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.
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.
