Helping Those Who Have It the Toughest
By Charles B. Reed
Chancellor, The California State University, Long Beach
The California State University (CSU), like many other higher education institutions across the country, is currently facing one of the toughest budget situations we have ever seen. These days, it's not just a matter of taking a little cut here and a little snip there. It's about losing entire portions of the budget, while at the same time being asked to do more with less.
In these difficult times, we need to remember who will suffer first and most from the effects of our belt-tightening: the young people who are traditionally underrepresented in our student population. Students of color, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, students who live in homes where English is not the primary language spoken, and students who would be the first in their families to attend college—all are at greater risk of slipping through the cracks. These students are also growing in number and will soon make up the majority of our country's younger population.
Our ability to reach these students is critical to the future success of our institutions, our country, and our economy. Additionally, we will need to reach them to achieve President Obama's goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. That's why now is the time to redouble our efforts at reaching out to underserved students and helping them become successful on the path to a degree.
At the CSU, we have made it a priority to take an active role in reaching out to these students. One of our most visible efforts has been the "Super Sunday" college event at African-American churches, held every February for the last four years. This year we visited 74 churches in Northern and Southern California; we expect to reach more than 92,000 people with college preparation resources and assistance. Additionally, through our Parent Institute for Quality Education partnership we will offer training sessions to about 8,000 parents, mostly Latino, with information on how to help their children prepare for college.
We also have special events to reach out to underserved students from Asian and Native American populations. And we have distributed 3.5 million copies of our "How to Get to College" poster, which is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
Some would call this kind of hands-on outreach a luxury during troubled financial times. But, if we want to keep our institutions relevant for this generation and the next, we have to go where the students are. And if we want to keep our country's economy strong, we have to make sure that these students have the opportunity to earn a college degree and succeed in today's knowledge-based workforce.
We owe it to communities—and our country—to make sure that we give America's young people a chance at a promising future.
Return to Embracing the Unknown
- Go for a Big Goal
- Restructuring Our Business Model
- From Cradle to Career - A Holistic Focus
- The Realities of This Recession
- Taking the Long-Term Perspective
- Change Is in Our DNA
- A Picture of Sustainability