Author: admin

  • A View from the Pew

    Byadmin

    Inside Higher Ed today pointed me to a Pew survey of the general public and of college presidents concerning higher ed. Below is a summary. A link to the full report is at the bottom. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report is based on findings from a pair of Pew Research Center surveys conducted this spring. One is a telephone survey taken among a nationally representative sample of 2,142 adults ages 18 and older. The other is an online survey, done in association with the Chronicle of Higher Education, among the presidents of 1,055 two-year and four-year private, public, and for-profit colleges…

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    State Spending Cap Could End Up on Ballot: Background

    Byadmin

    Tomorrow is the day Governor Brown is supposed to unveil his May-revise budget. Various elements have been leaking out to the news media. There was also an announcement concerning closing selected state parks which reflects an element of political theater as well as the reality of the continuing budget crisis. Earlier posts have noted that Republicans have indicated that they might accept a deal that would include putting on the ballot a state spending cap. By way of background, California has a state spending cap – the Gann Limit – passed by voters in 1979 in the wake of Prop…

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    Will Crane Fly?

    Byadmin

    Earlier blog posts have noted the appointment in late December of David Crane to the UC Regents by outgoing Governor Schwarzenegger. Crane is noted for his advocacy of putting public pension changes on the ballot, e.g., http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/04/EDU01HHUPL.DTL As the article below notes, Crane has yet to be confirmed by the California Senate and is facing considerable opposition. It is possible, however, that as part of some larger deal on the budget – which could itself involve pensions, Crane would be confirmed. If that happens, there would be a voice on the Regents that might be advocating some future ballot proposition…

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    The Regents Are Coming; The Regents Are Coming

    Byadmin

    The Regents will be meeting next week, May 17-18. By way of a preview, here are some excerpts from background documents for the Regents Committee on Finance, slated for May 18. Excerpt 1: Full document at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/may11/f6.pdf Compensation. The baseline model assumes annual compensation cost increases of three percent for both represented and non-represented staff and faculty, in addition to the regular academic merit salary increase program, totaling $533 million by 2015-16. While compensation likely will continue to lag substantially behind the market, three percent increases are critical to retain and recruit the faculty and staff needed to maintain UC’s…

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    Differential Tuition Pricing at UC: The Sky Would Fall Says the Contra Costa Times. But Would It?

    Byadmin

    The Contra Costa Times on 5/12/11 had an editorial indicating that differential tuition among the UC campuses would be a bad idea. Below is an excerpt: FINANCIAL ADVERSITY can spawn positive innovation; it also can lead to huge mistakes. Establishing variable tuition at the University of California campuses would be the latter. Advocates of different tuition rates for each campus argue that it would allow individual campuses to raise more revenue during a time of tight state budgets and that consumer demand should play a bigger role in the cost of education. However, the likely result of variable tuition is…

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    Bemoaning the CAP

    Byadmin

    Below is an excerpt from the New York Times Bay Area online edition. It points to the various times when the UC pension was overfunded but pay was frozen (or cut), the Regents diverted some pension funds to the CAP programs in lieu of cash. The CAP programs were basically like mini cash balance plans, i.e., tax deferred savings accounts with a fixed interest rate on the balance. A little-noticed cash benefit for some University of California employees is adding strain to the system’s battered pension plan just as the university prepares for a $500 million reduction in state aid,…

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    Steamroller Could Be Approaching on Pension

    Byadmin

    The California business community is pushing for a grand deal on the state budget which would include pension reform of some type. And, as yours truly endlessly points out on this blog, UC’s pension modifications approved by the Regents last December could be steamrollered through some ballot proposition that would be part of the deal. No sign yet, however, that UCOP or the Regents are taking active steps to avoid that outcome. From the San Francisco Chronicle online: Using bizspeak, the (business) leaders say they think that California should have a “financial workout plan.” In the business world, a financial…

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    Viewpoint from Irvine: Differential Tuition at UC Would Devalue Cheaper Campuses

    Byadmin

    UC Irvine film studies professor Peter Krapp, the immediate past chairman of the UC system Academic Senate’s University Committee on Planning and Budget, responded to the LA Times’ May 9 article, “University of California weighs varying tuitions at its 10 campuses.” He argues differential tuition at UC would create or reinforce a hierarchy of academic prestige so that the more expensive campuses would be deemed better. Excerpts from his LA Times “blowback” online op ed: Proposing different tuition for each University of California campus is shortsighted and ill-considered… Stratification would fundamentally change the UC system. Each campus would need separate…