SRJC Forward
Career and Academic Pathways (CAPs)
Career and Academic Pathways (CAPs) help students discover and navigate SRJC majors and certificates through guided exploration. By connecting student interests to programs, transfer possibilities, career goals, and living-wage outcomes, CAPs reduce decision overload and help students build momentum earlier.
CAPs are designed to create a simpler, more student-friendly starting place for exploration. They do not lock students into a major. They help students understand related options, choose a direction, and move forward with greater clarity.
Institutional Review Materials
The following materials support institutional review of Career and Academic Pathways and provide fuller context for discussion. After reviewing, please share your feedback to help shape the next phase of this work.
Presentation Deck
A visual overview of the CAPs framework, purpose, and proposed structure.
Narrative Report
A fuller written explanation of the proposal, rationale, and institutional context for review.
Provide Feedback
Please share questions, suggestions, concerns, or recommendations to help refine this work.
Design Principles Reflected in CAPs
These are the shared design principles guiding how SRJC Forward reimagines programs, services, and systems—so the student experience is clearer, more supportive, and more connected across the college. The Career and Academic Pathways initiative reflects these principles in its design and student-facing approach.
Each design principle is expressed as a short adjective label. These labels are cited across SRJC Forward pages to indicate which principles are being intentionally applied in a given project or initiative. See the full page: Design Principles
These labels are intended to be reused consistently as a shared vocabulary across SRJC Forward pages.
What are CAPs?
Career and Academic Pathways (CAPs) are broad groupings of related majors and certificates that help students explore, choose, and move forward without wandering through a long list of disconnected options. They provide a clearer starting place and make movement between related options easier.
A simpler entry point
CAPs organize majors and certificates into a smaller number of student-friendly areas so students can begin with a clearer sense of direction.
Exploration connected to programs and goals
CAPs help students connect interests to majors and certificates, transfer goals, career possibilities, and living-wage opportunities.
Built for movement, not lock-in
CAPs are meant to support exploration and informed choice. They help students see related options and shift direction more easily as they learn what fits.
Why use CAPs?
CAPs help students get oriented sooner and begin making informed choices earlier. By making programs easier to understand and relate to one another, CAPs can support stronger motivation, clearer planning, and earlier momentum.
Easier to navigate
Students can start with a broad area of interest instead of sorting through many separate programs all at once.
Better early exploration
CAPs encourage earlier connections between interests, academic options, transfer pathways, and career goals.
Clearer student guidance
CAPs can support more consistent conversations in onboarding, educational planning, and counseling.
Stronger connection across touchpoints
CAPs create a framework that can align information, supports, and student-facing tools around clearer pathways.
Institutional alignment
CAPs strengthen SRJC Forward by aligning with the plans and standards the college already uses to guide decisions and support students.
Mission
Supports student progress toward certificates and degrees aligned with academic, career, and personal goals.
Strategic Plan
Advances priorities related to student completion, clarity of options, and reduced barriers to progress.
Student Equity Plan
Improves clarity and momentum supports in ways that can reduce equity gaps in persistence and completion.
Strategic Enrollment Management
Supports student persistence by strengthening entry, direction-setting, and coherent student pathways.
Accreditation Standards
Documents coherent programs, clear requirements, and intentional institutional practices that support learning and completion.