Over the past 10 years, the proportion of middle-income students attending the University of California has declined at nearly twice the rate of California middle-income households, while the share of lower- and upper-income UC students has risen. Some analysts suggest the trend stems from repeated hikes in UC tuition costs, coupled with limited access to many kinds of aid for middle-income students, who are increasingly incurring larger and larger loan debt. “We’ve got some significant problems here,” said William Tierney, USC Rossier School of Education professor, Wilbur-Kieffer professor of higher education and director of Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis. “Tuition is rising faster than people can keep up with it because family salaries are not rising as fast. … It’s not simply that there are more people out of work and can’t find jobs, but people’s salaries are staying flat.”

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by Samantha Schaefer, The Orange County Register.

Posted: October 30th, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The proposals are for sweeping reforms that would move toward rationing access to community colleges, compel students to take more responsibility for their education and prioritize the types of classes being offered. Under the state’s Master Plan for Higher Education, community colleges have long offered an open door for anyone who sought to benefit. But the task force suggests that after years of state funding cuts, community colleges can no longer be all things to all people..

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by Carla Rivera, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: October 29th, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Steep funding cuts to higher education in California and elsewhere were significant factors in pushing average tuition and fees up 8.3% at four-year public colleges and universities nationwide this fall, according to a report by the nonprofit College Board. California’s public universities enacted the highest average tuition increase, 21%, of any state, the annual study on college costs found. The state enrolls a tenth of the nation’s public four-year college students.

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by Larry Gordon, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: October 26th, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . 1 Comment.

Conventional wisdom says the UC and CSU funding crises are the inevitable result of recession-driven budget shortfalls, and the only solution is to soak students and their families. But it’s bunk. Shifting costs from the public to students is a deliberate act of public policy… This is a radical reversal of the spirit that built California. But what’s been done can be undone. In fact, it would not cost much to push the “reset” button on California’s entire higher education system, from community colleges to UC’s graduate programs. We can roll fees back to 2000 levels, restore state funding and accommodate the students who’ve been forced out. And it would only cost the median taxpayer $49. To today’s jaded sensibilities that sounds far-fetched. But it wasn’t so long ago that a passion for that kind of thinking built California in the first place.

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by Stanton Glantz, KQED Radio.

Posted: October 26th, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . 1 Comment.

Terry Hartle, senior vice president at the American Council on Education, which represents colleges in Washington, said the cause of the price increases for the 80 percent of college students who attend public institutions is clear. State appropriations to higher education declined 18percent per student over the past three years, the College Board found, the sharpest fall on record. “To see increases of 20 percent, as we saw in California, to see gains of 15 percent in other states, is simply unprecedented,” Hartle said. “Tuition is simply being used as a revenue substitute in many states.” The latest report comes with concerns about student debt front and center among many of the Occupy Wall Street protesters… this year for the first time, California’s tuition and fee rates were above the national average, unimaginable to most experts a decade ago.

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by Justin Pope, The Contra Costa Times.

Posted: October 25th, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

With the nation’s student loan debt approaching $1 trillion, the issue has also generated debate in Washington. The Obama administration announced plans Tuesday to expand a government program to help 1.2 million borrowers reduce their payments and consolidate their student debt. Republicans, including some presidential hopefuls, have demanded in recent days that government student aid programs be reduced or eliminated… It doesn’t take long before any conversation in the strikingly youthful crowd in Lower Manhattan turns to the loans many of the twentysomethings have racked up. It’s not a central theme, like corporate greed and unemployment, but rather a subtext to all the chanting and marching… “Lame, you’re lame. Stop complaining. Get a job.” Grant had been mostly silent the last few days, but this time he fired back: “That’s why we’re here, buddy. We can’t get jobs.”

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by Geraldine Baum, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: October 25th, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

But [Judge] Chalfant indicated that he understood Taiz’s underlying concerns. Taiz’s “real complaint appears to be that an increase in the compensation of any new CSU president creates pressure to increase the compensation of others, and any increase in executive compensation in a budget crisis where CSU tuition is increasing is inappropriate,” he wrote. Chalfant said sorting that out is a job for politicians… CSU spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp said the trustees were pleased with the judge’s decision and are considering filing a request that Taiz pay their legal fees.

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by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chonicle.

Posted: October 25th, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed unveiled a new list comparing the salaries of CSU presidents to the salaries of presidents of other public universities with similar budgets, enrollment and graduation rates last Thursday… President Armiñana’s total base pay is $291,000, according to the Chancellor’s list. This is greater than both the average base pay listed for CSUs in the Lower Enrollment and Research group of $277,000, and the benchmark group average base pay of $268,000. Armiñana and other CSU presidents within the group were contacted for comment, but all declined… “The normal salary of a teacher here at Sonoma is between $60,000 to $70,000 a year, and President Armiñana is getting paid $300,000,” said Buot. “So from that perspective, I feel like the president is being overpaid, more than 100 percent difference between the faculty and the president’s pay.”

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by Noah Tenney, The Sonoma State Star.

Posted: October 24th, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Ron Paul said Sunday he wants to end federal student loans, calling it a failed program that has put students $1 trillion in debt when there are no jobs and when the quality of education has deteriorated. Paul unveiled a plan last week to cut $1 trillion from the federal budget that would eliminate five Cabinet departments, including education. He’s also wants young workers to be able to opt out of Social Security. The student loan program is not part of those cuts, but Paul said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he’d kill the loan program eventually if he were president. That could put him at odds with some of his young followers, many of whom are college students.

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by AP, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: October 23rd, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Pfursich, the vice president for enrollment at Whittier College, said his school has reached capacity and actually had to trim its enrollment numbers a bit this year… the problems at California’s public universities have undoubtedly played a role. “Everything that happens at the CSU and the UC has an impact on the private smaller universities in California,” Pfursich said. Richard Vos, vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid at Claremont McKenna College, agreed. “We have seen a spillover effect from the woes of public universities,” Vos said. Like Whittier College, Claremont McKenna is at full capacity, Vos said… “Personally, I’m not happy about this,” Vos said. “I think it’s bad public policy.”

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by J.D. Velasco, The San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Posted: October 22nd, 2011, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.