The need is obvious

UC President Clark Kerr hands
Master Plan to Gov. Pat Brown

We keep pointing to the need to set up a process in California to develop a new Master Plan for Higher Education. The old one goes back to 1960 and at this point has little relevance to actual policy. Meanwhile, the evidence for that need keeps piling up:

From EdSource: Moorpark College in Ventura County will offer a program in cyberdefense. At San Diego Mesa College, students will be able to get a degree as a physical therapy assistant. And at Southwestern College in San Diego County, students can study urban planning in the CaliBaja region and earn a degree in transborder environmental design. Those are among the newly approved bachelor’s degree programs at California community colleges — despite objections from California State University to all three degrees. It’s the latest development in an ongoing clash between the state’s two largest higher education systems over what kinds of bachelor’s degrees should be offered across the 116 community colleges. 

...Until now, top California community college officials, who have final decision-making power, have typically not approved degrees that face active objections from CSU campuses...

Frustrated by CSU’s opposition, some lawmakers and advocacy groups in Sacramento are moving to make it easier for community colleges to create the degrees. The Legislature this year could consider Senate Bill 960, which would restrict four-year universities from bringing duplication objections unless they are located near the community college. And the Community College League of California, an advocacy group, is floating the idea of a future ballot measure to do the same...

Full story at https://edsource.org/2026/california-community-colleges-approve-3-new-bachelors-degrees-over-california-state-university-objections/751678.