California’s educational superiority has depended on the political courage of visionaries. Between 1954 and 1965, California wrestled with many of the same weighty issues we face today. There were state budgetary crises. There were divisive issues to address, among them segregated housing. Some worried that California had no capacity for growth left. Yet, during those 11 years, four new UC campuses opened. Somehow, policymakers found the funds necessary to plan for the long-term higher-education needs of the state… Yes, the UC system faces funding and operational issues now, but that shouldn’t stop us from considering how the system should be configured to serve our population a generation from now. Let’s not forget that in 2050 California is expected to have almost 50 million residents, or 13.6 million more than in 2005, when the last UC was opened.

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by Mike Gato, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: March 23rd, 2015, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The United States is losing its edge. It is surrendering the research and development advantage that has fueled its economy for six decades. China now performs more R&D than the United States, and South Korea and Germany have greater annual growth in R&D expenditures. For all of Silicon Valley’s wealth and ability to innovate, it can’t maintain its technological edge unless the United States renews its once-strong commitment to funding basic scientific research. Sen. Dick Durbin has the solution, but it faces rough sailing in Congress… Unlike private companies’ R&D results, the outcomes of publicly sponsored basic research are broadly available to entrepreneurs and growing companies. The advantage is exponentially greater… China increased its research spending by 20 percent between 2001 and 2011. The United States is lagging in a race it can’t afford to lose.

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by The Editorial Board, The San Jose Mercury News.

Posted: March 18th, 2015, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

There is no debate the UC system has endured huge cuts and needs further funding increases to stay affordable. But it has also resisted good-faith efforts to fundamentally reform its operations to ensure undergraduate degrees remain financially viable for middle-class families. It has even refused to provide transparent data to the Legislature on the costs of providing undergraduate degrees. Actions like these make it very difficult for advocates – like me – in the state Legislature to make a strong case to the governor for higher university funding.

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by Tom Lackey, The Orange County Register.

Posted: March 15th, 2015, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

A UC spokesman confirmed Monday that the system’s “tuition stabilization plan” will not be up for another vote next week, as new UC regent and former Assembly Speaker John Perez publicly requested the last time the board met.

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by Katy Murphy, The San Jose Mercury News.

Posted: March 10th, 2015, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Across the Cal State system, campus officials are limiting enrollment using higher admission standards to do so. Currently, 18 of the 23 universities restrict applicants; a decade ago only eight campuses did so… Efforts to manage enrollment picked up pace during the financial crisis that began in 2008, when California’s public higher education systems were hit with billions of dollars in state funding cuts. That funding has yet to return to pre-recession levels… An estimated 25,000 qualified high school graduates have been turned away from Cal State campuses in recent years, many of them turning to community colleges, private universities and out-of-state institutions, said Eric Forbes, Cal State’s assistant vice chancellor for student academic services. Even so, most campuses are serving more students than they have been funded for by the state. Those excess students create bottlenecks that stall time to graduation.

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by Carla Rivera, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: March 8th, 2015, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

California Assemblymember Roger Hernández, a Democrat representing West Covina, has introduced a bill that would put a $500,000 cap on the maximum allowable compensation paid to University of California employees. Approximately 387 employees of UC currently earn more than half a million dollars in base pay and bonuses (as of 2013, the most recent year for which information has been made available by UC). There are 139,000 UC employees in total, so the rule would limit pay for less than 0.3 percent of UC’s workforce. But it’s possible the rule could apply to only a fraction of this 0.3 percent because many of UC’s top earners are paid from sources other than the state.

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by Darwin BondGraham, The East Bay Express.

Posted: March 5th, 2015, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University of California is expected to ride its credit strength to low financing costs when it prices $2.8 billion in two revenue bond sales next week… Ginestro pointed to the UC system’s strong balance sheet, good cash flow, and significant demand from the 240,000 students enrolled on its 10 campuses statewide for why he thinks the bonds will be warmly received by the market, even amid heavy supply.

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by Keeley Webster, Bond Buyer.

Posted: March 5th, 2015, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Amid a debate over how to fund and expand the University of California’s nine undergraduate campuses to meet growing demand, a state lawmaker has come out with a different proposal: open a new one focused on technology. A campus akin to the private California Institute of Technology in Pasadena is what Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Glendale, proposes in a new bill, AB 1483… The proposal was news to UC officials, who did not offer an immediate comment. Gatto said he thinks the idea has a shot, given the state’s budget surplus and a group of lawmakers who have vowed to make public education a priority.

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by Katy Murphy, The San Jose Mercury News.

Posted: March 3rd, 2015, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

University of California admissions officers are sifting through a record number of applications, but they have no idea how many new students they can enroll. The uncertainty stems from the very public clash between university President Janet Napolitano and Gov. Jerry Brown over the state’s role in underwriting the cost of a UC education for qualified Californians… “We don’t have a state budget, so we don’t know what the state will provide to the university, and at the same time we have a responsibility to reply to applicants. How is that going to translate? Is it going to be admitting fewer students? Is it going to be putting more students on the wait list?”

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by Lisa Leff and Katy Murphy, The Contra Costa Times.

Posted: March 2nd, 2015, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

“Because these discussions are still ongoing, and because the Legislature is still at work putting together the state budget, I am announcing here today that UC will not implement a previously approved tuition increase of up to 5 percent for the summer quarter,” Napolitano said during a lecture at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, according to prepared remarks shared by her office. The action drew praise from a key legislator. “I am pleased President Napolitano is beginning to walk back UC’s reliance on fee increases,” said Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, also an ex-officio UC regent, in a news release. “With the Assembly beginning our top-to-bottom review of UC’s budget today, I am sure we will be able to identify savings, as well as increased state funding, that will help ensure UC remains a world-class treasure.”

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by Katy Murphy, The San Jose Mercury News.

Posted: February 18th, 2015, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.