Over $76 Million for Student Scholarships

California has always been a place of opportunity—and no institution embodies this promise more than the California Community Colleges, the largest higher education system in the nation. California’s Community Colleges were created to provide affordable and accessible educational opportunities for all Californians. Today, the system serves more than 1.8 million students each year, supplies the majority of the state’s workforce training, and provides a stepping stone for students on the pathway to four-year and graduate degrees.

The goal of the California Community Colleges Scholarship Endowment (CCCSE) is to support student success and opportunity by creating a permanent fund for scholarships, offering long-term relief to the rising costs that keep many students from completing their education.

The CCCSE and corresponding three-year fundraising campaign were made possible thanks to the generosity of The Bernard Osher Foundation. In May 2008, The Osher Foundation made a historic pledge to the California Community Colleges, giving an unprecedented lead gift of $25 million to establish the endowment and committing additional match dollars for amounts raised by the system. Over the course of three years, a permanent scholarship fund was established to support students who struggle to afford the ever-rising cost of an education.

With its historic commitment to the California Community Colleges in 2008, the Osher Foundation inspired a new trend in community college philanthropy, helping raise awareness of the need to increase scholarship support to California’s community college students. The result is a $90 million permanent scholarship fund that will provide financial support to more than 6,000 student scholarships every year in perpetuity.