In summary
California’s college students had a year for the history books, as they contended with major strikes, mass protests, the arrest of hundreds of peers and major setbacks in their bid to apply for financial aid.
What was the state of higher education this past year? In a word, upheaval.
California’s colleges and universities were home to paroxysms of faculty and student fury over pay, free speech, the war in Gaza and the deep wounds of antisemitism and Islamophobia.
And like the 1960s — another era of campus protest that ended with the narrow victory of a conservative politician riding a wave of cultural resentment — California’s public universities became national poster children for that social upheaval.
But 2024 was also a financially propitious time for California’s nearly 150 public colleges and universities. While lawmakers swung a cost-cutting scythe at the expenses of most public agencies to address a huge budget shortfall, they spared higher ed, growing public funding for those institutions. They also poured more money into student financial aid, though not as much as some advocates and lawmakers wanted.
Here’s a brief timeline of the major events in California higher education in 2024:
- California State University faculty strikes, January — The faculty union for the first time in its history went on a systemwide strike over wages and benefits. The plan was to strike all week, but the labor walkout ended the day it began after union leaders got most of what they wanted, including wage increases of 10%.
- Financial aid turmoil, February through April — A major technological glitch in the federal government’s revised financial aid application prevented tens of thousands of California students whose parents don’t have Social Security numbers from submitting their applications. While a federal matter, this forced state lawmakers to push back the deadline for state financial aid, allowing students to apply for as much as $17,000 in annual grants and scholarships two months after the normal date. The fast action and extension led to more students applying for financial aid.
- Encampments, protests, crackdowns — In April protesters who were mostly students and faculty erected overnight encampments at leading California campuses as part of their protest against the war in Gaza. They wanted to pressure their campuses to divest from financial ties to companies or investments that did business with Israel. They also targeted investments in weapons manufacturers. Those encampments often violated campus policies, but the focal point was on UCLA, where a mob of pro-Israel protesters attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment. The next day, police began making arrests as they cleared the encampment. That incident plus others at the UC system sparked a graduate-student strike. The legal fallout or UC’s actions and the labor walkout then played out over several months. Both Cal State and UC leaders reiterated existing policies against encampments before the start of fall term.
2025 outlook
How will Donald Trump’s second go as president affect college funding and student life? With control of Congress, Washington may target Biden-era loan forgiveness programs, affecting many borrowers in California. Trump’s stated desire for mass deportations would be perilous for California students — either those who are themselves undocumented or have parents or relatives who are. Meanwhile,Cal State is eyeing budget shortfalls if lawmakers follow through on their promises to cut spending. That could mean class cuts, fewer new students and less money to improve graduation rates.
