After more than a year of closed campuses and online-only learning, California’s higher education system has been completely changed in a way that will persist when students head back to class in real life for a new school year. But there are other changes still developing, like: * what's the right mix of face-to-face, virtual and hybrid learning * how to better help students with their mental health, financial aid, and food and housing needs * how to make campuses get more flexible in the ways they operate * and how to get California’s large population of lower-income students all the way to graduation with a college degree and good job prospects

We talk with two college students, and a newly-appointed university president, about which changes are needed most, and what California’s higher education system needs to do to become the best in America again.

PART ONE * Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, the brand-new president of Fresno State University PART TWO * Stephen Kodur, a 2021 graduate from Reedley College and president of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges * Josh Lewis, a senior at UC Berkeley and chair of Government Relations for the UC Student Association

PODCAST PLAY BY PLAY * O to min - Intro to the podcast and this episode * 3:35 min - Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval describes what learning will be like at Fresno State in the new school year, and how the campus will operate differently * 8:30 min - Improving mental health care needs and access to other amenities students need to avoid burnout and dropping out * 19:45 min - Are there any new ways to boost financial aid, and get it to a wider group of students? * 22:20 min - Most 9th graders in California right now apparently won't get a college degree - how can we change that? * 32:20 min - How state colleges can be run more like businesses that provide good products to their customers * 36:45 min - Jiménez-Sandoval's advice for high school students currently thinking about college applications and their futures

  • 41 min - Stephen Kodur and Josh Lewis share their most significant moment of being a college student during a pandemic
  • 45:50 min - The pros and cons of virtual education and learning online
  • 50:15 min - How should the cost of a college education be priced going forward?
  • 55:45 min - What the state and the Feds should do to reform and improve the financial aid system
  • 1 hr, 1:05 min - How college students feel about their job prospects, and are their schools helping them out?
  • 1 hr, 6:40 min - What should the college campus of the future be like?
  • 1 hr, 12:25 min - Kodur and Lewis predict what their post-pandemic futures will be like

RESOURCE GUIDE * Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval's appointment as President of Fresno State University - https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/education-lab/article251194999.html * Stephen Kodur profiled in this CalMatters story about student financial aid - https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2021/04/cal-grant-expansion-older-students/ * Info about Assembly Bill 1456 to revamp Cal Grants - https://edsource.org/2021/california-lawmakers-propose-cal-grant-reforms-to-help-low-income-students/649611 * Info about Assembly Bill 928 to make it easier for community college graduates to transfer to CSU and UC schools -https://diverseeducation.com/article/207621/

See All 95 Episodes of "California Groundbreakers"