The 2026 edition of the annual Stepping Out for COD fundraiser will take place on Saturday, Jan. 31, at the Agua Caliente Rancho Mirage’s Cahuilla Ballroom—and this year, College of the Desert is raising funds to, among other things, meet a pledge to eventually offer free tuition to anyone and everyone who lives in the Coachella Valley, regardless of age or income.
“What we will be focusing on is our ‘plEDGE for All’ campaign,” said COD Superintendent and President Val Martinez Garcia during a recent interview with the Independent. “Our goal is to ensure that every student from the Coachella Valley receives a tuition-free education here at College of the Desert. It’s a heavy lift—maybe like a moonshot, in a lot of ways—but we feel very fortunate to be part of this community.
“It’s a very giving community. It’s very committed to the students and the families here, so we believe we’re going to be able to generate enough support to make this a reality. Also, we have a large and amazing (College of the Desert) Foundation where we were able to get some great gifts, and we know that they’ll be continuing, along with all the rest of the federal, state and other scholarship aid that’s available to our students. We’re just really excited about this ‘Stepping Out,’ because it’s not only showcasing who we are as a college, but it’s really showcasing for the rest of the state what’s possible if a community comes together.”
The college plans on phasing in the “plEDGE for All” program. Since 2017, COD has offered a tuition-free education to local high school graduates. In the fall of 2026, the college plans to add returning COD students with 30+ units, noncredit workforce learners, first-responder trainees, residents with a high school equivalency, and veterans to the tuition-free list.
“We’ve seen the success of plEDGE” Martinez Garcia said, “and that was only for first-time freshmen coming out of high school. … Our success rates have been just amazing, so we thought, ‘You know what? This program was never meant to be a one-off, right?’ It was always meant to be a staged approach to increasing to ‘plEDGE for All.’ Then we thought, ‘Well, instead of talking about it, why don’t we do it?’”
Martinez Garcia pointed to the California Master Plan for Higher Education, which was enacted in 1960, as a motivating factor. At the time, the top one-eighth of graduating high school seniors were guaranteed a spot, tuition-free, at a University of California school; the top one-third would be able to enter the California State University System, also tuition-free; and all other students could attend junior colleges, later re-named community colleges.
“It talks about how every student from a California high school will receive free higher education,” he said. “They developed a three-tier system: CSU, UC and community colleges. Well, the CSU is not close to that anymore; that dream is long gone. UC (as a system) has more access to California students, but it’s still far away from that free tuition. So we (community colleges) are seen as the last stronghold of that dream. … I believe strongly that it is our job to fulfill that promise the state made, and to maintain it, especially in the environment that we have now, where there are so many jobs being opened up that require a higher level of education or more training.”
Martinez Garcia said he knows a lot of students have forgone college because of the expense.
“Students and families pause those dreams, those desires to better their families, because of financial concerns,” he said. “So if we can roll that (insecurity) back and alleviate that, then they can pursue their dreams, those aspirations, get trained and go into those jobs. I believe strongly that will not only expand our workforce, but it will improve the communities we live in.”
Protecting DEI
In March, the COD Board of Trustees established campus-wide protocols for dealing with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, should they come on campus—in an effort to make sure all students feel safe. More than 70 percent of the students at College of the Desert are Hispanic or Spanish-speaking, and Martinez Garcia said he’s seen the effects the draconian federal immigration policies have had on faculty members and students.
“From where I sit, I see it. … I see the pain in (students’) eyes as they talk about their situation,” Martinez Garcia said. “I see the strain in the way they stand and their body movements. I see the toll that it’s taking, because I’ve lived it. I’m not undocumented, but I grew up in a farmworker community, and my grandmother was a farm laborer. I remember seeing the truck pull up with all the farmworkers coming out of them. So, I understand that lifestyle; I understand that community. I’d seen that fear before in the ’80s, when there was a lot of deportation going on in the Central Valley. … I can see that same look in my students’ eyes, or in the eyes of our faculty, and it saddens me they have to live in fear. But I am very proud to know that College of the Desert stands behind our all of our students, regardless of where they come from, or their backgrounds. We believe that it’s our role to ensure they have a safe space for education, and that they’re supported—and that’s what we look to do.”
One piece of good news at the college is a recent increase in student-enrollment numbers, which had been depressed since the COVID-19 pandemic years.
“We’re up 11% over last year already,” Martinez Garcia said, “so we’re back to our pre-pandemic numbers, which is very exciting for us. That really solidifies our college in the sense that our funding is stable … and our staffing levels are stable. What that means is our students are being given the best opportunity to be able to fulfill their dreams, their aspirations and their career goals, by a committed faculty.”
The superintendent pushed back on an age-old criticism of the country’s community colleges.
