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California

Partner Newsroom

CalMatters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom committed to explaining California policy and politics.

Local Reporter

Adam Echelman covers California community colleges. Email him at aechelman@calmatters.org.

More from California

Read recent coverage from across the state about the role of college in equity and the workforce.

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Posted inCalifornia

Fake student aid: California colleges detect more fraudsters stealing millions

By Adam Echelman, CalMattersApril 8, 2025April 9, 2025

Scammers have stolen more than $10 million in federal financial aid from California’s community colleges in the last 12 months — more than double what they stole in the prior year.

Posted inCalifornia

A ‘missed opportunity’: Does Newsom’s plan to get Californians into better jobs do enough?

By Adam Echelman, CalMattersApril 2, 2025April 4, 2025

Gov. Gavin Newsom released the Master Plan for Career Education, which aims to get Californians into better jobs.

Posted inCalifornia

Parents can’t figure out how California schools are doing. Newsom’s plan to fix that stalls

By Adam Echelman, CalMattersMarch 21, 2025March 24, 2025

In 2019, his first year in office, Gov. Gavin Newsom launched the Cradle-to-Career Data System, a new state entity that aims to track students’ progress from preschool through employment. The data system was supposed to release its first public dashboard last spring.

Posted inCalifornia

College athletes can now make millions off sponsorship deals. Here’s the first look at California’s numbers

By Adam Echelman, CalMatters and Erica YeeMarch 6, 2025March 7, 2025

In 2021, California allowed college athletes to earn money, profiting off their name, image and likeness. University records show which student athletes are benefitting and how.

Posted inCalifornia

California’s fund to build student housing runs dry — leaving community colleges in the lurch

By Adam Echelman, CalMattersFebruary 27, 2025March 6, 2025

Feather River College is still reeling from the 2021 Dixie Fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes in the surrounding community and warped the housing market. The college is one of many schools that have tried — and failed — to secure state grants to build more student housing.

Posted inCalifornia

Fact check: Did Gavin Newsom really help create 625,000 new job opportunities in California?

By Adam Echelman, CalMattersJanuary 21, 2025January 24, 2025

In 2018, Newsom promised to add 500,000 new apprenticeships in the decade after taking office. The state is making progress, but how much depends on the definition of “apprenticeship.”

Posted inCalifornia

California wants to give degrees based on skills — not grades. It’s dividing this college

By Adam Echelman, CalMattersDecember 18, 2024December 18, 2024

California’s community colleges are experimenting with a new model, known as competency-based education, but at one school, it’s created a divide between faculty and college administrators.

Posted inCalifornia

Here’s how California plans to get millions of adults without college degrees into better jobs

By Adam Echelman, CalMattersDecember 16, 2024December 19, 2024

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “Master Plan for Career Education” seeks to help the more than 7 million adults in California who lack college degrees by giving them college credit for their work experience and by changing the requirements on some state jobs.

Posted inCalifornia

Conservative professors and students are suing California’s community colleges, and winning

By Adam Echelman, CalMattersNovember 21, 2024November 22, 2024

In numerous lawsuits, conservative professors and students allege that California’s community colleges are hindering their right to free speech under the First Amendment.

Posted inCalifornia

Culture wars start to roil elections for California’s community college trustees

By Adam Echelman, CalMatters and Erica YeeNovember 4, 2024November 15, 2024

In Southern California, candidates and political action committees are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaigns for community college board seats. Elsewhere, the races are uncontested.

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