2024 CSU Budget Advocacy Day
Opening Remarks (as prepared)
Chancellor Mildred García
February 21, 2024
Good morning!
Buenos dias, everyone! Thank you, Chair Fong, for your kind introduction and for your extraordinary leadership and commitment to the institution we love.
I am so thrilled to see all of your bright and smiling faces this morning, and so proud to lead this remarkable team – Team CSU! – as we shake up Sacramento with our story of opportunity, undeniable impact and limitless potential for our students and for our Golden State.
Look around you and you'll see representatives from every one of our 23 universities with us today – students, faculty and staff, university presidents, trustees, alumni, and friends and supporters from across the CSU. Together, we are demonstrating the unity and strength of our institution. But individually, through your own voices and experiences, you – each and every one of you – are sharing its heart, its spirit, its determination, optimism and impact. And that is what will resonate throughout our state capitol and beyond. Thank you for lending your voice to our powerful and moving chorus.
In a few minutes, you'll hear details on the budget ask and advocacy message we will impress upon our legislators this year. But to me, our overall message comes down to two points that we must always make crystal clear: one, we need – indeed, require – and appreciate the state's commitment to the budget compact. And two, resources entrusted to the CSU are not an expenditure – they are an investment! And there is no better investment in the future of our great state than an investment in the California State University.
After a difficult time of uncertainty, transition, reflection, reform and restoration, we are
back. Our Cal State community has faced – and continues to navigate – significant challenges: a global pandemic that has altered the way we live and work, associated impacts on our students that will be felt for a generation, a concerning decline in enrollment, and persistent voices questioning the value of a college degree. As a system, we've undergone a very public – and rightful – reckoning of our Title IX practices and the way we care for our extended community.
But none of this will obscure the real story, the true story, our story. The story of the CSU.
And it's past time that we tell our story – loudly, proudly and boldly. There is simply no comparison or competition for what the CSU has accomplished – and will accomplish as the engine of our state's economic and social prosperity.
Student success and equity remain our top priorities, and our reason for being. Despite any challenge, we continue to stand tall as the largest and most ethnically and economically diverse four-year university system in the nation, its leading model of inclusive excellence and its most powerful driver of social mobility.
Thanks to our collective focus and leadership, graduation rates are at or near all-time highs, and this is for students of all backgrounds. Thanks in large part to the graduation initiative – thanks to your work – the CSU has produced a cumulative total of more than 150,000 additional degree-holders – 150,000 more than we would have celebrated otherwise – since the initiative was launched in 2015. These graduates are enriching our workforce and communities in immeasurable ways with their skills, drive and vibrant diversity.
Our universities are anchor institutions for the regions they serve. Many of our students are place-bound (or, as I prefer to say, “place-committed") and reside near the campus they attend. After graduation, 80% of our students continue to live and work within a 50-mile radius of their alma mater. This means the investment we make in these students is a direct investment back into the communities they go on to serve.
The CSU offers the most affordable educational programs in the country. With our help, more than 80 percent of our students receive financial aid. More than 60 percent of our undergraduates have their tuition fully covered. And more than half of our bachelor's degree recipients graduate with zero student debt, ready to change the world.
Thanks in part to these extraordinary numbers, our universities dominate every national ranking for social mobility. The Ivy League and other well-resourced schools are nowhere to be found. In fact, Cal State LA tops the Wall Street Journal ranking and nine Cal State universities are in the top 20.
More than half of the top 25 on the U.S. News and World Report regional western universities list are from the CSU.
We are the university of choice for California families seeking value, affordability, excellence – and quality preparation for in-demand, well-paying careers that will allow them to stay in our home state, with low or no student loan debt.
And because our students have drive, grit and the hands-on experience and skills that come from a world-class education, employers continue to seek them out. One out of every 10 working adults in our state holds a Cal State degree. Almost 7,000 of Apple's global employees are CSU graduates; 6,500 work at Disney; more than 6,000 work at Northrop Grumman; and Oracle, Intel and Cisco each employ more than 2,500 CSU graduates.
The CSU is the pipeline of the educated workforce that reflects the dynamic diversity of California's – and America's – new majority, and that drives the world's – yes the world's – fourth-largest economy.
And not only are CSU graduates making a difference in every field and every industry, according to Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce, their degree has an average lifetime value of 2.8 million dollars. Even in tough economic times, CSU graduates have better access to health insurance and retirement plans, lower rates of unemployment – and they report higher levels of health and happiness. College graduates volunteer more, vote more and are more likely to assume leadership roles in their communities. They contribute more in taxes and rely less on public services.
Let us never forget – higher education is a public good every bit as much as it is a personal one. Higher education ensures a more stable life and more socially and economically equitable communities for all.
It's an incredible story. If you're like me, you feel it in your soul. You feel it in your heart. And our story has only just begun. With the state's unwavering support and investment, our potential has no limit. The California State University is the nation's preeminent university system. And we are changing the world, one life at a time.
I know that many of you were – like me – looking forward to our honoring Senate President pro Tempore Emeritus Toni Atkins with the CSU Champion Award, in recognition of her steadfast support of the CSU and our students, staff and faculty through her forward-thinking legislative policies and priorities.
Unfortunately, due to a last-minute and unavoidable scheduling conflict, Senator Atkins is unable to join us today. We look forward to presenting her with the award in person in the coming days – and we thank her for being a champion of the CSU, our mission and the students we serve.