Great Expectations: How Californians View Higher Education is part of a broader effort
of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education and Public Agenda to
stimulate a public discussion about the role of colleges and universities in maintaining
and enhancing the opportunities for all Americans to participate fully in our society. This
special survey complements a larger survey administered to the entire nation and
released in May, called Great Expectations: How the Public and Parents—White,
African American and Hispanic—View Higher Education. These reports are available in
full at www.highereducation.org, and in summary at www.publicagenda.org.
John Immerwahr, the author of both the national and California reports, has done a
masterful job of explaining the most significant trends in public attitudes about higher
education, and of illuminating the key similarities and differences between the views of
Californians and Americans generally. His findings are based on a national sample of
over 1,000 adults and a state sample of over 500 Californians. He also had the
opportunity to discuss higher education issues with two groups of citizens in Santa
Clara.
We would like to thank The James Irvine Foundation for sponsoring this special
survey of Californians’ attitudes. We would also like to extend our appreciation to the
organizations whose financial support made the national report possible: The Ford
Foundation, the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, and the National Center
for Postsecondary Improvement.
Patrick M. Callan
President
National Center for Public Policy
and Higher Education
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