The attention from lawmakers reflects a growing worry from their constituents over the price of a higher education. A survey in December from the Public Policy Institute of California found that 57% of adults believed affordability was a big problem for the state’s public colleges and universities. Nearly three-quarters of those polled said they believed the high costs were preventing qualified and motivated students from going to college… The issue became even more visible as California institutions considered their first tuition hikes in six years. University of California regents approved a 2.5% tuition increase in January. California State University trustees are examining boosting tuition on their campuses by 5%.

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by Melanie Mason, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: March 3rd, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Close to 200 students walked out of class Wednesday afternoon to protest the proposed tuition increases at Humboldt State University. Both California State University and University of California systems are considering raising tuition for the first time in six years. According to the California Department of Finance, tuition at CSU campuses are estimated at $5,472 for the year and tuition at UC campuses are estimated at $12,294 for the 2016-17 school year.

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by Natalya Estrada, Eureka Times-Standard.

Posted: March 1st, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Newly selected UC Davis Chancellor Gary May stands to earn $325,780 a year sitting on outside boards, a form of compensation that prompted criticism last year for predecessor Linda P.B. Katehi. May earned $288,280 in cash and stock in 2015 as a member of the board of Leidos, a Virginia-based defense and technology company, according to the most recent public filing showing his compensation. May also stands to earn $37,500 per year when he joins the board of nonprofit Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in October, according to UC officials. Draper facilitates research in defense, technology and medicine. May, 52, said last week that he intends to keep his paid board seats once he becomes University of California, Davis, chancellor Aug. 1, but does not intend to accept any more such positions – complying with a UC senior manager limit that regents imposed last summer.

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by Diana Lambert, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: February 28th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Officials believe that fear and confusion over federal immigration policy changes have discouraged California students from applying to the state Dream Act, which allows undocumented students to receive state financial aid and pay in-state tuition. Applications to the California Dream Act are down more than 60% this year compared with last year, with only 17,819 applicants as of Friday compared with 46,731 last year, according to Patti Colston, communications manager for the California Student Aid Commission.

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by Kristen Hwang, USA Today.

Posted: February 22nd, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

In an effort to emphasize the importance of educational facilities, a $2 billion higher education bond bill to improve facilities across University of California and California State University campuses was introduced Thursday. The bill, which is co-authored by Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, and Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, aims to improve the quality of higher education facilities at UC and CSU campuses. The bonds have been set to appear before voters in the 2018 general election.

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by Ishira Shrivatsa, The Daily Californian.

Posted: February 22nd, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Georgia Tech engineering dean Gary S. May has been selected as the next UC Davis chancellor, University of California President Janet Napolitano announced Tuesday. May, 52, would become UC Davis’ first African-American chancellor if regents approve his contract Thursday in Los Angeles. He is expected to start Aug. 1. The St. Louis native has been at Georgia Tech for nearly 30 years. He has written more than 200 technical publications and contributed to 15 books on computer-aided manufacturing of integrated circuits, on which he also holds a patent, according to Napolitano’s announcement.

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by Diana Lambert, The Sacramento Bee.

Posted: February 21st, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

A peculiar thing happened in 2016. While the Dow Jones industrial average grew by almost 5 percent, college endowments saw nearly a negative 2 percent rate of return… A key factor is poor performance by the hedge-fund gurus that institutions have increasingly paid to manage their investment portfolios. Colleges have reason to be angry because hedge funds charge high fees even when they lose money. Colleges and universities spent an estimated $2.5 billion on fees for hedge funds in 2015 alone. They paid an estimated 60 cents to hedge funds for every dollar in investment returns between 2009 and 2015, according to a report by the Strong Economy for All Coalition. These fees helped each of the top five U.S. hedge-fund managers earn more than $1 billion in 2015 despite mixed performance.

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by Charlie Eaton, The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Posted: February 20th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Researchers asked respondents to think about 21 components of an online course, such as faculty development, instructional design and student assessment, and how the cost of those components compares to a similar face-to-face course. The respondents — administrators in charge of distance education at 197 colleges — said nine of the components cost more in an online course than in a face-to-face course, while 12 cost about the same. In other words, virtually every administrator surveyed said online courses are more expensive to produce. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, according to Russell Poulin and Terri Taylor Straut, the authors of the study. Producing an online course means licensing software, engaging instructional designers, training faculty members and offering around-the-clock student support, among other added costs, they point out in the report.

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by Carl Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed.

Posted: February 17th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

A state assembly bill introduced this month would prohibit California State University and the California Community Colleges from increasing tuition and any mandatory student fees until the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Dubbed the “Student Protection Act,” Assembly Bill 393 cites rising student debt and past tuition increases that outpaced inflation and cost of living as reasons for the proposed freeze. AB 393 also “urged” the UC Regents to “adopt policies that are consistent” with the provisions of the bill.

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by Rosanna Xia, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: February 17th, 2017, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Today, many families think they can’t afford college for their children, even though they know, as this study shows, that it is key to their economic success. But experience also shows that when states eliminate that worry by making a promise that tuition will be free, enrollment rates soar… Now that we have incontrovertible data showing that going to college is the key to upward mobility and that we know how to do it with reasonable levels of expenditures, California should enact a Promise program to make tuition free for two years at Cal State or any of our community colleges. Without spending very much money at all, such a program would open the floodgates of economic opportunity to families throughout the state and provide California with the workforce it needs to remain competitive in the global economy.

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by Morley Winograd, The Sacramento Bee.

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