“I think as the lowest per-student funded institutions serving the most diverse, lowest-income Californians with the least amount of financial aid for nontuition costs in a time when we have national historic inequality, it's no surprise,” said Larry Galizio, president and CEO of the Community College League of California, an association for community college leaders in the state.
Michele Siqueiros, president of the California-based Campaign for College Opportunity, pointed out that community colleges serve students most affected by the pandemic and its accompanying economic downturn.
"Our community colleges are where students who are most vulnerable really find their opportunity to go to college. We know that low-income students and students of color have been hardest hit by this pandemic, both in terms of actually contracting COVID and dying from COVID as well as actually losing jobs," she said. "When our communities are disproportionately affected, we know that those students who are bearing the brunt are students who could be enrolling in community college and could be benefiting from a community college education, but now they have to work, they have to help their families or they're dealing with the effects of the pandemic on their families."