What Is California’s Master Plan for Higher Education?

July 2010 E B D ASICS What Is California’s Master Plan For Higher Education?  The Master Plan Lays Out Basic State Policies On Higher Education  Assigns Missions to the Different Higher Education Segments. The Master Plan directs the California Community Colleges (CCC) to offer lower-division instruction that is transferable to four-year colleges, provide remedial and vocational training, and grant associate degrees and certifi cates. The University of California (UC) is to serve as the state’s primary public research university and grant baccalaureate, master’s, doctoral, and other professional degrees. The California State University (CSU) is to focus on instruction in the liberal arts and sciences and grant baccalaureate and master’s degrees. (However, recent legisla- tion has permitted CSU to offer doctorates under limited circum- stances.)  Specifi es Eligibility Targets. According to Master Plan goals, the top 12.5 percent of all graduating public high school students are eligible for admission to UC, the top 33.3 percent are eligible for admission to CSU, and all persons 18 years or older who can “benefi t from instruction” are eligible to attend CCC.  Expresses Other Goals for Higher Education. The Master Plan includes a number of other statements concerning the state’s higher education goals and policies. For example, it expresses the state’s intent that higher education remain acces- sible, affordable, high-quality, and accountable.  The Master Plan Was Originally Adopted in 1960  The original Master Plan was developed by a group convened by UC and the State Department of Education, as requested by an Assembly Concurrent Resolution in 1959. The Master Plan was completed in 1960, after which the Legislature has periodically authorized reviews of the plan that included recommendations for statutory changes. Major reviews were completed in 1973, 1987, and 2002.  Most recently, in 2010, a joint legislative committee on the Mas- ter Plan held a series of hearings examining higher education at the 50th anniversary of the Master Plan. EDBASICS What Is California’s Master Plan For Higher Education? (Continued)  Some Master Plan Principles Exist in Statute; Some Do Not  The original 1960 Master Plan report and subsequent reviews are not themselves in state law. Instead, they are reports that were commissioned by the Legislature.  Many signifi cant principles expressed by the Master Plan, how- ever, have been adopted in statute. In 1960, the Donohoe Higher Education Act (Chapter 1010 [SB 33, Miller]) codifi ed many Master Plan recommendations, such as defi ning the distinct missions of the three public segments, establishing a Board of Trustees for CSU, and creating a coordinating council for higher education.  Over the years, individual parts of the Donohoe Act frequently have been modifi ed or expanded by legislation. These modifi - cations have not always stemmed from a formal review to the Master Plan.  Signifi cant principles from the original Master Plan remain un- codifi ed. For example, the Master Plan eligibility targets for UC and CSU are not in statue. Neither are the Master Plan’s recom- mendations about student tuition levels and facility utilization standards.  The Master Plan Is More Than Any One Document  The original 1960 Master Plan retains considerable authority as an expression of the state’s higher education goals. How- ever, additional state goals and policies for higher education are expressed elsewhere—such as in subsequent reviews of the Master Plan and in statute.  For these reasons, the Master Plan can be thought of more as the major higher education policy goals embraced by the state, rather than a single written document. This is one of a series of issue briefs examining important questions about higher education funding in California. For more information on this topic, or to request other briefs from this series, contact the Legislative Analyst’s Offi ce Higher Education section at (916) 319-8349, or visit our website at www.lao.ca.gov.