CA is looking outside its borders for a proven approach to improving community college completion. Though the state budget has increased spending on the community college system by $2.6 billion since 2011, the system has fallen short of its goals for student graduation. As of 2017-18, less than a tenth of its students who seek degrees or certificates earned them within three years.
Now the state is betting that a $3 million investment to borrow a model from New York will be the spark its community colleges need to dramatically increase the number of California students completing their studies in three years. So far 53 percent of New York’s accelerated program’s students graduate with a degree in three years — more than double the rate for similar City University of New York students not in the program.