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Tag Archives: California State University

California. How much would you pay for a country club education?

July 11, 2012
Accountability, Affordability, Education Reform, Higher Ed Controversy, Innovation, Solutions
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A great video.  Higher education in California isn’t what it used to be. Find out why students are paying higher tuition costs and getting a less comprehensive education in California.

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UC Income From Tuition Will Surpass State Funding for the First Time

August 22, 2011
Accountability, Affordability, Education, Education Reform, Higher Ed Controversy
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Propelled by budget crises, California is becoming more like other states in passing more of the burden of a college education on to students.

 

Students near Royce Hall on the UCLA campus in Westwood (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Written By Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times

For the first time, the total amount that University of California students pay in tuition this year will surpass the funding the prestigious public university receives from the state. It is a historic shift for the UC system and part of a national trend that is changing the nature of public higher education.

Propelled by budget crises in California and elsewhere, the burden of paying for education at a public college or university, once heavily subsidized by taxpayers, is shifting to students and their families.

At UC, the changes are prompting soul-searching among administrators, alumni, students and others about whether the 10-campus, 230,000-student system is at a crossroads.

Some say the university must choose among facets of its long-standing public mission — to offer a widely accessible, moderately priced and high-quality education to California’s young people — as it supports itself increasingly through tuition, private fundraising and growing numbers of out-of-state students.

“It’s a significant moment,” said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, an umbrella group for the nation’s major universities.

Compared with other states that already have passed most educational costs to students, California historically has kept tuition low and provided generous support for higher education. But now, Hartle said, the Golden State is becoming more like others in the view that students are the main beneficiaries of a college education and should bear most of the cost. Read More

Cal Grant, College Cuts Squeeze Students

July 25, 2011
Accountability, Affordability, Education, Education Reform, Excellence, Higher Ed, Higher Ed Controversy, Jobs
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Gavin Santos is not the sort of student anyone would expect would have trouble getting through college.

A 2009 Hesperia High School graduate, Santos was a star running back for the Scorpions, president of the ASB, a National Honor Society member and an A student. After graduation, he headed to California State University, Long Beach, pursuing a degree in business.

“Last year, I qualified for a Cal Grant and they gave me $4,200,” Santos said Thursday. “This year, about a month ago, I got an email that I wasn’t going to qualify this year.”

His $4,200 Cal Grant previously covered about 75 percent of his annual tuition at CSULB.

The loss of Santos’ financial aid came at the same time as rising tuition costs.

When Gov. Jerry Brown signed the state budget on June 30, it included cuts to higher education, including a $650 million cut to the California State University system. The Cal State trustees had already agreed upon a 10 percent tuition increase last November. In response to the 2011-12 budget, the trustees voted on July 12 to raise tuition by an additional 12 percent. (And the Cal State system isn’t alone in raising tuition: Tuitions have tripled at the University of California over the past decade.)

“He’s done all the right things he’s supposed to,” said Diane Rodriguez, the career center specialist at Oak Hills High School, who previously advised Santos at Hesperia High.

Not all Cal Grant money is gone — poor students and those with exceptionally high grades are still receiving the money — but many middle class students are finding themselves too well-off to qualify for grant money their families had been counting on.

As a result, “I’d say probably 15 to 20 percent” of Oak Hills graduates will end up going to a two-year college instead of a four-year college instead, Rodriguez said. “To me, even one student is unacceptable.” Read More

Fee Increases Can’t Continue – Parents and Students Shouldering Burden

July 10, 2011
Accountability, Affordability, Education Reform
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Our view: College students and their parents shouldn’t be expected to shoulder an 86 percent tuition increase in just four years.

Every time the California State University system raises its tuition — and that is happening with increased regularity lately — you can count on some cheerful trustee or well-paid employee to say, “Yes, but it’s still a great bargain.”

Not anymore.

After tuition for Chico State University and the other 22 CSU campuses rose by 5 percent for the spring semester, they’ll skyrocket an astonishing 22 percent for the fall semester, which starts next month.

The tuition at Chico State will be $6,882 annually. It has nearly doubled in the four years most seniors have been on campus.

They started by paying $3,690 as freshmen. It would take a math major to figure out the rise over the past 30 years. In 1981, it cost $220 a year to go to school at Chico State.

