CR's October 2, 2026 Times Standard Article: Education is the Key to Developing Our Greatest Abilities

Published on Sep 29 2026

For so many people, achieving a higher education degree does not come easily. For students experiencing poverty, mental or physical health challenges, housing insecurity, single parenthood, or who are or were incarcerated, the hope of walking across the stage at commencement and getting a degree can feel like a dream too far.

As an educator, I know that attaining a college education is a powerful pathway to personal growth, broadening worldviews, and fostering independence and confidence. While many students are made aware sometime in their lives that a college degree can lead to economic opportunity and social mobility, I know that some people from marginalized populations and people who have experienced setbacks or made mistakes in their past may not have someone in their lives who encourages them to explore higher education. In this time of political strife and tense race relations in our country, they may never hear positive reinforcement and expectations. For them, it could be hard to envision a bright future, or any future at all.

Unlike many people of color in America, I was fortunate to grow up with the expectation that I would go to college. Although my grandparents and mother did not have that opportunity, there was never any doubt that my sister and I would. I even remember my father telling me that he would disown me if I did not go to college. Did he mean it? I do not know, but the threat worked. Thanks to the messages I received from my parents and grandparents about working hard and critical thinking, I grew up with a powerful sense of hope for my future.

I believe higher education has the potential to break cycles of inequality, but only when everyone has the opportunity to access it. CR has an especially important role in providing that access and reducing the gap between the have and have nots. Since the beginning, community colleges were designed to provide unfettered access into higher education for underserved and marginalize populations, low-income families, immigrant communities, and first-generation students. In her article Community Colleges Are More Important Than Ever in 2026, author Grace Chen, stated that community colleges will become even more critical in the future as the cost of higher education rises and students increasingly seek affordable, flexible education and workforce training. In rural areas like ours, community colleges are the most accessible and welcoming options for students who might otherwise be excluded from higher education. 

Jennifer Bailey’s article, Saying Yes to Life: Morgen’s Journey at College of the Redwoods, in the College of the Redwoods’ September 2025 newsletter tells a wonderful story of how CR influenced the life trajectory of one of our students. Morgen came to CR while facing significant challenges, including cancer, housing instability, and raising children as a single parent. Despite those barriers, she continued her education with support from faculty and staff who helped her stay connected and moving toward her goals.

Morgen’s story is not uncommon. Many students come to CR facing social, language, or economic barriers while also carrying an ardent desire to get an education and improve their lives. One of the most important ways we support these students is through Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS). For these students, programs like EOPS can provide the counseling, financial aid, tutoring and mental health resources to make it possible not only to enroll in college, but to remain there and succeed.

Across California, it is undeniable that EOPS programs are profoundly important and impactful. According to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office’s 2025 Extended Opportunity Programs and Services Legislative Report, 31% of EOPS students earned an associate degree compared with 17% of comparable low-income, underrepresented students who were not in EOPS. Twenty-two percent earned a degree/certificate and transferred, versus 12% of the comparison group. That means the associate-degree attainment rate among EOPS students was about 82% higher than among the comparison group.

At College of the Redwoods, we have seen our EOPS program experience significant growth over the past five years. The number of students served by the program has more than doubled, from 421 students in 2020-21 to 982 in 2025-26. And in 2024-25 alone, 184 EOPS students earned a degree or certificate.

In the 2025-2026 academic year, it provided eligible students with $366,800 in grants and $174,349 in book vouchers. Furthermore, our EOPS Pelican Bay Prison education program has more than doubled from Spring 24 (42 students served) to Spring 26 (90 students served).

Every day, I carry with me the belief that education is a great equalizer in our society. The work College of the Redwoods is doing to provide interventions that will help marginalized students succeed fills me with hope and confidence. I am confident that CR will continue to embrace the belief expressed by John F. Kennedy that education is “the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength of the nation.”