Higher Education

California colleges are applying lessons learned from COVID-19 as they attempt to keep monkeypox from spreading on campuses. Experts say the disease poses a lower health risk than COVID but could keep students from their studies for longer periods.

A one-time state program worth $500 million has opened up from its pilot program to support displaced workers who want to acquire new job skills. Unlike other student aid, this grant can support programs shorter than three months. Recipients cannot have been enrolled in a training program when they lost their jobs.

Free college isn’t a new idea in California. But some community colleges, facing declining enrollment, are waiving fees for more students than ever, and adding on perks like free textbooks, meals and transportation.

The Cal State system graduates Black students at lower rates than other groups. Students, scholars and advocates say the reasons are myriad.

University of California and Cal State campuses will all start providing medication abortion beginning Jan. 1 under a new state law. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, opening up abortion appointments on university campuses could ease pressure on local clinics, which will likely see an influx of out-of-state patients.

The way the Cal State system presents graduation rates obscures how the system is failing its Black students.

State lawmakers are giving public colleges and universities $1.4 billion this year to build or renovate affordable dorms for students. The 25 projects across California range in size and price but are expected to make space for 7,300 students.

More than half of parenting college students drop out before attaining a degree. For these families, graduating during a pandemic was a special victory. Their experiences shed light on how California could better support the growing ranks of student parents.

UC Riverside and key allies in the Legislature have fought for additional funding for the school separate from what it already gets from the UC system. Now it’s up to the governor as to whether the state should subsidize a less popular campus.

Samuel Merritt University and Touro University California's new anti-burnout programs are part of a federally funded effort to improve retention in a health care industry rocked by the pandemic.