Op-Ed: California Made Students a Promise. Prop 1 Helps Keep It.

On October 12, 2026, the California Coalition for Public Higher Education published this Opinion Editorial from Chair Mel Levine and Board Member Jesse Torres.

In 1960, California made a promise: for every student who earned their place in California’s public colleges and universities, the state would make room.

For over 60 years, University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) students have kept their end of the bargain. And California, now the world’s fourth largest economy, has reaped the rewards — from world-changing research to the skilled workforce that powers nearly every industry in the state.

Now, California’s first bond to include student housing, Proposition 1, gives voters the chance to make good on our state’s promise, and ensure that California’s economic prosperity continues well into the future.

UC and CSU are economic powerhouses, and among the best investments our state has ever made. UC campuses generate $82 billion a year in economic activity and support more than 500,000 jobs (about one in every 45 jobs in California). That works out to $21 for every dollar the state invests. Four in 10 UC undergraduates are the first in their families to attend college, nearly half graduate with no debt, and UC faculty and alumni won five Nobel Prizes last October — a world record for a single year.

Meanwhile, CSU awards nearly half of all bachelor’s degrees in the state, and one in 10 California workers is a Cal State graduate. The system supports nearly 211,000 jobs and $31.6 billion in economic activity each year, returning $7.69 for every state dollar — totaling more than $35 once its graduates’ earnings are counted.

But UC and CSU students’ path to graduation is becoming narrower, because it runs through some of the nation’s most expensive housing markets.

While California’s public universities drive the nation’s largest state economy, many of their students are sleeping in cramped apartments and on friends’ couches. More than half of California college students who applied for financial aid have experienced housing insecurity, and most CSU and UC students now pay more for food and housing than for tuition. Meanwhile, UC’s growing campus housing waitlist alone recently exceeded 13,000 students.

The research is clear: students without stable housing are far less likely to stay in school. Federal data shows more than a third of students who experience homelessness in their first year are no longer enrolled two years later.

Students agree with the stats: “affordable housing isn’t just about having somewhere to live,” said Rodrigo Rojas Garfias, a student at Cal State San Marcos. “When so much of your paycheck or financial aid goes toward rent, it affects everything: whether you can afford groceries, how many hours you must work, and how much time you can actually spend focusing on school.”

That burden falls hardest on first-generation and low-income students, many of whom earned the grades and the aid to cover tuition, only to find that exorbitant rent costs stand between admission and graduation.

Lack of affordable campus housing not only harms our young people’s educational opportunities; it ultimately dims our state’s otherwise bright economic future. College graduates earn about 60% more than high school graduates and are less likely to be unemployed.

This year’s ballot offers voters a chance to make good on California’s promise to make room for UC and CSU students: Proposition 1 on the November 3 ballot would authorize $11.25 billion in state bonds: $10 billion for housing programs, and an additional $1.25 billion for veterans’ home loans.

If approved by voters, Prop 1 would provide UC and CSU with $350 million total for affordable student housing, split evenly at $175 million each.

For UC students, that funding would be leveraged into $700 million in construction activity — creating 2,300 new beds for students via projects that State Sen. Christopher Cabaldon says are “in line and ready to go.” For CSU students, this additional funding would help create 1,000-plus new beds for students who can least afford it.

This also helps the people who live in college towns: every new student bed is one fewer student competing for apartments in San Diego, Orange County, the Bay Area, San Luis Obispo, and Los Angeles, easing pressure on rents for local families.

No single bond will solve our state’s student housing shortage overnight. But Prop 1 represents an important first step, tied to projects that are ready to break ground, and building on a proven model that helped UC Berkeley add 1,113 beds with $100 million in state support and UC Santa Barbara add 1,688 beds with $45 million.

California’s students have done their part, and our state is far better for it. Now, it’s time for us to hold up our end of the bargain and safeguard our state’s future by voting “Yes” on Proposition 1.

Mel Levine chairs the California Coalition for Public Higher Education and is a former member of the California State Board of Education. He is a former U.S. congressmember and state assemblymember from Los Angeles, and an alum of the UC system.

Jesse Torres is a board member of the California Coalition for Public Higher Education and former California Small Business Advocate. He is the founder and managing partner of ArroyoWest, a strategic consulting and communications firm.