California Higher Education Policy: The 2025-26 Legislative Session

This brief serves as a comprehensive guide to five pressing higher education policy areas: dual enrollment, community college baccalaureate programs, state institutional designations, foster youth access and continuity, and financial aid delivery. It offers a selective reading of the various bills that affect the five areas with particular relevance to equity and student success, drawing on research to consider what the evidence suggests, where it remains unsettled, and what will be important to watch should these measures become law.







