In 1960, the California Master Plan for Higher Education set a goal of providing access to every Californian who could benefit from it. As a result of the commitment, California has developed one of the largest most successful public postsecondary education sectors in the nation. State fiscal constraints have combined with exploding population growth, however, to call the state's ability to sustain that goal into question. Several studies have looked at this issue, including two reviews by the State Legislature. This report examines the state's prospects for meeting the goal of the master plan in the context of its future demographic and fiscal environment. The research uses a dynamic simulation model to estimate the target level of education envisioned in the master plan and the levels likely to be attained under a range of scenarios. It finds that the state will not be able to meet nearly half of the target-level demand overall. The study also finds that the prospects of closing this gap through increased revenues, increased fees, and increased productivity are not feasible. It concludes that the state must take two actions: (1) it must reevaluate the access goals of the master plan and focus on ways to maximize the return on its education investment; and (2) the three public systems should focus their resources on restructuring the way in which they deliver the education product to maximize the ability of the state to serve as many citizens as possible.

The central finding of this report, commissioned by the California Education Round Table, is that the present course of higher education in California--in which student demand, tuition, and costs are rising much faster than public funding--cannot be sustained. Unless effective steps are taken to alter current trends, sizable numbers of Californians will be denied access to higher education within the next 20 years. If that should happen, many will find themselves excluded from the growing number of occupations that require postsecondary course work for employment. This education bottleneck is narrowing at a time when economic inequality is increasing in the state and social demographics are shifting. The research offers recommendations for coping with this crisis that emphasize the need for greater public support of higher education in California along with comprehensive institutional reform so that available resources can be reallocated and other changes implemented to streamline operations. California must devise an effective strategic plan now for developing its human resources.

This ambitious book grows out of the realization that a convergence of economic, demographic, and political forces in the early twenty-first century requires a fundamental reexamination of the financing of American higher education. The authors identify and address basic issues and trends that cut across the sectors of higher education, focusing on such questions as how much higher education the country needs for individual opportunity and for economic viability in the future; how responsibility for paying for it is currently allocated; and how financing higher education should be addressed in the future.

Issues for 1974- include minutes, recommendations, special reports, etc.