Head to Head: Is trend of decreasing state aid and rising tuition for UC reversible?
Boychuk: Bureaucracy and “diversity” are pricing out the middle class from a University of California education. The third annual UC Accountability Report, published in July, found that some 3,000 fewer undergraduate students from families with incomes between $99,000 and $149,000 a year enrolled in between 2004 and 2010… As I’ve argued over and over in these columns, there need to be limits on what the state does and does not do. But as a product of the University of California, it’s impossible not to lament what has become of the crown jewel of the state’s university system… Lopez: in 2004, the state still was at the top of the funding hierarchy ($450 million). Next came federal funding ($350 million, primarily research and grants to students), student fees ($150 million), philanthropy ($150 million) and endowment income ($120 million). Now, the state has dropped to fourth in the funding hierarchy… Yes, management bloat is an issue. The UC today has nearly as many senior administrators as full-time, tenure-track faculty – 8,600 vs. 8,700 in October 2010. In contrast, in the mid-1990s, UC had two times as many faculty as senior administrators. Two decades ago, UC had nearly three times as many faculty as senior administrators. The Board of Regents has been utterly tone-deaf and ineffective in bringing administrative positions and salaries in line with a public service ethos.
Read full article [here].
by Ben Boychuk and Pia Lopez, The Sacramento Bee.