In America today, 44 million people collectively carry $1.4 trillion in student debt. That giant pile of financial obligations isn’t just a burden on individual borrowers, but on the nation’s entire economy… canceling all student debt would increase GDP by between $86 billion and $108 billion per year, over the next decade. This would add between 1.2 and 1.5 million jobs to the economy, and reduce the unemployment rate by between 0.22 and 0.36 percent. So, the macroeconomic upside of canceling all student debt would be substantial. The primary (supposed) downsides of such a policy would be a higher deficit, the potentially regressive distributional consequences of debt forgiveness, and (relatedly) the unfairness of rewarding certain well-off borrowers who don’t “deserve” it. Of course, all of these critiques would apply more powerfully to the recently passed tax cut bill.

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by Eric Levitz, New York Magazine.

Posted: February 1st, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Lawmakers told Moreno it was clear to them he had evidence that Napolitano did intentionally and improperly interfere with the state auditor’s review of her office’s spending and business practices in 2016. But Moreno told lawmakers that as a former trial judge, he “just didn’t think there was enough there” to conclude that Napolitano should be held accountable. His probe pinned the blame on her two top staffers, who resigned.

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by Melody Gutierrez, The San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted: January 30th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

University of California President Janet Napolitano is considering a potentially sweeping overhaul of her office in the wake of sharp political criticism over its size, cost and budget practices. An extensive outside review of the office provided to The Times found relatively little fat in its oversight of the most complex university system in the nation — a $33-billion operation of 10 campuses, five medical centers, three national laboratories and global research. But the review suggested streamlining the office in what could amount to a 50% budget reduction. Suggestions for those potential savings include spinning off the UC medical and health system to a new statewide network, moving some programs to campuses and eliminating others, such as the UC-Mexico Initiative.

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by Teresa Watanabe, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: January 29th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

All are invited to join in a forum and help solve the problems facing higher education in California, and to discuss concrete ways to move forward, on Friday, Feb. 2. The event, which is free and open to the public, will run from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the Art Annex, Room 112 at UC Davis. Speakers at the forum will be: Delaine Eastin, a Davis resident, is the former superintendent of public instruction for the state of California and a former California Assembly member. In the Assembly, she chaired the Education Committee and sponsored major legislation to reform California’s education system. She is a Democratic candidate for governor of California. Amy Hines-Shaikh…

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by Staff, The Davis Enterprise.

Posted: January 27th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

University of California regents decided Wednesday afternoon to put off a controversial vote on raising tuition and fees. Their delay until May was a stunning victory for students, who circulated petitions, shared their stories of hardship and pressed the regents to delay action in order to step up pressure on the Legislature to increase funding for the nation’s top public research university.

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by Teresa Watanabe, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: January 24th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

UC has managed to retain its academic luster and the admiration of the world despite recession-era cutbacks and significantly less lavish budgets than private universities enjoy. It attracts research dollars and brilliant minds to the state — as well as businesses and, sometimes, even entire industries. Despite what a state audit implied last year, UC President Janet Napolitano is not hanging on to tens of millions of dollars in surplus money. What’s more, in inflation-adjusted dollars, the state’s per-student funding for UC has dropped to well under half of what it was in 1990.

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by The Times Editorial Board, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: January 24th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

What does it really cost California students to attend college? An ambitious new survey of about 100,000 students is about to attempt to answer that question, with a special emphasis on housing, food and transportation costs. Reaching out to public and private schools across the state, it will be the first survey of such scope in a dozen years. And plenty has changed in the California real estate market since then, as students are quick to note. The new study is sponsored by the California Student Aid Commission, the state agency that awards Cal Grants — the financial aid that usually covers tuition but not those other expenses.

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by Larry Gordon, EdSource.

Posted: January 23rd, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

George Kieffer, chairman of the UC Board of Regents, said the governor’s proposed funding would not even keep up with inflation. He said in an interview that UC will need to raise more money to protect the university’s vaunted quality while it continues to find ways to cut costs. “The governor is right that all of public higher education needs to adjust to new funding realities and public higher education is doing so,” he said. “We have a fiduciary duty to protect the university and students … [and] express what we believe the needs are for the crown jewel of the state.” If regents vote to increase tuition despite Brown’s opposition, the governor could reduce UC’s state funding when he revises his budget plan in May.

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by Teresa Watanabe, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: January 23rd, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University of California is proposing to raise tuition and the student services fee for state residents by 2.7%, an increase of $342 to a total of $12,972 for the 2018-19 academic year. The budget proposal, which UC regents are set to consider Wednesday, would mark the second consecutive tuition increase after a freeze of several years. Nonresident students would pay an additional $978 in supplemental tuition, bringing their total to $28,992.

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by Teresa Watanabe, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: January 20th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

A Brown-heralded online program at San Jose State was abruptly scrapped in 2013 after half the students failed to pass final exams. “What makes education really come alive for students is interaction with instructors and other students,” says Joshua Pechthalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers… “It’s a misnomer to think that people can’t get over to a college,” he says. “For those who can’t, colleges already offer online opportunities. To create a whole independent college that does just online courses seems counterproductive. I’m not opposed to online education, but schools already offer that stuff.” …But there’s general agreement that community colleges have been snail-slow in developing online courses. And Brown deserves credit for stepping in and trying to do it himself.

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by George Skelton, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: January 15th, 2018, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.