The Los Angeles Times reports that there is a growing sentiment among legislators in Sacramento that they should have greater oversight and influence not only in the amount of money that UC gets but in how it is spent. Strikingly, the three points that seem to have mobilized the greatest concern are the size of executive pay and perks, the continual fee increases, and the move by UCOF and UCOP to push towards more out-of-state students. As the LAT puts it, "Lawmakers say the combined actions threaten a fundamental promise of life in the Golden State: an affordable, high-quality public college education."
You can read the entire story HERE.
More Subway Work in Westwood
7 hours ago
4 comments:
Wow. Looks like in the article every quote from a state legislator wanting to tackle the UC and CSU systems and twist some austerity into them was a Dem. This is stuff that that the Rep. gov vetoed, but perhaps with a Dem. gov soon...
What is this? How can it be that it was a Republican thing to screw UC, and here it is a bunch of Democrats leading the way, with the hope of a Democrat gov?
This is just what's going down in WA state. Democrat gov with Democrat legislature running the higher ed system into the ground, or, er, privatizing it, yes, that's it, so lots of out of state students can pay way more... and if all states do this, why, everyone will have to go to college in *some other state* so everyone will pay out of state tuition.
I have no party affiliation. I don't think this is a party plank. There is something else going on. The blimp is coming down. The humanity, the humanity.
The part I can't understand is why anyone would pay out-of-state tuition to go to a state school (UC included), when for the same amount of money you can go to a private college/university where the student will be able to 1) enroll in the classes they want/need, when they want/need them, 2) graduate in 4 years, 3) major in what they want rather than major in whatever major they can get into (which is becoming more and more the case at the UC where I work). Is it just that families really don't understand this picture (yet)? or is UC planning on giving out-of-state students some kind of priority in enrolling for classes etc. that would at least partially justify the high tuition. As it stands I really don't get it -- the economics make no sense for out-of-state students.
All of the bills discussed in the LA Times article were previously passed by both California houses and then vetoed by governor Schwarzenegger. Most of them deal with transparency, but there is also a lot of Democratic anger concerning the fact that the UC was one of the only institutions to see more funding in last year’s budget, but the university still decided to raise tuition and criticize the state. Many legislators are also upset over the fact that the UC keeps on raising administrator’s salaries even when it gives everyone else a furlough. Another issue concerns the fact that regents are often appointed by governors only on the basis of campaign contributions. Finally, there is a problem that due to the autonomous status of the university granted by the state constitution, the UC can ignore most of the state’s recommendations. In short, I think the Democrats want to support the university, but they want the UC administrators to behave in a more transparent and just way.
Perhaps what the legislators are looking for, and not finding, is intellectual honesty.
Join the Conversation
Note: Firefox is occasionally incompatible with our comments section. We apologize for the inconvenience.