The new chancellor of the California State University system, is touring Bakersfield and pledging to help students at CSUB become successful graduates.
Timothy White took over as CSU chancellor in December. He was previously chancellor at UC Riverside.
White arrive in Bakersfield Sunday, where he has been doing outreach with the community and visiting with students and faculty.
White says the key to success is getting kids to want to go to college.
"It's important for all of us to keep kids in the K-12 system, in the public schools, in middle school, in high school. Take the right classes so they have a chance to go onto college afterwards. That's the ticket to the middle class. So our message is, if a guy like Tim White can do it, who back in the day was not necessarily at the top of his game, then you can do it," said White.
White adds, the cost of someone not having a college education is very high for a community.
He says there tends to be higher unemployment and more of a drain on social services.
