What Graduation Initiative 2025 means for Cal State LA

 

POSTED ON Apr 29, 2019

 

California State University, Los Angeles will hold Commencement ceremonies May 20 through May 24, according to its online Upcoming Events calendar. Last year, California State University (CSU) launched its Graduation Initiative 2025, an initiative designed to increase graduation rates for all CSU students while eliminating opportunity gaps. To achieve this the CSU is addressing academic prep​​a​ration, enrollment management, student engagement, and well-being, financial aid, and administrative barriers.

Earlier this year, CSU got $300 million dollars in ongoing funding and $247 million dollars in one-time funding for deferred maintenance. “The budget signals that the governor understands the value of the CSU to our state. We’re off to a strong start,” California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) President William Covino said during the Spring 2019 Convocation.

Since becoming president in the fall of 2013, President Covino has emphasized a curriculum that prepares students to improve the quality of life in Los Angeles and beyond. Outlining a new admissions plan, Covino said Cal State LA is still the first choice for thousands of first-time freshmen and transfer students.

“We are, still, number one in the nation for the upward mobility of our students… We serve nearly 23,000 full-time equivalent students, but our enrollment funding supports only 18,000 full-time equivalent students. Our total headcount is nearly 28,000 students,” Covino said.

“From STEM programs for high school students to our bioscience initiatives for entrepreneurs…ours is a story of success for our students and our communities. We’ve been good stewards of the resources we’ve received and we’ve earned the confidence the governor has shown us through this historic allocation,” he said.

The president also proposed new admission procedures designed to reduce the number of unfunded students by controlling freshman class sizes.

“These changes are not a retraction from our historical mission and role in our community. And we are absolutely not ending our EOP program,” Covino said. “We remain committed to our community, to the ideals that have guided this university and made it an invaluable asset to our city and our region,” Covino said at the February 5 event where the president outlined a new admissions proposal plan.