blog post For-Profit Colleges Face an Uncertain Future By Sara Adan Jan 30, 2017 Hundreds of US private for-profit colleges may be forced to close, leaving thousands of California students with difficult decisions.
blog post Lessons from the Great Recession Can Protect College Students Today By Kevin Cook, Hans Johnson Apr 29, 2020 State funding for public higher education saw deep cuts during the last downturn, while for-profit colleges moved to the forefront.
blog post College Graduates Have Higher Net Worth By Hans Johnson Jul 12, 2017 In California, median household net worth is almost four times higher for adults with at least a bachelor’s degree ($356,000) than for high school graduates ($95,000).
blog post Should Applying for College Financial Aid Be a High School Requirement? By Courtney Lee Sep 19, 2019 A bill introduced in the state legislature would make it mandatory to apply for college financial aid as a way to increase the share of students who receive awards.
blog post America’s College Promise: An Opportunity for California By Kevin Cook May 5, 2016 Proposals to provide free community college have clearly resonated with a broad coalition of voters, policymakers, and advocacy groups.
blog post Testimony: Getting to Graduation on Time at California State University By Jacob Jackson Nov 19, 2020 PPIC’s Jacob Jackson testified before the Select Committee on Student Success on increasing the share of CSU students who graduate in four years by encouraging them to take full course loads early in college.
blog post Making Career Education Affordable in California By Bonnie Brooks Jan 8, 2019 Education Secretary Betsy DeVos plans to roll back federal rules that have been instrumental in steering California students toward community colleges rather than for-profit institutions.
Report Will California Run Out of College Graduates? By Hans Johnson, Sarah Bohn, Marisol Cuellar Mejia Oct 12, 2015 California’s higher education system is a critical driver of the state’s economic progress. As the state’s economy continues to change, will its workforce be ready for the jobs of tomorrow? This report updates and extends projections of California’s workforce skills through 2030, focusing on the supply and demand for workers with a bachelor’s degree. We find that the state will fall about 1.1 million college graduates short of economic demand if current trends persist—a problem we call the workforce skills gap. Even the arrival of highly educated workers from elsewhere is unlikely to be large enough to fill this gap. Today’s college graduates have better economic outcomes than those who do not hold a bachelor’s degree. Over time, college graduates have seen lower rates of unemployment and higher wages than other workers—even through the Great Recession—suggesting that college degrees have become increasingly valuable in California’s labor market. The future workforce skills gap looms large. But California and its higher education institutions can take several practical steps to close it. The core of a new plan for higher education should include increasing access to the state’s four-year institutions, improving college completion rates, expanding transfer pathways from community colleges, and being smart about aid programs.
