The roll of Californians who rose from modest circumstances to enrich our lives and our society after receiving a taxpayer-supported education at the University of California — or Cal State or the community college system — is too long to enumerate here. They’re scientists who made world-altering discoveries, literary artists, composers and musicians, political leaders of city, state and country. But the recent trend in state support of public higher education raises a question germane to the careers of Warren and Kingston and all those others: If they graduated from high school today, would they have any chance of getting a UC education? … So here’s a radical proposal: As tuition increases threaten to place a UC education out of the reach of working-class and middle-class students, let’s reinvigorate the notion of a free UC education. The chief objection to this idea isn’t hard to predict: “We can’t afford it!” Yet it’s odd how eliminating in-state tuition is regarded today as completely out of the bounds of good sense, while proposals with far greater fiscal impact are floated routinely and given sober consideration.

Read full article [here].
by Michael Hiltzik, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: April 11th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.