Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to release his budget in the coming days, and it could include funds for a brand new community college — one that is fully online.
Last year, the governor asked California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley to develop a plan for an online-only campus. The chancellor’s office sent him three options in November: an online school fed by faculty and staff at an existing college, another staffed by a consortium of existing colleges, or a completely new and separate operation run out of the chancellor’s office.
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The school would aim to serve 2.5 million Californians the chancellor’s office identified who have some college but are unable to obtain certificates or degrees because of work or family obligations.
“The Californians we seek to reach cannot stop working to get the education they need to get ahead, and many of them juggle multiple jobs to feed their families,” Oakley said in a press release in November. “As much as we would like to, we cannot will them onto our campuses. We need to rethink traditional delivery models and pedagogies and meet this population where and when they are ready to gain skills and credentials.”
The courses would focus predominantly on certificate attainment so residents could advance at work after short stints as students.
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There is no word on which option the governor likes best, or whether he’ll follow through with funding. Brown must also find money to implement a new law that waives a year of community college tuition for first-time, full-time students.
Brown’s budget proposal is due Jan. 10.
