HIGHLY VALUED DEGREE INITIATIVE 2025:
UNITING THE BEACH
FOR STUDENT SUCCESS
How many years did
it take you to graduate?
Was it more than you expected?
If so, you’re not alone. In 2016, only
16 percent of CSULB students who
began as freshmen met their
4-year graduation goals.
The other 84 percent would require
additional semesters to graduate,
adding a burden to their career
plans and curbing the flow
of students vying to enter
the workforce.
In January 2015, a mandate
for the coming decade
was issued by the
CSU Chancellor’s Office:
increase graduation rates
for first-time freshmen
and transfer students, and
close achievement gaps
for low-income and under-
represented students on
all 23 CSU campuses
FIRST-TIME FRESHMEN:
FOUR-YEAR GRADUATION RATE
Completion Metric
16% 40%
2016 RATES
4
BE ACH CONNEC TION
2025 TARGET
It wasn’t a hard sell for CSULB’s leadership;
the goals of HVDI align perfectly with the
values that The Beach prides itself on.
Senior
Vice President and
Provost Brian Jersky
“Our campus has centered itself on three
key pillars that include inclusive excellence,
intellectual achievement and public good,”
adds Provost and Senior Vice President
Brian Jersky. “The Graduation Initiative
2025… has been a perfect reflection of
these core values in action.”
So what factors prevent students from
graduating on time, and how are we
working to address them?
CHANGING NEEDS
Both the cost of tuition and demand for higher education have
increased significantly in recent years, and undergraduate
applications surged over 103,000 for Fall 2018.
At the same time, student poverty has increased dramatically,
with 66 percent receiving financial aid and more than 50 percent
having low-income status.
Meanwhile, 37.7 percent of CSULB students reported food
insecurity, or a lack of means to attain necessary nutrition, as
assessed by the CSULB Basic Needs Initiative Study released in
February 2018.
Also, 12.5 percent of that same sample reported being homeless in the
past year.
“As a trend, students who experienced food insecurity in the last
30 days and/or homelessness in the last 12 months had lower
GPAs and higher academic concerns than students who reported
being food secure and/or housing stable.” –CSULB Basic Needs
Initiative Study
As changing times bring new challenges for students, our alma
mater must innovate continuously to remove them, and alumni
support is integral to that goal.