Author: uclafaculty

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More Rain on the Tuition Parade Arriving from Canada

Byuclafaculty

Another cautionary tale about self sufficiency and tuition hikes in a political context today, this one from Quebec, courtesy of Inside Higher Ed. McGill decided to raise its MBA tuition from C$1700/year (clearly a subsidized rate) to C$29,500, using a self-sufficient model. [US$1.00 = C$1.02 currently.] As prior posts have noted, the UCLA Anderson School has been pursuing a self sufficiency model. But McGill’s tuition hike is huge compared to anything Anderson is considering, in part because Anderson’s tuition is already in the ballpark of where McGill wants to be. The Quebec provincial government first threatened to take away an…

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Another Editorial Complaint About UC Retirement as Too Generous

Byuclafaculty

Yet another reminder that what the Regents did at their December meeting may not turn out to be the last word. Past posts on this blog have noted that via ballot initiative, UC could be swept into some general change in all public-sector retirement plans. Here is another editorial complaining about UC’s changes in its retirement plans. Retirement ruin? Riverside Press-Enterprise Editorial, 12-20-10, Excerpt A university system that faces repeated budget squeezes cannot justify siphoning money away from education and into lavish pension benefits. The University of California has to rein in the escalating costs of its retirement plan. And…

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Newspaper Editorial Unhappy With “Happy Talk” About UC Pension Fix

Byuclafaculty

Yet another reminder that the pension/retirement issue at UC did not end with the December Regents meeting below: UC president’s happy talk not helpful (excerpt) San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial December 20, 2010 Like so many public agencies in the Golden State, the University of California has promised vastly more in retirement benefits for its employees than it can afford. Taxpayers should find the UC system’s woes particularly appalling because of this fact: For two decades, the state and UC employees didn’t put aside any money at all toward future pension costs, leading to a current overall shortfall of $13.4 billion….

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Virginia Governor Proposes a De Facto 50% Tax on Tuition Increase for a State-Funded University

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today points to a conflict in Virginia in which Virginia Commonwealth University raised tuition and the governor proposes to cut its state appropriation by half of the added tuition revenue. One can look at this take-away as a punishment for raising tuition, as the article below does. Or one can consider it to be a way in which the state effectively grabs some tuition money for its own budgetary purposes. Your choice. Either way, this development is a cautionary note about the politics of tuition increases at public universities. The article: McDonnell punishes VCU for tuition increase…

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Budget Strategy Risks for Jerry Brown (and Therefore for UC)

Byuclafaculty

The blog Calbuzz.com pointed me to two items, both related to the state budget. One is the cartoon on the right, which suggests the political challenge for incoming-Governor Brown. [If you can’t make out the captions, go http://www.calbuzz.com/2010/12/swap-meet-jerry-and-santa-meet-landslide-harris/ and scroll down until you see the cartoon.] The other is an article that appeared last week pointing to another aspect of the challenge. The two budget-related meetings Brown has had (see earlier posts) – plus statements during the election campaign – suggest that his strategy is to get the legislature to pass a budget with no tax increases that would have…

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Aftermath of Recently-Ended Political Season at UC-Riverside: Provost Candidate in the Soup

Byuclafaculty

Campbell withdraws as UCR provost candidate Duane W. Gang, Dec. 17, 2010, Riverside Press-Enterprise Former California congressman and U.S. Senate hopeful Tom Campbell withdrew today as a candidate for UC Riverside’s open executive vice chancellor and provost position, the university announced. Campbell interviewed on campus Dec. 10, but some faculty and students raised objections to his candidacy because of his stance on immigration. During his unsuccessful primary campaign this year for the Republican Senate nomination, Campbell expressed support for Arizona’s SB1070, a controversial law targeting people suspected of being in the country illegally. In a statement, UC Riverside spokeswoman Kris…

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New Funding Model for UC: Details Uncertain

Byuclafaculty

Word has been circulating on campus of a new systemwide funding plan for all the campuses coming out of Oakland and President Yudof. It is referred to as a “revenue allocation model” for the campuses, whereby each campus will retain its own revenues. A “tax” will be imposed on each campus to support the central UCOP operation. The new model is slated to go into effect as a pilot program in 2011-12, with full implementation in 2012-13. Exactly what is entailed in this model is not clear, nor are its implications for campus operation or the faculty. Since we are…