Amey’s post and those of about 1,600 state student assistants will soon be the collateral damage of a labor deal struck last month to help close a $15.7 billion budget deficit. Brown and the state’s largest public employees union, Service Employees International Union Local 1000, agreed the 95,000 state workers it represents would take 12 unpaid days off through next June 30 in exchange for, among other things, purging the state payroll of student assistants as of Sept. 1… When the state lets them go next month, many of the students will confront rising tuition and falling employment prospects.

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by Jon Ortiz, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: July 23rd, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Hundreds of schools—including some of the most prestigious institutions in the country—have tightened their belts. That is bad news not just for the schools and their students but for the communities that depend on them for jobs. This pain is already being felt in places like Pullman, Wash., home to Washington State University. The city has 30,000 residents, of which 24,000 are either students or school employees. In the past four years WSU has eliminated 581 positions—more than a tenth of its workforce. State aid has fallen by $240 million over the same period… The effects have rippled across the local economy. Housing prices declined and housing starts fell to a 20-year low, in part because laid-off workers moved away. Students spent less and the city’s sales-tax revenue fell by 15%.

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by Douglas Belkin, The Wall Street Journal.

Posted: July 22nd, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Recent headlines have focused on the controversy surrounding the salaries of new presidents at California State University campuses. At a time of fiscal crisis – the board of trustees last week discussed tuition hikes, enrollment reductions and job cuts to cover a $250 million midyear loss in state funding should Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax hike initiative fail in November – many criticize any raise in salary at all. But the headlines miss a more important story – why are so many university presidents leaving in the first place… The parents of the students of California’s state university system call on its board of trustees to not take lightly its task of hiring this new generation of university leaders. We call on the new presidents to arrive with an open mind willing to reach out to new communities, a creative spirit and a lot of energy. We call on them to do what’s best for their students. Because their students are our future.

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by Laura-Lynne Powell, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: July 22nd, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Nonetheless, there’s good reason for concern – and we could end up paying a high price. The great universities – California’s among them – have always had a three-part mission: education of undergraduates and graduate students; research not just in science and medicine but in all major fields; and, equally important, but often forgotten these days, preservation and enrichment of the cultural legacy essential to any great society… For the better part of 20 years, however, maybe longer, as university presidents, including the presidents of the University of California, sought support for their institutions both from the public and political leaders that third element has gotten little mention. When asked about it UC President Mark Yudof acknowledged that it was “a fair criticism.”

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by Peter Schrag, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: July 22nd, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The study highlights a unique feature of student debt: Unlike other credit card balances and most other debt, it is nearly impossible to cancel student debt by filing for bankruptcy. That leaves many borrowers trapped, behind on loans that lenders are unwilling to modify, the study said. There are more than 850,000 private loans in default, worth more than $8.1 billion, it said… Lending standards for private student loans were loose during the credit bubble of the mid-2000s, the report said. Because private lenders marketed directly to students, bypassing school financial aid officers, schools did not review borrowers’ financial needs or enrollment status. As a result, many borrowed far more than they needed to pay for tuition. The loans went to people with increasingly weak credit scores, making repayment less likely, the study said.

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by Daniel Wagner, ABC News.

Posted: July 20th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

California State University leaders this week defended the controversial hire of San Diego State University President Elliot Hirshman by applauding the $71 million he raised for the university last fiscal year. It was an “I told you so” shot at students and faculty who cried foul at the hefty executive pay raise. Hirshman was hired last year with a whopping $400,000 pay package, $100,000 more than his predecessor… But SDSU did better than that under former campus President Stephen Weber, who earned $100,000 less than Hirshman. The university raised $75 million in 2010-11 and $74 million in 2007-08. SDSU has raised an annual average of more than $70 million since it launched the Campaign for SDSU in 2007… while some have credited Hirshman for raising the big bucks this year, the day-to-day fundraising is done by a team of full-time employees, responsible for finding and courting big donors. So, how much credit does Hirshman deserve? And is it fair for CSU leaders to use SDSU’s fundraising accomplishments, which appear to be on par with previous years, to justify Hirshman’s salary?

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by Heather Somerville, The Fresno Bee.

Posted: July 19th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Over the objections of student protesters, the University of California regents hiked fees by up to 35 percent for dozens of professional degree programs – from nursing to business – even as the board agreed to freeze this year’s undergraduate tuition if voters approve a tax measure on the November ballot. The regents, meeting in San Francisco, also learned that class sizes are soaring at the world-renowned university and that undergraduates have fewer opportunities to do research than just two years ago. Provost Aimée Dorr told the board that more faculty are quitting than are being hired on nearly every campus, and that there are now 23 students for each instructor, up from 18.

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by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted: July 18th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

There is a limit, however, to how much online and blended learning can scale while remaining true to an authentic course experience. No matter how well the multimedia, assessments, and peer learning opportunities are designed into a MOOC, the experience with 160,000 fellow learners (as in Stanford’s AI course) will never be comparable to a well designed traditional online, blended or face-to-face course. MOOCs may have many things to teach us about how to better design our traditional courses, and I’m hoping that we learn from data linking inputs (media, lectures, exercises, simulations, formative assessments etc) to outcomes (summative assessments and eventually even job performance). The large number of students in MOOCs and the availability of rich data around MOOC participants is an education researchers dream. But MOOCs alone will not solve our cost, access, or quality challenges in higher ed. They are as much substitutes for traditional courses (online, blended, or face-to-face), as Facebook is for real friends.

Read full article [here].
by Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Education.

Posted: July 18th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The regents said they were convinced that revenues from room rentals and dining would support payments on the $112 million in bond financing they approved Tuesday. The center’s next biggest chunk of money is a $50-million gift — $40 million for construction and $10 million for a programming endowment — from UCLA alumnus Meyer Luskin and his wife, Renee, the couple after whom it will be named. UCLA officials emphasized that the Luskin donation could not be used for an off-campus facility. However, critics say the plan poses unfair competition to Westwood hotels and could generate too much traffic. They also challenge UCLA’s contentions that the center will not be a true commercial entity and thus, guests will not pay occupancy taxes. David Greenberg, an attorney representing the Save Westwood Village neighborhood organization, said the project “poses great risks to UCLA” because tax authorities could decide years later that the campus is liable for those taxes.

Read full article [here].
by Larry Gordon, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: July 18th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University of California’s Board of Regents has voted to freeze undergraduate tuition this fall and endorse Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax initiative. But UC officials warn the 10-campus system will need to consider unpopular actions, including a steep midyear tuition increase, if voters reject the November ballot measure. The resolution was approved by the full board after its finance committee voted for the measure earlier Wednesday. Under the recently adopted state budget, funding for the 10-campus system will remain stable this fiscal year and increase by $125 million next year—if UC doesn’t raise tuition and voters approve Brown’s plan to temporarily raise income and sales taxes.But if the initiative fails, the university will face a midyear budget cut of $250 million.

Posted: July 18th, 2012, by: admin. Categories: . 1 Comment.