A look at how the home states of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates are boosting educational equity and higher-education access.
October 30, 2024 by Kyla Hurns 
In the ever-evolving landscape of higher education, state policies play a prominent role in shaping the accessibility, affordability, and success of students across the country and may inform the priorities of an incoming administration. While higher education issues have become political flashpoints in some state legislatures, and the higher education sector has a lot at stake in the next election, some states — red and blue — have taken steps to bolster access, affordability, and success. As the 2024 election approaches, we thought we’d look at some innovative higher-education policies in the home states of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates — California, Minnesota, Florida, and Ohio. To be included, policies must advance educational equity and support higher-education access for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. By examining the diverse types of policies in these states, we will highlight how state policies aim to address higher-education issues based on their regional and state priorities. The initiatives and policies in these four states may also yield some insights into the potential direction of higher education in the U.S.
California has enacted numerous higher education policies to enhance access, affordability, and student success. Cal Grants, the state’s leading financial aid program, covers tuition, fees, and other college-associated costs such as books and housing, with various award types depending on the kind of program and institution, inclusive of public, private and for-profit schools. The California Student Aid Commission estimates that 418,019 students will benefit from this state financial aid program in the 2024-2025 academic year, reflecting the state’s commitment to improving college affordability and helping more students earn bachelor’s and graduate degrees. Between 2008 and 2016, Cal Grant recipients increased by 65%, while spending on this program more than doubled to offset tuition increases triggered by budget cuts during and after the 2008 recession.
The California Dream Act (CA-DREAM) allows undocumented students, who are ineligible for federal assistance, to access to state financial aid, scholarships, and loans. At its peak in 2019-2020, the program supported about 16,000 Dream Act students. By the 2023-2024 academic year, that number had dropped to around 11,700, on account of the pandemic, and changes to the FAFSA, which delayed the release of the California Dream Act application. The decline in Dream Act applications highlights a need for policy improvement on the state and federal levels. Yet despite those issues, the California Dream Act plays a key role in supporting the needs and educational journeys of undocumented students, and has improved academic outcomes, course completion, and persistence for these students.[i]
With the passage of AB 775, which requires community colleges to establish a basic-needs center and hire a basic-needs coordinator, California has also moved to address widespread basic needs insecurity among college students. A 2019 survey found that 70% of California Community College students experienced basic needs insecurity, with 50% reporting food insecurity and 19% reporting experiencing homelessness. These centers will provide essential resources and support — such as grants, short-term emergency housing, or help applying for nutritional benefits — for students facing food and housing insecurity, which can undermine student success and well-being.
California has also improved transfer pathways between California Community Colleges and participating four-year institutions through a key initiative, the Associate Degree Transfer (ADT) program, also known as Degree with a Guarantee. ADT helps students who earn an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science in the available majors transfer into a similar baccalaureate major at a California State University (CSU) campus, a historically Black college and university, a fully online program, out-of-state institution, or certain independent universities in California, as juniors, and guarantees admission to the CSU system. The program has grown significantly — degrees awarded through ADT have increased from 11,500 to nearly 64,500 over the last 10 years — showcasing the success of ADT in creating seamless transfer pathways for students.
In 2018, California introduced an outcomes-based funding policy at community colleges — the Student-Centered Funding Formula — that improves equity for low-income and underrepresented students and incentivizes and rewards student success by funding 114 community colleges, which collectively serve 2.1 million students, partly on the basis of how students are doing. This funding formula ties 40% of state funding, around $2.5 billion, to metrics such as degree completion, timely graduation, and earnings, with additional weights for the success of economically disadvantaged students; another 20% of the funding is based on the number of students who receive a federal Pell Grant, a College Promise Grant fee waiver, and a California nonresident tuition exemption.
Assembly Bill 469, passed in 2021, requires California schools to ensure that all high school seniors complete the FAFSA or the California Dream Act application, unless they formally opt out. The law, which took effect in the 2022-2023 school year, will help more students take advantage of federal and state aid. In 2023, California had a total completion rate of 74%, a 9% increase in FAFSA, and a 1% increase in California Dream Act Applications, ranking it first in the nation for financial-aid-application growth and 14th in overall FAFSA completion. This policy is designed to remove a major barrier to college attendance and has helped more students secure funding for their postsecondary education.
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1780, which bans legacy and donor preferences in the admissions process at private, nonprofit institutions, beginning in 2025. Public universities eliminated legacy and donor preferences in in 1998, shortly after the state banned affirmative action. In 2022, at the University of Southern California, 14.4% of admitted students had legacy or donor ties, followed by 13.8% at Stanford and 13.1% at Santa Clara. This legislation should ensure that admission decisions are based on merit and not wealth or personal connections. Institutions that break this law won’t face financial penalties, but violators’ names will be posted on the California Department of Justice website.
Minnesota has implemented several initiatives to improve access to higher education for its diverse populations. The North Star Promise Program, launched in fall 2024, offers free tuition at state colleges, universities, and tribal colleges for Minnesota residents of any age with a family AGI below $80,000. In the 2024-2025 academic year, the program will benefit 12,900 students. The program is open to all students working toward their first credential at a two-year or four-year institution, but it’s a last-dollar program — meaning it covers remaining tuition and fees after other aid, such as scholarships, grants, and tuition waivers, has been applied. Loans and work-study don’t count against the money students can receive, but the last-dollar design means that costs like housing, food, transportation, books, or supplies aren’t covered, making the grant less effective for students from low-income backgrounds.
