Education

California’s public universities will get an infusion of cash to increase enrollment, smooth students’ progress toward graduation and repair aging buildings under a state budget agreement reached today by Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders.

Attending a university in California can be a financial burden beyond the means of many college hopefuls. Rising tuition is compounded by the lack of affordable housing in the state and the high cost of living.

The nation’s second-largest school system has enjoyed a major infusion of funding since the bone-deep cuts it endured during the recession. But in coming years, school officials project growth in employee pension and healthcare costs will eclipse the change in revenue.

Calling the political vetting of federal research grant applications “a significant threat to academic freedom,” UC faculty are urging the university to better track whether and why its proposals are turned down in the Trump era.

Both frontrunners to be California's new superintendent of schools say they will transform the post into a more forceful voice for education reform—but their split on charter schools may be decisive in this costly campaign.

Charter school supporters may be an effective counterbalance to the prevailing influence public-employee unions have long exerted on Democratic politics in California. But the billions in campaign donations by pro-charter tycoons also points to the outsized sway personal wealth can have on elections.

As state funding has decreased and enrollment has soared, University of California campuses are struggling to deal with many instances of overcrowded lectures, deteriorating buildings and delayed construction. Now the governor's offering $100 million for upgrades. UC says it's not nearly enough.

As the stigma of mental health care fades, California students want more campus services to help them cope with college life.

California’s poor students performed worse on a national exam than needy kids from all but one other state, according to results released this week by the National Center for Education Statistics.

It's a reality all too familiar to California college students: trying to find a home on a student budget in a housing market gone berserk.