In response to growing concerns over college affordability, Democratic lawmakers in the Assembly are proposing a new college aid plan that would be the most generous in the nation… It’s irresponsible to imagine that we can add an entirely new — and, at a cost of $1.6 billion, very expensive — program. “For this year’s upcoming budget, Gov. (Jerry) Brown is aiming to close a budget gap of $1.6 billion and to provide a modest and minimal reserve of about $1.5 billion for economic emergencies,” said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the state Department of Finance. The plan’s proponents have argued that state budget projections are too pessimistic. They are not.

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by The Editorial Board, The San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted: March 18th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The California Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance approved the “Degrees Not Debt” budget plan Tuesday designed to make higher education in California more accessible and affordable… The package, however, would not establish tuition-free education. Families making more than $60,000 would be expected to contribute to costs, and students would be required to hold part-time jobs. H.D. Palmer, spokesperson for the California Department of Finance, said the department has yet to do a formal fiscal analysis. “This is certainly a noble goal, but one that comes with a lot of substantial questions and a price tag,” Palmer said.

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by Ani Vahradyan, The Daily Californian.

Posted: March 15th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Last year, in the midst of a battle over whether in-state students were being “crowded out” of the University of California, lawmakers gave UC a year to come back with a policy to limit the number of students admitted from out of state. The worries were questionable at best; the 10-campus system still makes a space somewhere for every California undergraduate whose grades and test scores meet the criteria for admission. Californians still make up nearly 85 percent of enrollment, and even at first-choice campuses such as UCLA and UC Berkeley, 75 percent are in-state students… in an era of resistance against “America First” thinking, it’s hypocritical to scapegoat outsiders in our halls of higher education. Regents should pass this cap, and lawmakers should declare victory and move on. We have bigger battles to fight.

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by The Editorial Board, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: March 14th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

McCarty is correct that California’s public colleges are integral to this state’s past and future success. But as much as The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board supports public colleges, California has multiple priorities, from health care, parks and public schools to roads and paying down debt. The buoyant stock market could result in a tax revenue windfall this year. But legislators would be wise to see one-time money for what it is and use it for one-time expenses. They could, for example, pay down pension debt for school employees.

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by The Editorial Board, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: March 14th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The Master Plan for Higher Education, adopted in the postwar golden year of 1960, reaffirmed California’s “commitment to the principle of tuition-free education to residents of the state,” according to a summary. A generation later, in 1978, Californians began to pull the plug on financing education, a result of the property tax cap known as Proposition 13. And now it costs more than the median individual income in L.A. County… This week, the effort to lower the cost burden for students continued as members of the state Assembly budget and higher education committees announced “Degrees Not Debt” legislation. The proposal would give students one year of free community college, preserve so-called Middle Class Scholarships and provide resources for students’ living costs, which often can outweigh tuition and fees in housing-crisis markets like Los Angeles.

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by Dennis Romero, LA Weekly.

Posted: March 14th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Seizing on growing concerns over college affordability, California lawmakers proposed what would be the most generous college aid plan in the nation Monday, covering not just tuition but also living expenses that have led to spiraling student debt… Debbie Cochrane, vice president of the Institute for College Access and Success, said the Assembly proposal would not adequately help those students who most need it. “In many regions across the state, community college students face higher college costs than UC or CSU students,” Cochrane said. Cortez Alcalá said it was financially unrealistic to cover the full cost of college for all students. “We have to pick and choose,” she said.

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by Melanie Mason and Teresa Watanabe, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: March 13th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Carol Christ, UC Berkeley’s top academic officer — widely regarded on campus as an effective and collaborative administrator — was tapped Monday to become the 11th chancellor and first female leader of the prestigious 149-year-old campus. If approved by the UC Board of Regents on Thursday, Christ (rhymes with wrist) would take over July 1, when Chancellor Nicholas Dirks will step down… “Carol Christ’s integrity, commitment to transparency and genuine love for UC Berkeley make her a worthy choice,” said the group’s co-chair, Celeste Langan, an associate professor of English, though “we don’t expect always to agree with (her) on every issue.” For example, Langan said, her group believes the solution to the campus deficit “is to restore full public funding of tuition, not to turn the university into a revenue-generating business enterprise.” But she said Christ, who has not advocated eliminating tuition, has “demonstrated her willingness to engage in respectful, collegial dialogue.”

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by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted: March 13th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

As the California State University’s Board of Trustees debates increasing tuition to fill a gap in state funding, a new plan is arguing for the opposite. Reclaim California’s Master Plan for Higher Education advocates for tuition-free higher education, which would cost the median-income California family an additional $48 per year. The plan seeks to restore the Donahoe Act of 1960, which recommended state colleges, including Cal Poly, remain tuition-free for in-state students. In 2015, more than half of University of California and CSU seniors graduated with more than a diploma: they also carried $1.3 billion in student debt. According to the report, the state’s public university students have accumulated $12 billion in debt since 2004.

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by Austin Linthicum, Mustang News.

Posted: March 13th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University of California regents are expected to limit enrollment of out-of-state students for the first time, amid pressure from state lawmakers dismayed that the university doubled the number of high-paying nonresidents in the past five years. Six UC campuses would cap enrollment of nonresident undergraduates at 20 percent, guaranteeing that at least 80 percent of campus undergrads would be from California. The remaining three campuses — UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and UCLA — already exceed the proposed cap, at 24.4, 22.9, and 22.8 percent, respectively, and would be allowed to maintain those levels.

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by Nanette Asimov, The San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted: March 7th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Last year, lawmakers threatened to hold back $18.5 million if the public university system did not put a cap on students from outside California. On Monday, UC finally acted, proposing a 20% systemwide limit on nonresident undergraduate enrollment and vowing to continue to give Californians top priority. Nonresident students numbered 34,673 in fall 2016, 16.5% of the system’s 210,170 undergraduates. The limit would be the first of its kind for the 10-campus public research university. But UC officials hope it will be enough to get state officials to release the funds.

Posted: March 6th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.