California Community Colleges (CCC) recently appointed Chancellor, Dr. Sonya Christian hosted an hour-long Zoom teleconference on Sept. 21 for CCC student journalists, where she discussed Vision 2030, a 7-year plan of action for making college and degree attainment more accessible.

“We are the largest system of higher Ed in the nation,” said Dr. Christian. “But there are 6.8 million community members – Californians, who have a high school diploma but no college credential. And these individuals are working low-income jobs.”

Vision 2030 endeavors to be inclusive for students in various stages and walks of life. Some of the Californians the plan has in mind are high school students, students with disabilities, foster youth, justice-involved individuals, veterans, working adults, low-income adults, and students with dependents, to name a few.

“Shouldn’t we take college to them if they have not found college yet,” asked Dr. Christian of the 6.8 million Californians with no college degree. “So, that definition of access, we are really going deeper and not just opening up our doors and saying, ‘We are here. Come, find us,’ but instead, we are saying, ‘Well, we are going to come and bring college to you so that there are no barriers between where a Californian is and their community college.’”

A guiding light of Vision 2030 is equity. The proposal’s three goals are Equity in Access, Equity in Support, and Equity in Success. There is a special focus on reaching students who face systemic barriers due to their race and ethnicity.

The three proposed goals have six desired outcomes. For Equity in Access, the intended result is to increase the number of students attending a California community college with an emphasis on underserved community members. For Equity in Support, the number of people applying for and receiving financial aid (including Pell Grants and CCPGs) would increase. Additionally, the number of units needed to receive an Associate Degree for Transfer would decrease. The desired outcomes for Equity of Success are for more students to complete a degree or certificate at a community college or receive a Baccalaureate through either transfer or a Community College Baccalaureate program. And finally, to have more California Community College students earn a living wage when they enter the workforce.

“So in Vision 2030, we said, ‘Okay, in order to complete the baccalaureate, we have two paths’,” said Dr. Christian. “One is the transfer pathway. Yes, we’re going to double down on it. We’re going to… remove barriers, and get those students to flow into our CSU’s UCS. Another option is the community college baccalaureate.”

Over 25 California Community Colleges either have a Baccalaureate program in place or will soon have that to offer. This expanding program is a game changer in making degrees more affordable for Californians. Additionally, this development makes Baccalaureate attainment more likely for many since they will be able to continue their education where they are already at. Dr. Christian noted during the teleconference that healthcare, climate, STEM, education and early education are the priority sectors that were identified by the Governor and the legislature and that is where the focus lies for moving the workforce towards. Many of those sectors are reflected in the bachelor’s programs that have been approved thus far. Careers in those identified fields will likely help move more people into jobs where they can earn a living wage or closer to it. Vision 2030 seeks to grow the number of Baccalaureate programs offered in community colleges.

El Vaquero reached out for comment in a follow-up email on whether Vision 2030 has plans to keep online and remote learning options available, as those options provide accessibility for various types of learners. 

“The Vision 2030 recognizes the benefits of online/remote options for students and includes plans to innovate our processes to offer the best education possible for our students taking online courses,” said I Can Go To College project manager Amanda Davis. “Accessibility comes in many forms and improving upon our remote/online/hybrid courses are not the only avenues we’re exploring to create system wide ‘equity in access.’”

Davis further explained, “The Vision 2030 aims to customize support for different student groups while focusing on those disproportionately impacted – such as justice-involved youth and adults, foster youth, students with disabilities, and low-income adults. Customized support can look like providing instruction through flexible modalities that accommodates diverse learning styles. This may one day involve tools such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology.”

“We haven’t even scratched the surface when it comes to the power of generative. AI,” said Dr. Christian during the teleconference. “I mean, if you think ChatGPT in 2023, the rate of change is going to be significant to what it’s going to look like even next year, let alone in 3 years.” Dr. Christian went on to say that while they aren’t certain about what exactly AI can do, they are aware that they need to “fully engage” with it so it can be a beneficial resource and to be mindful of the pitfalls of AI.

Vision 2030 seeks to use generative AI and smart analytics on “big data” systems such as the Learning Management System and Student Information System. In an effort to support both faculty and online education delivery, it aims to update the system technology infrastructure. 

“We need to be addressing the fears, and there are many of those out there, the benefits, and there are many benefits out there,” said Dr. Christian. “ But we need to be fully engaged so that we are developing guidelines that are going to be iterative as we get new information. So we’ve carved out a place for the work of California’s Community Colleges, all of our faculty staff students, our trustees to really be involved in shaping this conversation.”

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Brittany Klintworth can be reached at [email protected]