Higher Education

The California State University Board of Trustees heard positive reports on Title IX reforms at its meeting this week, including new campus audits and data collection. However, some faculty and students say they have yet to see improvements.

Cal State officials are projecting a 2025-26 budget hole of about $400 million to $800 million. They are warning of layoffs and academic cuts.

Community colleges are designed to help students get an associate degree and transfer to a four-year university. Most community college students never graduate or transfer, a state audit found.

The UC Regents approved campus requests for more tools for UC police months after campus protesters clashed with law enforcement.

Failed legislative bills have attempted to create safe parking programs for students to sleep in their cars on California campuses while awaiting housing. Meanwhile, Long Beach City College allows homeless students to park overnight.

The unfolding rules are a response to last spring’s series of campus protests that led to hundreds of arrests. State lawmakers withheld $25 million from the UC until the system updated its policies.

The number of students taking college courses online has grown, particularly at the California Community Colleges. While campuses see the modality as increasing accessibility for students, the federal government is calling for greater oversight into the quality and effectiveness of online instruction.

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes two bills to allow some community colleges to provide bachelor’s degrees in nursing, which set up another conflict with the California State University, a system that already offers these bachelor’s degrees.

Lawmakers want to ban legacy admissions at California private colleges, even though few colleges admit students that way. Bill backers say the bill will signal to students that college is for them in the aftermath of the national ban on affirmative action.

California uses federal dollars intended to help students train for better jobs, but the money often goes to for-profit schools — even some under investigation.