Rachel Rivas
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
Rachel Rivas is an Associate Director at HCM, providing data analysis and research across client projects with a focus on state finance and policy. She served as a Fellow at HCM for a year before joining full-time in 2026. She has worked on projects related to state funding formulas, 50-state policy scans, and developing policy agendas that center modern working learners.
Prior to joining HCM, Rachel spent over 15 years working in higher education institutions as a student services advisor, faculty affairs administrator, data analyst, and project manager. Across these experiences she worked alongside faculty and administrators to develop campus-wide initiatives and implement institutional policies that centered student success. Rachel discovered her passion for state finance policy during her doctoral studies when she came across HCM’s Outcomes-Based Funding Typology. Her research explores how to define and measure equity in higher education funding models.
Rachel is a California native and first-generation college student. She earned her bachelor’s in Sociology from the University of California, San Diego and master’s in Education from San Francisco State University, and doctorate in Educational Leadership from California State University, Long Beach. She currently resides in Long Beach with her partner and two cats.