This is the first piece in a dedicated blog series exploring the agreements and their contents. The second, “Examining the Gains, Gaps, and Road Ahead for the Higher Education Compacts and Roadmap,” builds on this analysis, examining where California’s colleges and universities stand on the goals they set with the state, spotlighting early progress and challenges that remain.
Previously in a time of budget surplus, the Newsom administration forged agreements with the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO). Known as the compacts (for UC and CSU) and roadmap (for the CCCCO), these agreements serve as essential guideposts, aligning each segment’s vision with the administration’s ambitious goal of achieving 70 percent postsecondary degree and certificate attainment among working-aged Californians by 2030.
However, as California faces a critical juncture, including the aftermath of the pandemic and an estimated $38-$68 billion budget deficit1, the relevance and resilience of these agreements will be tested, particularly as they have succumbed to fiscal pressures in the past. To effectively navigate the current challenges, the state’s higher education efforts must adapt and restructure to be more efficient, agile, and equitable to bolster California’s economy and richly diverse communities.
Recognizing this, California Competes launches a dedicated series to explore these agreements and their contents and offer recommendations to optimize their impact amid the current turbulent landscape. This first blog examines what these agreements are as well as their main components, goals, and reporting requirements. The aim is to provide crucial insights to support the administration, segments, legislature, and higher education advocates in meeting statewide goals and ensuring the success of the compacts and roadmap.
What are the compacts and roadmap?
The compacts and roadmap are individual agreements between the administration and each segment to advance student-focused priorities over a five year period (Fiscal Year 2022-23 through 2026-27; in other words July 1, 2022-June 30, 2027). These multi-year agreements are referred to as compacts for the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU), and a roadmap for the California Community Colleges (CCC). The agreements largely draw from each system’s individual plans: UC 2030 framework, CSU’s Graduation Initiative 2025, and CCC’s Vision 2030, respectively. The compacts and roadmap aim to increase enrollment, completion, intersegmental coordination, online education, equity, and pathways to high-demand careers, in alignment with several California Competes’s priorities.
What is in the agreements? And what’s not?
The compacts and roadmap contain five core sections:
- Term of the agreement: The agreements span the fiscal years 2022-23 through 2026-27 (which covers July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2027). However, the agreements do not specify the process for modification or the consequences if any involved party does not fulfill its obligations during the term.
- Shared goals: All three agreements highlight shared goals centered on increasing student success and equity, intersegmental collaboration to benefit students, and supporting workforce preparedness and pathways to high-demand careers. These goals are presented as system-wide goals, with limited specification at the regional or campus level.
- Call to action for intersegmental equity and collaboration: The agreements include goals for all systems to collaborate on 1) the implementation and use of the California Cradle-to-Career Data System, including a data tool to identify granular equity data trends 2) the adoption of a common learning management system, 3) the design of an integrated admissions platform, and 4) the redesign of data sharing agreements to seamlessly support transfer students. However, the consequences for non-participation are not clearly outlined.
- Planned and proposed state investments: The agreements outline financial support towards the noted goals, including items in the 2022-23 budget, items proposed for future year’s budgets, and items marked for continued and sustained funding. See California Competes’s 2022-23 and 2023-24 budget analyses for specifics on some of the investments contained in the agreements. Please note that funding for future budgets is not guaranteed, as it requires legislative analysis and agreement each year.
- Annual reporting requirements, metrics, and performance measures: Each segment must complete and submit reports describing actions taken towards each goal, progress made, and plans for the next year. For measures that did not have a specific target indicated due to a lack of baseline data in 2022, the agreement calls for the submission of baseline data and corresponding metrics in the 2023 reports.
How do the agreements differ?
The three agreements contain notable differences, particularly strategies and roles around:
- Increasing enrollment for California residents: The UC and CSU system agreements stipulate they will increase annual Californian undergraduate enrollment by one percent each year between 2023 to 2026 or approximately 8,000 UC and 14,000 CSU full-time equivalent students over four years (see Table 1). The CCC will support UC and CSU’s ability to hit this target by increasing the number of transfer students to four-year institutions when community college enrollment is also increasing. The UC and CSU goals are supported by a one-time enrollment and retention allocation in the 2022-23 state budget and a five percent increase in base funding in the 2023-24 state budget. The CCC roadmap does not contain specific funding commitments since community college funding is determined statutorily through law, which makes annual negotiations unnecessary.
- Improving Student Success: The goals for each agreement discuss improving systemwide completion and transfer rates. The student success metrics differ for each agreement since they are based on each segment’s pre-existing goals (see Table 2).
- Advancing Equity: The agreements include increasing success rates for Pell-eligible students (a proxy for low-income students ), underrepresented minority students, and disabled students so their outcomes meet the average of all students. The timelines for closing equity gaps differ for the three segments since they are based on the segment’s existing plans (see Table 3)
- Increasing the Affordability of Education: The UC and CSU compacts include affordability goals, which vary in approach from reducing classroom material expenses and housing costs to establishing debt-free college pathways. The CCC roadmap mentions increasing affordable student housing, along with increasing Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) and Competency-Based Education (CBE) to reduce student costs.
- Supporting Workforce Preparedness and High-Demand Career Pipelines: The UC and CSU compacts include three workforce goals: (1) increasing the number of students with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees or credentials by 25 percent by 2026-27; (2) increasing the number of graduates entering the fields of other high-need disciplines (healthcare, climate action, and education); and
(3) increasing partnerships supported by the regional Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF) to strengthen employment pathways to each region’s in- demand industries that produce high-quality, accessible jobs.
The compacts also point to increasing dual enrollment units earned in high school to help meet these degree and career-relevant goals. The CCC roadmap includes goals around increasing the percentage of students who earn a living wage by 15 percent and offering more credit for prior learning, which recognizes college-level learning built through work or workforce development training outside an accredited college classroom.
- Providing Access to Online Course Offerings: The UC and CSU compacts include goals of expanding digital tools for students to access learning materials online and increasing online education enrollment to 15 percent above pre-pandemic levels for CSUs and a doubling of the number of students accessing online courses for UCs. The CCC roadmap does not have a stated goal related to online course offerings.
What measures will ensure accountability?
Each segment must provide annual reports to the Administration and the Legislature, detailing actions and progress made towards the goals and steps for the next year (see Table 5). These reports are due in the fall each year. The annual reports from the UC and CSU must include details about strategic collaboration and intersegmental partnerships, including performance outcomes, structural or process changes that occurred or are needed, and priority areas of focus for collaboration in the next year. Since the CCC have this already outlined in their roadmap, it will note progress towards the intersegmental goals named in the roadmap.
In addition to the annual reporting, the UC and CSU were directed to complete a 2022 report that includes baseline data for setting meaningful metrics with specific benchmarks for the future.
Preserving the promise
California’s higher education compacts and roadmap represent a potentially important step towards a more resilient and equitable future. Our series analyzing the compacts aims to provide a foundation of understanding around these agreements and promote their use for a stronger and more strategic public higher education system. Stay tuned for the next publication in the series, where we assess the potential and challenges of using these agreements to drive reform and offer recommendations for maximizing high-impact results.
1The estimated budget deficit range is drawn from the Legislative Analyst’s Office California’s Fiscal Outlook Report published in December 2023 and the Governor’s Proposed Budget published in January 2024.
