Higher Education

College Beat is produced by the CalMatters College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists across the state.

California is about to embark on an enormous, unplanned experiment in remote learning — and no one knows how long it will last.

Early reports indicate children infected by the coronavirus experience a milder response than older adults. But as it arrives in Northern California, school and college officials are preparing for a growing likelihood that the highly contagious virus will disrupt learning and spark panic in young people and their naturally protective caretakers.  As dorms are being […]

California’s four-year university systems are both choosing new leaders  whose decisions will shape not only their institutions but the future of public higher education in the state and nationally.

Though not the university’s final decision on the subject, the recommendations are a blow to critics who say the tests discriminate against low-income students and underrepresented minorities. And they are a boon to the test administrators, the College Board and ACT Inc, who offered the exams to more than 100,000 students who applied to UC last year.

With Heather Hiles's resignation,  California’s first-in-the-nation online community college now has 450 students — with  no full-time faculty,  no CEO and no political champion. What will Calbright's future be?

The "free college" movement in California has consisted of two years of community college, for full-time students, with an assortment of strings attached. But with AB 1862, Los Angeles Assemblyman Miguel Santiago seeks to take California College Promise program, literally, to the next level: tuition-free junior and senior years for transfers to the Cal States.  

Former tech exec Heather Hiles' departure, effective March 31, comes only a few months after Calbright enrolled its first class of students.

New California laws explained in 60 seconds. Ring in 2020 by learning about California's new do's and don'ts, and how they will affect us all.

The nationwide Varsity Blues scandal posed an important question about college admissions: As California Assemblyman Kevin McCarty put it, “How do we reassure the public that the system is not totally rigged?” State legislators sought to address this challenge with two new laws increasing oversight of the admissions process, both of which take effect in […]