But the 86 percent increase in the last four years has been tremendous and unprecedented. Even before the massive hike this year, the tuition increase has earned national notoriety. The U.S. Department of Education issued comparative lists last week showing college pricing and affordability. Read More

Editorial: Strangling Higher Education

July 10, 2011
Accountability, Affordability, Education Reform
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Give credit to Solano Community College Superintendent/President Jowel Laguerre. He’s in tough negotiations with employee groups at the college as he struggles to close a $2 million budget gap — and that was before the state lopped another $100 million from the overall community college budget.

But at the June 30 meeting of the SCC Governing Board, President Laguerre did what too many public leaders refuse to do: He led by example, agreeing to take eight furlough days, give up his fundraising entertainment budget and forego a scheduled raise.

The $15,780.50 savings represents a 6.4 percent bite out of his monetary package and a 5 percent cut to his overall compensation. It is also but a drop in the $2 million bucket. Yet it gives the college president credibility when he asks instructors and staff to work for less or tells students they will have to pay more even as class options are becoming increasingly limited.

More presidents of public colleges and universities throughout California need to take a page from President Laguerre’s playbook if they expect to close their own ever-growing budget gaps.

The recently adopted state budget cut a total of $400 million to the community colleges and $650 million each to the California State University and University of California systems.

All colleges had been expecting some cuts, and tuition hikes had already been approved for this fall. Community college fees are scheduled to rise from $26 to $36 per unit, while tuition will jump by 8 percent in the UC system and 10 percent for CSU students. Read More

College Students Brace For State Budget Cuts

July 5, 2011
Accountability, Affordability, Education Reform, Jobs
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University of California Berkeley student Dior Sweeney poses for a photograph on the campus. California college students could see bigger tuition bills but fewer courses and services after lawmakers passed a state budget that slashes spending on higher education.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – California college students are bracing for higher tuition bills and fewer courses and campus services under a new state budget that once again slashes spending on higher education.

The budget signed Thursday by Gov. Jerry Brown inflicts the latest blow to California’s renowned higher education system, which has helped make the state an economic powerhouse and served as a model for other states and countries.

Over the past three years, California’s public colleges and universities have seen deep cuts in state funding that have dramatically raised the cost of attendance, forced campuses to turn away qualified students and eroded the quality of classroom instruction.

Under the newly approved state budget, the 10-campus University of California and 23-campus California State University will each lose at least $650 million in state funding, a cut of more than 20 percent. The two systems could each face another $100 million cut if the state takes in less revenue than expected.

The 112-campus community college system will lose $400 million in state funding and fees will increase from $26 to $36 per unit. The system could lose another $72 million and raise fees to $46 per unit if revenue projections fall short.

UC officials said Friday they will recommend that the Board of Regents consider raising undergraduate tuition by an additional 9.6 percent to offset the deeper-than-expected funding cut. Tuition is already set to rise 8 percent this fall to about $12,000, about three times what students paid a decade ago.

In an interview with The Associated Press, UC President Mark Yudof said higher tuition will cause hardship for many students, but he sees little choice when the university faces a $1 billion budget shortfall driven by rising costs and shrinking public support.

His biggest worry is losing the academic talent that has made UC one of the world’s top research universities, Yudof said. UC San Diego recently lost three star scientists to Rice University, a deep-pocketed private institution in Houston.

“You can’t starve this university for many years without there being consequences,” Yudof said. “There’s going to be a lot of pain. I don’t deny that. But on my watch we’re not going to see a dilution of the quality of the University of California.”

The prospect of rising tuition is weighing heavily on students like Dior Sweeney, a UC Berkeley senior who works two jobs while going to school but still expects to graduate with more than $20,000 in student loans to repay. Read More

High College Costs, Low Aid Burden Struggling Families

June 1, 2011
Education, Education Reform, Higher Ed, Innovation, Technology
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A report released today by The Education Trust documents how the financial-aid policies of colleges, universities, states, and the federal government together limit — rather than expand — access to higher education for millions of low-income young people.

Data on the “net price” of college — that is the amount that families must pay after all sources of grant aid are accounted for — for every college and university in the country, were recently released for the first time by the U.S. Department of Education. “Priced Out: How the Wrong Financial-Aid Policies Hurt Low-Income Students” uncovers a new and disheartening picture of college opportunity for low-income students. The Ed Trust analysis reveals that the average low-income family must pay or borrow an amount roughly equivalent to 72 percent of its annual household income each year — just to send one child to a four-year college.   Read More