Bob Meister from UCSC has written an excellent article on the financialization of the university and the death of the Master Plan. Meister’s research shows that as tuition in the UC system continues to grow and in-state students are replaced with nonresident students, Californian students who in the past would have gone to the UCs or the CSUs are now going to community colleges. However, since the community colleges have also experienced budget cuts and enrollment reductions, a lot of the students who used to go to the community colleges are now going to the for-profit colleges, like the University of Phoenix.
One of the results of this system is that low-income, minority students are being forced to pay high-tuition at low-performing for-profit institutions. In turn, these schools, which often have a graduation rate of under 10%, suck up over a billion dollars in Pell Grants a year as students take out high-interest subprime student loans. Moreover, since these loans are usually guaranteed by the federal government, and they cannot be erased through bankruptcy, there are a safe bet for financial speculators.
In this Reversed Master Plan, the defunding of each system results in higher tuition levels coupled with larger student debts and lower degree production. Not only will students have to work twenty years to pay off their student loans, but they will be unable to pay taxes or to contribute to economic growth. Instead of universities and colleges creating social mobility and reducing economic inequality, they are generating higher levels of inequity. To help change this dangerous path, please come to the UC Regents meeting or the CSU trustees meeting on November 16th and call for a new economic and educational model. You can also sign here a petition to protest police violence during the UC Berkeley demonstrations on November 9th.
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Note that the Regents meeting has been postponed. (To avoid the proposed demonstration, I believe.)
ReplyDeleteEvidence confirms Chancellor Birgeneau in touch with campus while in Korea. Birgeneau allows UCPD to apply violence to students protesting increases in tuition.
ReplyDeleteFurther, UC President Yudof, Cal. Chancellor Birgeneau($450,000 salary) dismissed many much needed cost-cutting options. They did not consider freezing vacant faculty positions, increasing class size, requiring faculty to teach more classes, doubling the time between sabbaticals, cutting & freezing pay & benefits for chancellors & reforming pensions & the health benefits.
They said such faculty reforms “would not be healthy for UC”. Exodus of faculty, administrators? Who can afford them and where would they go?
We agree it is far from the ideal situation, but it is in the best interests of the university system & the state to stop cost increases. UC cannot expect to do business as usual: raising tuition; granting pay raises & huge bonuses during a weak economy that has sapped state revenues & individual Californians’ income.
There is no question the necessary realignments with economic reality are painful. Regent Chairwoman Lansing can bridge the public trust gap with reassurances that salaries & costs reflect California’s ability to pay. The sky above UC will not fall when Chancellor Birgeneau is ousted.
Opinions? Email the UC Board of Regents marsha.kelman@ucop.edu
Education must be one of the utmost priorities of our leaders because some parents cannot afford to send their children in school. Tuition fee increase and nonsense miscellaneous fees that aren't applicable should be reviewed by the school administrators.
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