In 2021, the state created the Hunger Free Campus Grants, a competitive grant program providing up to $8,000 to institutions to combat food insecurity, which affects 37% of Minnesota college students. This initiative provides funding to campuses meeting designated criteria, such as having a food pantry and offering emergency assistance.
The Minnesota Student Parent Support Initiative, budgeted in 2023, provides competitive grants to institutions, and professional and community-based organizations to create and implement programs to support student-parents’ unique needs. These grants aim to provide services — such as child care, basic-needs support, and scholarships — that support student-parents. Grant funding is allocated to eligible institutions and organizations via a formal application process. This program is crucial to Minnesota, which had an estimated 70,000 student-parents enrolled in its higher-education system in 2020 but has seen a significant decline in student-parent re-enrollment and FASFA completion rates since the pandemic.
The My Florida Future program, mandated by House Bill 1262 in 2021, is a free, online dashboard that helps students, parents, and policymakers access essential information on graduation outcomes from Florida’s public universities. The interactive platform lets users see data on graduate employment, salaries, and student debt, in addition to postgraduate earnings over time and loan repayment trends. It also lets them compare earnings by area of study. My Florida Future promotes transparency, which is necessary to ensure equitable higher-education access, and provides crucial data to students and families, so they can make knowledgeable decisions about their educational futures and career paths.
In Florida, undocumented students have access to resident tuition rates, which helps make higher education a little more affordable and accessible for those students, but undocumented students are ineligible for state financial aid. This limits their access to college and makes it harder for many of them — especially those from low-income backgrounds — to attain degrees and enter the workforce, highlighting the need for policy reforms to ensure that all students, regardless of immigration status, have equitable access to state financial resources in Florida.
Florida has a variety of state scholarships and grants, but many aren’t designed to fully or equitably address the needs of students from low-income backgrounds. The Florida Student Assistance Grant (FSAG) is one of the state’s few need-based grants. The FSAG is available to undergraduate degree-seeking residents who demonstrate financial need and are enrolled in participating postsecondary institutions, including public, private nonprofit, certificate-seeking aviation maintenance schools, and Florida College System institutions, or career centers operated by district school boards. Grant awards range from $200 to $2,610, but award renewal isn’t guaranteed after the first year, which can leave students without the necessary financial support to continue their academics. The state should expand need-based state financial aid for underserved populations, since cost is a barrier to college attendance for students from low-income backgrounds.
Ohio has implemented vital programs to improve higher-education access. The Ohio College Comeback Compact helps students who left college without a degree to re-enroll at one of eight participating community colleges and universities and settle up to $5,000 in student debt. During its initial pilot phase, the program forgave $135,000 in student debts owed to institutions by 150 students with stranded credits, helping them to continue their education. With support from the Lumina and Kresge foundations, this program may expand over the next couple of years to additional states.
The Ohio College Opportunity Grant (OCOG) provides financial aid to Ohio residents with the highest level of need, including eligible foster youth and veterans. Ohio residents who are enrolled in an associate degree, first bachelor’s degree, or nursing diploma program at participating Ohio public, private nonprofit institutions qualify for the grant; however, those attending Ohio private, for-profit institutions are ineligible. This program covers living expenses, not just tuition, and awards can be applied over various academic terms. The maximum grant amount for full-time, public four-year main campus students is $4,000, but students attending Central State University, Ohio’s only public HBCU, receive smaller awards than students at other public four-year main campuses. This grant has been expanded in recent years, and funding for it is expected to increase by over 82% to $400 million over the next two years. By providing financial assistance for all needs, OCOG offers crucial support for vulnerable students and helps ensure that they can access and complete college.
Established in 2015, the Ohio Guaranteed Transfer Pathways (OGTP) streamlines transfers between two- and four-year degree programs by guaranteeing full credit recognition and providing direct pathways to related academic majors, allowing more students to complete their bachelor’s degrees. To date, there are no exact statewide figures on the impact of this policy, but together, these programs reflect Ohio’s promising approach to making higher education more accessible for all students.
Ohio is also strengthening its workforce by increasing access to education and job training via the Ohio Short-Term Certificate Grant program. This program provides up to $2,000 annually to Ohio residents in eligible short-term certificate programs to cover instructional and general fees. There are, as yet, no exact statewide figures on the program’s direct impact on students, but Owens Community College received $190,000 in 2022 to support students with these grants. By tying grant eligibility to specific economic and employment criteria, state officials hope this grant will serve displaced workers, veterans, and the spouses of active-duty military personnel and help Ohio develop a more highly skilled workforce.
The state policies highlighted here showcase diverse perspectives and approaches to enhancing access, affordability, and student success at higher education institutions. While these policies reflect each state’s educational landscape, California’s basic-needs initiatives, Minnesota’s efforts to support student-parents, Florida’s numerous state financial aid programs, and Ohio’s efforts to support students with stranded credits could be role models for future national initiatives to boost access, remove barriers, and address some of the ongoing challenges facing many higher education students.
[i] California and Minnesota offer comprehensive access to tuition and financial aid for undocumented students. Ohio limits access to DACA recipients only without extending state financial aid or in-state tuition to all undocumented students, even those meeting residency requirements.
