A new brief  that explores California’s 2025-26 Legislative session and five different areas that are potentially consequential for higher education equity and student success is out now from the Pullias Center for Higher Education.

Authored by USC Rossier associate professor Royel M. Johnson, the 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.

With more than 90 education-related bills currently on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk, "California Higher Education Policy: The 2025-26 Legislative Session" examines a fundamental common question that runs through the measures: What conditions are we creating for students to succeed, and what responsibilities are institutions assuming for creating them?

The brief 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.