised family manifested in what Monnette described […]

Ethan Edward Coston

• August 27, 2020

College Beat

Colleges are walking back reopening plans — but can they keep campus employees safe?

As California colleges rethink their back-to-school plans amid a statewide spike in coronavirus cases, it’s not just their students they need to worry about protecting. Many campus employees are decades older than the students they teach and support, putting them at higher risk of complications if they contract the virus. Colleges still planning to hold […]

Bella Ross

• July 24, 2020

UCLA student Dulce Jimenez at her boyfriend’s apartment, where she often goes to study. Jimenez is one of a growing number of California students appealing their financial aid packages due to pandemic-related expenses. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters via Google Hangout

Higher Education

Financial aid appeals surge as students cope with pandemic hardships

UCLA student Dulce Jimenez didn’t file a federal student aid application for the 2020-21 school year; she was set to graduate in spring, and thought the days of worrying about paying for school would be behind her. But then the coronavirus pandemic hit. Jimenez found herself dropping a class, then needing to make it up […]

Vanessa Arredondo

• July 22, 2020

A group of students studying various disciplines of ethnic studies at Cal State campuses visit the Capitol to lobby for legislation to require such classes as a condition for graduation. Photo courtesy of Raven Freebird

Education

Should ethnic studies be a grad requirement? Cal State clashes with lawmakers

Trustees for the California State University system will vote on Chancellor Tim White’s graduation requirement proposal soon. His idea differs from a state bill that could soon be headed for the governor’s desk. Which requirement the system ends up with could have fiscal and academic implications for years to come.

Mikhail Zinshteyn

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Omar Rashad

• July 16, 2020

President of the University of California Janet Napolitano, left, and John A Perez, Chair of the UC Board of Regents speak before the start of the Regents meeting on January 23, 2020 at UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center

College Beat

UC will sue Trump administration over new international student visa rules

Update, July 14: Immigrations and Customs Enforcement rescinded Tuesday its new rules requiring international students to attend in-person classes in order avoid deportation, after colleges around the country — including the University of California — sued to block them. The decision was announced as part of a settlement in a lawsuit filed by Harvard and […]

Omar Rashad

and

Katherine Swartz

• July 8, 2020

Ahmad Mahmuod at Officer Christopher Wilson Memorial Park, near his childhood home in San Diego. Photo by Arlene Banuelos for CalMatters

Education

Students push UC to abolish police departments

Recent nationwide protests have re-ignited scrutiny of how the University of California polices its students.

Felicia Mello

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Vanessa Arredondo

• June 19, 2020

Higher Education

Meet seven college students risking their health to keep California’s economy running

The coronavirus has remade the college experience, pushing classes online and emptying campuses. But many California college students are also workers, and for those in the most essential occupations, that hasn’t changed — even as the state has endured a months-long lockdown. College students are stocking grocery shelves, cooking takeout food at restaurants and caring […]

and

• June 1, 2020

College Beat

Last student standing? A coronavirus diary

Lee este artículo en español. California college students cancelled their housing contracts and left their dorms en masse following the shift to online classes and statewide lockdown caused by the coronavirus. But at the University of California at Berkeley, several hundred stayed on campus, either because they couldn’t afford to make it home, did not have a […]

Vanessa Arredondo

• May 20, 2020

Students sit on the terraced lawn outside of Kennedy Library at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on September 24, 2018. Photo by Hannah Travis via Flickr

Higher Education

State auditor: Cal State should let students vote down fee increases

Undergraduates who enrolled at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this year paid $5,742 in tuition — less than many of their peers at public universities nationwide, one reason a California State University education is often lauded as a path to upward mobility for the state’s low-income students. But they also had to pony up more […]

Felicia Mello

Kimberly Morales

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Stephanie Zappelli

• May 15, 2020

Parker Tenove moved from Kansas to California to become part of the track and field program at El Camino College. When the coronavirus canceled the spring season, his plans fell apart. Photo courtesy of Parker Tenove

College Beat

Community colleges could see influx of athletes as coronavirus disrupts sports recruiting

Parker Tenove remembers looking at his track and field schedule for the 2020 spring season, marveling at the opportunity to run at competitions in California cities from Santa Monica to Bakersfield. He’d turned down scholarship offers from universities near his Kansas hometown to attend community college in Torrance, California, hoping the proximity to the state’s […]

Omar Rashad

• May 13, 2020

College Beat

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