All Access to a Higher Education

It’s a sunny August morning, just a couple days before California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) starts its 2021-22 school year, and President Richard Yao is beaming from ear to ear. It has been 18 months since students had attended classes on campus. The previous day, Yao welcomed faculty back for a convocation and students and their families were excitedly moving into their housing on the Camarillo campus.

“I didn’t expect to have this visceral response. I have to admit, I got a little emotional,” Yao says.

Yao has good reason: Ensuring students have access to higher education at all is core to the university’s mission. After all, CSU Channel Islands is a minority-serving institution, with more than half of its student population from historically underrepresented groups. The campus is Santa Barbara and Ventura counties’ designated CSU, with 62 percent of students who are the first in their families to attend a university, and 83 percent qualifying for financial aid.  Creating a sense of belonging for these students sits at the heart of CSU Channel Island’s values.

“It’s about creating a campus community that not only provides access, but a sense of connection with culture, curriculum, and relevant programming that honors their life stories and narratives,” Yao says. “It’s about embracing their life experiences and the challenges that they have overcome as strengths, and celebrating that as part of our institutional identity.”

The strong credentials of CSU Channel Islands speak to this ethic. It was ranked by CollegeNET 20th out of 1,449 universities in America in the “Social Mobility Index.” U.S. News & World Report listed it as 20th among “Top Public Schools” based on graduation rates, faculty resources, admissions selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, location and campus life.

CSUCI is also renowned as a transfer university, an important distinction in California, a state where 85 percent of students in higher education are enrolled in community colleges. The university is committed to ensuring that students transition seamlessly from a community college and eventually receive their diploma. Its graduation rates among transfer students have been above 80 percent for two years in a row.

“We have invested a lot of resources here at Channel Islands for our transfer students,” Yao says. “It’s been a collaborative effort with our local community colleges here in Santa Barbara and the region. That work is paying off.”