California State University Chancellor Timothy White focused on increased graduation rates in his State of the CSU address Wednesday.
Katrina Borges
Special to Mustang News
The California State University system intends to graduate more students, especially those in underprivileged demographics, Chancellor Timothy White said in his State of the CSU address Wednesday.
“Our state needs one million more graduates by 2025 to enable the health of our economy,” White said. “This need is enormous, and we must intensify our efforts to do our part to meet that need.”
In order to reach this goal, the CSU system will redesign and update its “master plan” — the methods of running its universities that have been in place since the 1960s. The more modern plan will address increasing student needs with decreasing funds, as well as focusing on greater access and completion of college degrees in shorter amounts of time. This includes community college transfers, which ideally will occur within two years.
The primary targets of this plan are students of racial minorities, students from low-income families, first generation college students and students without any family. This means not only increasing resources during college — such as hiring more advisers and fixing up old facilities — but also creating more preparations before college so that students are more equipped to succeed. In his speech, White said that those earning in the lowest 20 percent of income and don’t earn a college degree have only a 5 percent chance of later earning in the top 20 percent. With a college degree, these chances increase fivefold.
White emphasized the importance of community and “diving deep” to get to know the students. According to him, what makes Cal State universities unique is how they contribute to the public good.
The CSU system has committed $50 million to achieving all of these goals. White defended the seemingly high cost by pointing out the alternative.
“It is not a cost,” he said. “The cost to California will occur if we don’t do it.”