Michele Siqueiros

Michele Siqueiros is president of the Campaign for College Opportunity. She is an advocate who works to expand college access and success for California students by raising public attention to the critical challenges facing students in our community colleges and universities, mobilizing a broad coalition of supporters, and influencing policymakers. The campaign’s mission to increase college-going and completion rates is driven by a strong belief that California’s future economic success depends on our ability to produce the best-educated workforce in the nation and that our diverse population of young adults deserve the same opportunity provided to previous generations—regardless of race or socioeconomic status. Under her leadership in 2010, the campaign led the effort for historic transfer reform that makes it easier for students to transfer from any California community college to the California State University system. She has advocated for millions of additional state dollars to expand student enrollment and student success funding at our community colleges, CSUs, and UCs. She also advanced legislative efforts to increase access to Pell Grants, protect Cal Grant funding, support undocumented students, promote college readiness, prioritize community college student success efforts, and reform remedial education. In her 20 years at the Campaign for College Opportunity, she has built a strong, independent, and influential organization by raising over $21 million, assembling a team of experts and leaders in the field, championing major budget appropriations, securing historic higher education legislation, and establishing a broad and influential network of over 12,000 coalition supporters. She serves on the boards of the Alliance for a Better Community, the Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, and Pitzer College Alumni, and is a member of the Public Policy Institute of California’s Statewide Leadership Council. In 2019, she was appointed by Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins to the Student-Centered Funding Formula Oversight Committee. She previously served on the California Student Aid Commission. The first in her family to graduate from college, she has a BA in political studies with honors in Chicano/a studies from Pitzer College and an MA in urban planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.