Meg Whitman’s $1 billion proposal for higher ed will require continuing large fee increases
Ms. Whitman’s “Policy Agenda for a New California” recognizes the importance of higher education to California’s future and identifies the problems of declining quality in the face of escalating fees:
The University of California and California State University systems are two of our state’s greatest resources. UC is the best public university system in the world, but it has been forced to endure significant cutbacks in recent years due to the state’s budget crisis.
UC student fees increased by 40 percent last year, and the amount of per-student funding in the UC system has dropped from 78 percent of the total cost of education in 1990 to 58 percent today. Meg will invest $1 billion of the savings from her welfare and other budgetary reforms into the UC and CSU systems. (Page 33)
Even with this $1 billion, restoring quality and providing places for all qualified students being turned away from UC, CSU and the Community Colleges would require raising UC tuition another $2,393 (to $13,943), CSU another $338 (to $5,231) and Community College another $484 (to $1,264).
For comparison, we could push the “reset” button on California higher education to roll fees back to 2000-01 levels while restoring quality and access for just $32 for the median California taxpayer next April 15.
Click here for a spreadsheet that details the calculations.
[…] has proposed putting $1 billion into higher education, but experts say even with this extra money, adequate reform would still require raising tuition and fees at the UC […]