Higher Education in California is indeed at a crossroads. The challenges of recession have had a profound effect on our state budget, forcing those of us in the legislature to choose from a menu of awful choices. As the Chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee and as a retired California State University professor and dean, I am acutely aware the strain that has been put on our colleges and universities. In light of these difficult times, I believe that we as a state must focus on keeping California's higher education system centered on the basic principles of access, articulation, affordability and quality. Ensuring access to higher education has never been more important. The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released a report last year detailing the need for California to produce one million more baccalaureate degrees by 2025 in order to stay economically competitive. Organizationally, this means that our baccalaureate degree-granting systems, the University of California and the California State University, must do everything they can to ensure that the doors of higher education remain open to undergraduates. One of the most significant pathways to keeping these doors open is through effective articulation. Click here to read full op-ed.