Education

With the pandemic threatening to undercut graduation rates, Cal State is pushing to re-enroll lost students and reduce early Ds and Fs that can drive students to drop out.

Resident advisers on college campuses have a complicated job in a normal year, and the COVID-19 pandemic is adding to their workload this fall.

After nine months of student advocacy, Cal State University officials announced they would pull $162 million in investments from the fossil fuel industry, joining a growing movement.

The UC workforce has a churn problem as about a quarter of the system’s 6,000 lecturers don’t return annually. The lecturer union and UC have made some progress in their multi-year impasse over a new contract, but many issues remain unsolved as the threat of strikes loom.

While the state is the first to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students, California schools aren’t required to provide meals that adhere to students’ religious or cultural beliefs. This has an especially big impact on Muslim students.

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a huge expansion of the Cal Grant, the state’s main financial aid tool. It would have topped off a banner year for legislators who for years sought to reduce the cost of college.

Experts and educators expect long-term benefits for students, but some groups remain critical of the mandate as they continue to erroneously conflate the curriculum with critical race theory.

California’s recently issued COVID-19 vaccination mandate allows students and staff to opt out for religious or ideological reasons. While a small minority are expected to leave their schools over this mandate, a key lawmaker says he may push legislation to eliminate the personal belief exemption.

The UC workforce has a churn problem. About a quarter of the more than 6,000 lecturers at the University of California don’t return annually. Relatively low pay and little job stability are some of the reasons why, a CalMatters analysis shows. If lecturers strike, more than a third of classes will be canceled.

Gov. Gavin Newsom added COVID-19 to the list of diseases students must get a vaccination for to attend school.