California’s higher education: Time for a revamp

Escalating federal actions are shaking the foundations of higher education: college presidents ousted, research grants revoked midstream, and DEI initiatives facing legal challenges and rollbacks. Undocumented students and their families are being detained and deported. Academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and campus safety are not just under debate; they’re under attack. At the same time, rapid advances in artificial intelligence are transforming how we learn, teach and work, faster than higher education’s tradition-oriented culture allows it to respond.

Yet, California’s higher education system remains anchored to a 65-year-old plan. While the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education was visionary for its time — expanding access and defining institutional roles — it was built for a California of a different era. As higher education leader Pat Callan noted in a recent interview, the plan was responding to “a tidal wave” of baby boomers graduating from high school at that time. Today’s students and the millions more the state needs to reach are more diverse in age, race, background and goals. They face rising costs, increased responsibilities, and new obstacles. They need a higher education system that is built for the present and ready to adapt to the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Some recent reactions to a bold rethinking of the Master Plan for Higher Education — including the idea of a more seamless and integrated system — have focused on political feasibility. That’s understandable. But in today’s volatile climate, feasibility is a moving target and is too often used to maintain the status quo. In this new and volatile moment, California and its higher education system can’t keep playing by an outdated playbook. 

Without a willingness to question the status quo and confront the structures that stratify rather than elevate, we’ll keep patching a fragmented system that sorts and filters instead of supports and guides learners — especially those from underserved communities. 

What if, instead, California designed higher education around today’s students, just as the authors of the 1960 plan did in their time? What if we removed structural barriers so Californians could move more easily between school and work with transparent pathways, consistent supports, and the opportunity to earn meaningful credentials regardless of their entry point?

The good news is that we’re already moving in that direction. Across the state, reforms are beginning to blur boundaries across institutions and sectors:

• Direct admission from high school to California State University (CSU) institutions eases the transition from high school to college.
• The Associate Degree for Transfer program offers clearer, practically guaranteed transfer pathways from community college to CSU.
• California community colleges now offer bachelor’s degrees, and California State University campuses offer doctorates, reflecting a shift away from the segment roles in the 1960 plan to reflect today’s student and labor market needs.
• Multi-college housing projects and shared administrative functions have emerged to better serve students across all campuses.
• Tools like CaliforniaColleges.edu and the Cradle-to-Career Data System help Californians plan and navigate their educational journeys more effectively.

Taken together, these efforts signal something bigger: a growing movement toward a more unified, student-centered system.

In the white paper “From Institutions to Individuals: A Paradigm Shift for California’s Master Plan for Higher Education,” we offered one vision — not as a final answer, but as a conversation starter. It was meant to provoke, invite and inspire the kind of bold thinking California needs. Across all the reforms and the billions spent on higher education, what are we building toward? What is our vision?

As higher education comes under attack, California has the opportunity to build something stronger — more just, more agile, more connected to the lives and goals of today’s society. If we want a future where the state continues to lead the nation and the world, we must be willing to reimagine what higher education can be.

Let’s start that conversation now. California has multiple pathways to develop and advance a bold vision:

• The Legislature could continue the important work of Democratic Assemblymember Marc Berman’s Select Committee on the Master Plan, leveraging statewide hearings to drive a public vision on the future of higher education.
• The recently released Governor’s Master Plan for Career Education provides a framework for thinking more holistically about educational attainment and economic mobility that can be used to build the structures needed for effective collaboration across agencies.
• The newly funded statewide interagency coordinating entity could serve as a forum and hub for strategy and alignment.
• And independent organizations, including California Competes, stand ready to support both the development and execution of a shared, student-centered vision through research, partnership and advocacy.

California has long been a global leader in public higher education. But leadership requires adaptation. Let’s come together to ask what kind of future we want, and then build a higher education system that makes it possible. 

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Su Jin Jez is CEO of California Competes, a nonprofit working to solve California’s higher education and workforce issues through research, advocacy and collective action.

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