The California Community Colleges system sees enrollment growth as Governor’s budget expands student support for the 2026-27 school year.

Graphic by Katie Easterson

Despite enrollment at Santa Monica College being down 3.28% from fall 2024, enrollment across California community colleges increased by approximately 4.8% from fall 2024 to fall 2025, rising from 2,205,294 students to 2,309,947, according to data shared during February’s Student Media Teleconference hosted by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

Chancellor Sonya Christian said the rise in enrollment comes at a critical time as the system adapts to changes in federal funding. She noted that last year, grants for Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Minority-Serving Institutions and other programs were terminated by the federal administration. 

In response, the governor’s proposed 2026-27 budget includes $100 million in one-time student support block grant funding to help colleges continue programs aimed at student success. “The student block grant funding is a way in which to mitigate issues that we don't currently anticipate so that our students stake hold through the process and they have the services coming to them,” Christian said. 

The Governor’s budget proposal also includes significant one-time and ongoing investments in campus infrastructure, opportunities for students and systemwide technology. One-time funding would provide $120.7 million to address deferred maintenance, and $100 million for K-12 dual enrollment initiatives.

Another $36 million would be used to fully scale the Common Cloud Data Platform, which would create a centralized system for student information across the state’s 72 districts and 116 campuses, with additional ongoing funding to support the system. “Right now, we don’t have a common platform where all of our student data remains, so in real time, if there are interventions that we need to do and success strategies, we’ve got to deploy those strategies one district at a time,” Christian said. “The project is building a space so API (Application Programming Interface) connections can have real-time data, so as a system, we can respond in a timely way.” According to Christian, the program is intended to help colleges track student progress, identify areas where support is needed and provide support more quickly and effectively.  

Along with ongoing funding, the proposal also contains $35 million to expand the Credit for Prior Learning Initiative, allowing more students to earn academic credit for real-world experience and professional skills gained outside of college. Christian said, “The commitment of the California Community Colleges is to recognize skills and abilities that have been gained in the job setting and to bring it back into academia by providing credit for those skills and abilities.” She also noted that the 2026-27 budget contains an additional investment over last year’s budget to expand the program.

Another topic at the teleconference was a partnership with an industry leader in emerging ocean-based fields. At the Jan.13 Board of Governors meeting, Terry Tamminen, CEO of AltaSea — a nonprofit innovation campus at the Port of Los Angeles — signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 10 Southern California colleges, including Santa Monica College, to explore ocean-based emerging industries. “When you're talking about renewable energy — for example, from building wind turbines to aquaculture to building underwater robotics — our colleges are really at the research and development table,” Christian said. “Before they hit the market, faculty are already thinking about short-term curriculum that ladders into pathways toward associate degrees, so our students have those kinds of opportunities, including internships, available to them."

The advancement of Community College Baccalaureate Degree Programs was also a focus of the board’s meeting. “This item ended up with a very long public comment section with industry partners, colleges, and students who were addressing the Board of Governors and encouraging them to support and approve Baccalaureate programs that have been submitted by community colleges across the state,” Christian said. The initiative was the top item on the Board’s agenda and is intended to expand opportunities for four-year degrees within the community college system and strengthen pathways for students to enter the workforce with advanced credentials. 

“This is an example of the kinds of partnerships that the community college system is engaged in — looking ahead of new economies that are developing and creating the workforce so that our students are not even left behind for a few months,” Christian said. “We have a state-of-the-art curriculum even before economic development is fully underway and really hits the market."