State lawmakers had voted in 2001 to grant in-state tuition to all students, regardless of immigration status, at all of California’s public colleges and universities. But because of UC’s independent status under the state Constitution, the legislation applied only to fees at California State University and community college campuses. The regents, UC’s governing body, then voted to take the same step for students at their campuses who had attended high school in California and had applied to legalize their immigration status. Fewer than 1 percent of the students at all three institutions were unauthorized immigrants eligible for those lower costs, according to a legislative staff report.
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by Bob Egelko, The San Francisco Chronicle.
Posted: December 10th, 2016, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
More than 700,000 immigrants have no idea what their lives are going to look like six weeks from now. They’re currently protected from deportation and allowed to work legally in the US under President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program (which began in 2012), but President-elect Donald Trump could revoke those protections on day one of his presidency if he so chose. Trump reassured Time magazine on Wednesday that he’d “work something out” to help those immigrants. Now, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) are giving Trump a way to do that: the BRIDGE Act, a bill that would grant three more years of protection to the immigrants Obama protected, replacing his executive actions with a legislative one. It’s not clear whether the bill will pass Congress — or whether Trump would want to sign it if it did. And even if it did pass, the BRIDGE Act would only protect a fraction of the unauthorized immigrants currently worrying about their futures under Trump.
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by Dara Lind, Vox.
Posted: December 9th, 2016, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Since the lofty idealism of the 1960s, the goal of making college affordable for all Californians has been in dogged decline. Tuition at both the University of California and California State systems has tripled over the last 15 years. And now, leaders of both institutions are pondering another increase… To critics, he worries are more evidence of a betrayal of mission enshrined in California’s higher education system: that any resident who worked hard enough would be guaranteed a first-rate university education.
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by Mike McPhate, The New York Times.
Posted: December 9th, 2016, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
“How are we going to make sure Californians are going to afford the cost of higher education is first and foremost on people’s minds,” Baldassare said. “There’s a strong belief that the state needs to invest more.” Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed — spanning all political parties, race, ethnicities, incomes and education levels — said they believed that college costs prevent qualified and motivated young people from pursuing higher education and backed making community colleges tuition-free… But it is uncertain whether that public support will translate into more state money for the two systems, which have been excluded from funding increases that voters have approved over the years for community colleges and primary and secondary schools.
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by Teresa Watanabe and Rosanna Xia, The Los Angeles Times.
Posted: December 8th, 2016, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
With tuition hikes being discussed for California’s public universities, a new poll shows a strong majority of residents identifying college affordability as a big problem, including at least half of adults across wide partisan, income, and age groups. The survey, released by the Public Policy Institute of California late Thursday, asked respondents to name the most important issue facing public colleges and universities – and 46 percent mentioned the costs, affordability, or student tuition and fees. Other issues received mentions from less than 10 percent of adults.
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by Christopher Cadelago, The Sacramento Bee.
Posted: December 8th, 2016, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
“While we still do not know what policies and practices the incoming federal administration may adopt, given the many public pronouncements made during the presidential campaign and its aftermath, we felt it necessary to reaffirm that UC will act upon its deeply held conviction that all members of our community have the right to work, study, and live safely and without fear at all UC locations,” UC President Janet Napolitano said in a statement. Napolitano said the university would “vigorously protect the privacy and civil rights of the undocumented members of the UC community.”
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by Teresa Watanabe, The Los Angeles Times.
Posted: November 30th, 2016, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Once the envy of the world, California’s three-level system – the University of California, the California State University system, and more than 100 locally governed community colleges – is now buffeted by a perfect economic, cultural and political storm… The state’s share of colleges’ operational costs has been shrinking… one of politicians’ few options for spending cutbacks when they face deficits. Over time, therefore, the collegiate cost burden has been shifted from taxpayers to students and their families.
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by Dan Walters, The Sacramento Bee.
Posted: November 29th, 2016, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
New York was the leading hub for international students until 1957, Blumenthal said, at which point California surpassed it. According to the report, this marks the 10th straight year of growth in the number of international students pursuing U.S. college degrees. In the last decade, the number of such students enrolled in America has gone up 85%. More than a third major in engineering, math or computer science, so their contribution to American research is significant. They contributed more than $35 billion to the economy last year, including more than $5 billion in California, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Study abroad also helps strengthen global relations, Blumenthal said.
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by Rosanna Xia, The Los Angeles Times.
Posted: November 25th, 2016, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Last year, Chinese students alone infused $11 billion into the U.S. economy, over a third of the $30 billion that international students contributed. Industry analysts estimate that international students support over 400,000 jobs in the U.S, with almost half of these in blue collar sectors such as retail, restaurants and accommodation. Public university presidents are caught between a rock and a hard place: tuition hikes lead to protests by students, while the flood of international students has sparked fears that admission is being auctioned to the highest bidder… That complex balancing act – ensuring that expanded international enrollment supports local students – is one best carried out at a local level. Instead, Trump’s proposed policies threaten to cut off this last resort source of funding for American higher education.
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by Matt Sheehan, The Huffington Post.
Posted: November 23rd, 2016, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
Even with some gains in recent years, funding for the University of California and the California State University system has languished far below historic levels. Per pupil State spending for UC dropped from $24,644 in 2000-2001 to $12,709 in 2014-15 according to the Public Policy Institute of California. At CSU the drop for the same period has been from $9,393 to $7,916 per student. Much of that decline in State funding has forced substantial increases in tuition and fees. Tuition is now more than three times what it was 15 years ago at both institutions. And both UC and CSU are considering new tuition increases for the first time in six years. That won’t be necessary if Sacramento decision-makers step up to the plate.
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by Dick Ackerman and Mel Levine, Fox and Hounds Daily.
Posted: November 21st, 2016, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.
