What We Do

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  • “The California College Guidance Initiative helps all the systems - California State University, the University of California, California Community Colleges, the California Student Aid Commission, and K-12 - to work together and create that seamless transition and pipeline for our students.”

    Catalina Cifuentes - Executive Director, College & Career Readiness, Riverside County Office of Education

College student holds up her diploma at her graduation.

What We Do

College & Career Planning

Through CaliforniaColleges.edu, the State of California’s official college and career planning platform, we offer a unique suite of college, career and financial aid planning information, curricula, and tools. From exploring potential career paths to launching and tracking college and financial aid applications, CaliforniaColleges.edu helps students discover their college and career goals, make plans for how to achieve them, and launch into fulfilling futures.

CCGI team works with educators to design an implementation plan

Capacity Building

CCGI staff work hand-in-hand with our K-12 partners to identify data conflicts, improve systems, implement clear data standards and best practices, and integrate CCGI tools into guidance practices and instructional time. By providing ongoing support, training, and professional development opportunities, we help ensure that improvements are sustainable, so that the benefits are felt for years to come.

Computer displays visualized data.

Cradle-to-Career System

We help empower one in four California students through actionable data – data that can be used to make an immediate, tangible impact on their college and career trajectories. California’s Cradle-to-Career System seeks to bring our work to all the state’s K-12 districts and ensure every California student has the information and data-driven tools they need to realize their academic and career dreams.

Impact

We partner with 217 school districts serving more than 1 million 6th-12th grade students, a student population larger than the entire K-12 systems of 28 U.S. states.

In the 2022-2023 Academic Year:

One in five California 6th-12th grade students have access to data-informed accounts on CaliforniaColleges.edu

Over 50% of California 6th-12th grade students had access to a transcript-informed account on CaliforniaColleges.edu.

Applications Launched:

  • California Community Colleges*: 192,319
  • California State University: 125,148
  • University of California: 6,404
  • FAFSA/California Dream Act: 16,276

* PESC Transcripts submitted through CaliforniaColleges.edu