IHEP Research Offers Roadmap for Expanding College Access: Lessons from California’s Race-Neutral Admissions Practices

Washington, DC (October 29, 2025) — As states and colleges shape admissions practices after the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision, a new research brief from the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) showcases how California has worked to expand college access without race-conscious admissions. A Snapshot of Postsecondary Access and Opportunity in California documents the state’s strategies and offers lessons for practitioners and policymakers nationwide. 

The year after California’s Proposition 209 was enacted in 1998, enrollment of Black, Latinx, and Native American students at the University of California, Berkeley and University of California-Los Angeles fell by 50 and 40 percent, respectively. The ballot measure effectively banned affirmative action in the state’s public colleges and universities. The brief explores the dramatic impact of Proposition 209, and race-neutral strategies employed to expand access to the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and California Community College systems. 

“For nearly thirty years, California has opened college doors without using race-conscious admissions. That challenge has inspired the CSU system to strengthen every tool we have to reach and support California’s students,” said Dr. April Grommo, assistant vice chancellor of Strategic Enrollment Management at the California State University. “We’ve listened, learned, and reimagined how we connect with students—because every outreach effort, partnership, and pathway is about helping more students see themselves at the CSU and experience the life-changing power of a college education.” 

Together, the UC and CSU systems serve more than 600,000 undergraduates, alongside a sprawling community college system that reaches a highly diverse student population. 

Black, Latinx, Indigenous, underrepresented Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander students, as well as first-generation students and students from low-income backgrounds often face systemic barriers to accessing and succeeding in higher education. These barriers include limited college counseling and planning resources, inequitable admissions practices, and unclear degree pathways. California institutions have employed a range of race-neutral strategies to broaden opportunity, including: 

• Strengthening transfer pathways from high school and community college: California has invested in multiple pathways to create stronger bridges to four-year degrees. A key initiative is the Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT). ADT guarantees students a spot in the CSU system, and other participating universities, as a college junior. Students in the ADT program graduate with an average of 6.5 fewer excess credits than peers pursuing traditional associate degrees. A new dual admissions pilot also guarantees eligible community college students a spot in one of the state’s four-year systems. 

• Investing in robust data infrastructure: California has created integrated data systems to support students and drive continuous improvement. The Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System connects data from nine different state agencies across K-12, higher education, and the workforce. One of the tools supported by the C2C is CaliforniaColleges.edu, which is administered by the California College Guidance Initiative. The platform provides a portal for students to track college readiness and apply to public universities. This tool enabled a direct admissions pilot in partnership with the Riverside County Office of Education, where eligible high school seniors were notified of their guaranteed admission to a participating CSU campus. 

• Rethinking admissions and enrollment strategies at selective institutions: California has enacted changes to improve access to the UC system, the state’s most selective system, for students from diverse backgrounds. The UC system removed standardized testing requirements and uses a holistic application review process, which has been shown to increase the number of students of color at UC campuses. Neither the UC nor the CSU system considers legacy status in admissions. Programs like UC’s Eligibility in the Local Context guarantee admission to students who rank in the top 9 percent of their high school class. 

“California’s experience provides valuable lessons on expanding college access in a race-neutral context,” said Janiel Santos, Assistant Director of Research at IHEP and lead author of the brief. “By offering multiple entry points and flexible pathways into a postsecondary education, the strategies pioneered there offer critical proof points for other states seeking to build more equitable systems of higher education.”