In a stunning fall from grace, California State University Chancellor Joseph Castro has resigned from his post, effective immediately, over accusations that he mishandled sexual assault and workplace intimidation claims against a former colleague while president of Fresno State University. Castro — who just completed his first year as the first Mexican American chancellor of […]
Mikhail Zinshteyn/CalMatters
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Do-over: Cal State’s Resubmitted Application Increases Affordable Student Housing Projection by 800 Beds
After the California State University system realized it misread the fine print for a new state grant to build affordable student housing, officials went back to the drawing board, ran new numbers, and told lawmakers they have a plan to develop more discounted student homes. The application do-over means as many as 800 more Cal […]
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California Will Reward Volunteering College Students with Aid — but Spend Half the Money on Overhead
A new California program to financially reward college students for volunteering has drawn national attention — but less than half of its budgeted money is going to actual student aid. The California Volunteers College Corps program, backed by $159 million in mostly state money, promises to award up to $10,000 to 6,668 low-income students who […]
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Student Housing is Tight. A California Plan Wants $5 billion for Affordable Beds
The University of California housed more students than the system officially had room for last fall. Yet UC leaders, lawmakers and the governor all want to dramatically expand student enrollment. But that ambition is at odds with a housing crunch crippling the UC and campuses across California. Students will need somewhere to live and a […]
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Cal State Blunder May Mean Loss of 3,000 New Student Housing Beds
Thousands of affordable student housing slots are in jeopardy after the Cal State system misread the fine print for a new $2 billion state student housing program, CalMatters has discovered. With the deadline for applications passed, a solution remains unclear. Thousands of students at California State University may lose out on affordable housing because the […]
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Cal State Races to Boost Graduation Rate and Cut Early Ds and Fs
With the pandemic threatening to undercut graduation rates, Cal State is pushing to re-enroll lost students and reduce early Ds and Fs that can drive students to drop out. After her freshman year at San Francisco State was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, Marissa Ledesma fled from the campus vowing never to return. It […]
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UC Workforce Churn: Why a Quarter of Lecturers Don’t Return Each Year
Sami Siegelbaum loved teaching art history at UCLA even when his office space was a storage closet. The pay, at around $27,000 a year for the part-time job, wasn’t great, though it was more than what he made at his teaching posts at two other colleges. But after four years, his UCLA teaching contract wasn’t […]
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California Commits $500 Million More to Student Housing: ‘A Drop in the Bucket’
Free tuition is great, and California excels at that compared to the rest of the country. But with rents sky high, affordable housing has become the chief expense for most students – and relief is harder to come by. Lawmakers have a plan for that: They’ve poured $500 million into this year’s state budget so […]