“I know there’s a long-held belief that you don’t send your child to community college, because it’s not academically as challenging as the UC or the CSU (systems),” Martinez Garcia said. “That’s totally not true, especially because we’re in alignment with the CSU and the UC with many of our courses, and our course rigor. But, more importantly, when you are being taught by individuals who grew up in the valley … and maybe have gone to COD (themselves), the way that they care about and mentor our students on a personal level is a lot different. So, from an academic perspective, we’re flying high and doing some amazing things, but also that (results from) our faculty really caring about our students.”
Bucking the current anti-DEI trend, Martinez Garcia said the school makes sure it pays special attention to the needs of diverse student demographic groups by supporting multiple support centers on the main Palm Desert campus, including the Foster Youth Center, the Black Student Success Center, and the LGBTQ Center. He pointed to the Foster Youth Center as being particularly vital and successful.
“We’re really happy with that particular center, because it allows us to partner with our local high schools, and also with the county and other private services … around the valley that are serving our students who were in the foster-youth system,” he said. “When they exit that system, typically, there’s no place for them to go. They rarely have stable housing or jobs, so what our center does is help bridge that move for them, along with (aid from) private organizations or the county. … It’s one of our larger centers, funding-wise. When I talk to the students typically found in that center, they tell me how much they appreciate the work of our staff and our faculty in the center. But more importantly, they appreciate the space, because it does give them solid footing in a life that may be a little bit chaotic.”
A Period of Expansion
College of the Desert is currently in the midst of a growth spurt, headlined by construction on the new Palm Springs campus, which is slated to open in 2027.
“Palm Springs is doing really well,” Martinez Garcia said. “You can see steel being erected everywhere. Then you can go by Roadrunner Motors (an under-construction automotive-education facility in Cathedral City) and see the different grading that’s gone on there. In Indio, we finished with the Child Development Center and our expansion building, as well as our renovation of our original building in Indio. Then, of course, if you go through our (main Palm Desert) campus, you’ll see our science building being renovated, and then the new stadium project (due to open in the fall of 2026). All that is on target.
“Students and families pause those dreams, those desires to better their families, because of financial concerns. So if we can roll that (insecurity) back and alleviate that, then they can pursue their dreams, those aspirations, get trained and go into those jobs.”
College of the Desert Superintendent and President Val Martinez Garcia
“What I’m most excited about is the fact that when our students and our families drive past these frame structures, they can imagine themselves being a student at Palm Springs, or at Roadrunner Motors, or walking into the new buildings at Indio, or even stepping on the football or soccer field here at the main campus. That brings me such excitement, because those buildings represent hope. They represent a path forward.”
Martinez Garcia talked about his own community college experience, at Bakersfield College.
“I went (to the college) when I was 7 years old, and I got to walk on the football stadium during a YSO soccer event at the halftime of the homecoming (football game),” he said. “I remember that feeling of being on the ‘college’ campus, and I always had a connection to Bakersfield College throughout the rest of my middle school and high school experience. Then I ended up at that community college, where I kind of found myself. It goes back to that moment of walking on that stadium field and imagining myself maybe playing for the Renegades one day. That’s what really excites me about the buildings. They’re not just steel and concrete.”
Overcoming Accreditation Issues
College of the Desert is operating under the dark cloud of a rocky accreditation effort in 2024, under Laura Hope, the former superintendent and president. For reasons including much-publicized dissention among the Board of Trustees, COD failed qualify for the customary eight-year accreditation from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). Instead, COD was granted just an 18-month extension, with a re-evaluation scheduled for March 2026. Martinez Garcia said he’s confident that COD is back on the right track.
“The commission will be revisiting us in the late spring, and we have been in consistent communication with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. But more importantly, our board (has done) everything that the ACCJC has required, and more. They’ve gone to, literally, tens and tens of trainings. They’ve traveled to trainings across the country to be better board members. … Also, they’re united in believing their role is to support the college and set a direction, and then support that direction. They’ve done that. This board has been outstanding. … I’ve seen other colleges in the same situation we were in, and they did a lot less. They tried to maintain the status quo as much as possible. This board just decided they were going to dive into this and really transform who they were.”
Martinez Garcia is entering his second year as COD’s superintendent and president; he got the interim job in December 2024, and shed the “interim” tag in May 2025. He’s been employed by COD since February 2023—and said he’s elated to be where he is today.
“I’m very fortunate, blessed, you could say, to be a part of this college and this community. Being the president is just like icing on the cake,” Martinez Garcia said. “… I view my role as CEO (to be) somebody who is no different than anyone else on this campus. We are all after the same thing, and that is to serve our students and to ensure that they complete their degrees, or accomplish whatever their reason was for coming to us. We’re responsible for their education, and we’re also responsible for the improvement of the communities around the Coachella Valley.”