Section I: Introduction
Vision 2030: A Roadmap for California Community Colleges is a future-looking, living plan, charting a new frontier for our system. Vision 2030 is constructed on three goals – Equity in Access, Equity in Success, and Equity in Support; specifically reintroducing the importance of access by proactively taking college to Californians wherever they are: we are not waiting for students to come to us.
Vision 2030 will achieve the three goals through actions under three strategic directions:
Transforming Access, Learning, and Support
Twelve Bold Actions for Equitable Access and Success
The 12 actions, detailed in Section IV, are multi-pronged, and include expanding dual enrollment pathways to high school students; delivering credit for prior learning to veterans, apprentices, and working adults through employers and worker-represented associations; partnering with community-based organizations to bring workforce training to low-income adults; providing instruction through flexible modalities; ensuring credit mobility for all students; and harnessing technology and generative artificial intelligence to enhance teaching, learning, and student support services. Vision 2030 also relies on interagency partnerships and intersegmental collaboration —including increasing access and systems supports for foster youth, providing educational opportunities for California’s justice-involved populations, prioritizing a climate action agenda, growing transfer degree pathways, and building community college baccalaureate degree programs.
Vision 2030 is grounded in the continued success of every Californian with a focus on expanding Equity in Access. It seeks to expand opportunities for the system’s 2.1 million current students while also prioritizing credential attainment for the 6.8 million Californians between the ages of 25 and 54 who have not yet earned a postsecondary credential.1 Central to this vision is a worker-centered, learner-centered approach to educational attainment —implementing strategies that reflect the full diversity of California’s population and creating inclusive environments that support all individuals in completing a certificate or degree. The accompanying accountability framework ensures transparency, using disaggregated data to illuminate disparities and ensure that no student — or group of students — feels disaffected or alienated.
Vision 2030: A Roadmap for California Community Colleges is a future-looking, living plan, charting a new frontier for our system.
The California community colleges are crucial for California’s economy: our system serves the largest and most diverse student body in California higher education, making community colleges pivotal in developing California’s workforce and providing economic and social mobility.
The Economic Value of the California Community Colleges System found the state’s 116 community colleges added $168.5 billion in income to the California economy in FY 2023-24, about 4.9% of the total state product. California’s Community Colleges’ impact supported 1.5 million jobs, one out of every 17 jobs. As the state’s primary engine of social and economic mobility, California community colleges are critical to achieving the governor’s goal of 70% of working-aged Californians having a postsecondary degree or certificate by 20302.
Vision 2030 defines goals and strategic directions for collective work — but it is not prescriptive. Rather, it is an iterative framework designed to support college districts to align their goals, establish local plans, and mobilize efforts in ways that best meet the needs of the areas they serve. We are at our best as a system when we recognize our diversity, strengths, challenges, and opportunities together as we pursue the transformational change needed for our state, our regions, and our communities.
Vision 2030 – The July 2025 Edition
The July 2025 edition of Vision 2030 offers a timely refresh of the original plan presented to the Board of Governors in July 2023.
The July 2025 edition of Vision 2030 offers a timely refresh of the original plan presented to the Board of Governors in July 2023. This updated version reflects the progress our colleges have made over the past two years, incorporates emerging research, responds to rapid advancements in technology, and considers the shifting landscape of higher education. The Vision 2030 – July 2025 Edition captures both our current momentum and our continued commitment to serving California.
Vision 2030 is an iterative framework designed to support college districts align their goals, establish local plans, and mobilize efforts in ways that best meet the needs of the areas they serve.
Demonstration Projects
Vision 2030 supports local design and participation in growing innovative solutions that can serve scalable models. Our Demonstration Projects are exactly that — exploratory in nature — to build, test, evaluate, and make improvements throughout the design process in creating blueprints for success. Throughout this document, new and updated information is included on the many Demonstration Projects being supported throughout the system, from the Common Cloud Data Platform to Nursing, and from Rising Scholars, Credit for Prior Learning, to Apprenticeship Pathways.
Workplans
Vision 2030 Workplans outline activities, timelines, and outcomes to implement specific goals. They are designed to make systemwide impacts. Throughout this document, new and updated Workplan links are included; for example, our Vision 2030 Transfer Workplan delineates our comprehensive efforts to address baccalaureate attainment, especially in rural communities, and our Vision 2030 Online Teaching and Learning Workplan focuses on our opportunities to grow the California Virtual Campus and to provide faculty professional development and support.
Turning Vision into Action
Vision 2030 is central to the everyday work of the Chancellor’s Office.
As outlined in Section V, the Chancellor’s Office will support colleges through four interconnected spheres of engagement: people, systems, policy, and resources.
We will continue to cultivate strong partnerships to guide practice, offering data, technical assistance, and thought leadership that centers students. We will strengthen systemwide capacity, from enhancing technological infrastructure to scaling effective practices such as credit for prior learning. Our policy efforts will span state, federal, and local levels, advancing the goals of Vision 2030 while providing clear guidance to ensure thoughtful and consistent implementation. And we will work collaboratively with colleges and districts to secure investment — from public, private, and philanthropic sources — to fuel innovation, foster institutional growth, and ensure long-term fiscal sustainability.
California Community Colleges – We take care of our students, our communities, and our planet.
Our time is now!