With ongoing budget cuts, ever-increasing demand and booming enrollment, California’s community colleges are continuously striving to serve more students with fewer resources. Thanks to the support of the Kresge Foundation, the Foundation conducted a groundbreaking study to capture a snapshot of California Community Colleges' revenue-generating activities, as well as assess areas where additional support and resources are needed to enhance colleges' ability to diversify revenue sources. Learn more >

Comprised of 112 colleges and 2.9 million students, the California Community Colleges system is the largest and most diverse higher education system in the nation. The system, like others in the community college sector, is on the cusp of significant change, spurred by the ongoing state funding challenges that are forcing colleges to think more innovatively about revenue sources, a tidal wave of new students seeking training and education at community colleges, and a growing public awareness of the value community colleges bring to the workforce, the economy and local communities.

 

Thanks to funding provided by The Kresge Foundation—a $2.8 billion private, national foundation based in Troy, Michigan—a unique study was conducted during the first half of 2010 to assess a topic that is tied to these issues: that of the potential of community colleges to create a more sustainable funding model through increased revenue-generation and cost-savings activities. The study, commissioned and managed by the Foundation for California Community Colleges, sought to explore a snapshot of the existing structure and efforts of the California’s Community Colleges as they relate to revenue generation, as well as explore cost savings opportunities.