Observation on a slow news day
Let’s hope none of the 3,261 people received an MD from UCLA!
News
miscellaneous | pension | pensions | politics | UC
Could Washington Debt-Ceiling Impasse Adversely Affect UC?
The simple answer is – as someone said – you betcha! Chaotic financial conditions – if such occur – can damage the economy, e.g., 2008, and ultimately cut into state tax revenue. Drops in the value of financial assets hurts the pension fund (and the individual 403b and 457b accounts of UC employees) and other funds UC maintains. Significant funding flows from the federal government to UC in the form of research contracts, Medicare payments, etc. Will that be interrupted? Who knows? This is one social science experiment we would do well not to undertake. Bottom Line: There is no…
Higher Ed Dream Act (One of Them) Signed by Governor
Gov. Brown signed AB 130 by Assemblymember Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) – Student financial aid: eligibility: California Dream Act of 2011. The new law allows illegal alien children who have been raised in California to receive financial aid in public higher education institutions (UC, CSU, community colleges). However, the aid to which the law refers is private scholarship money. The issue of such aid has arisen in the controversy over tuition increases at UC. Although the university provides assistance to lower-income students, it cannot do so with public monies including tuition money to illegal alien students. Protests over UC tuition…
Not Again! Another Pension Initiative Filed
Ted Costa of Peoples Advocate has submitted a ballot initiative on public pensions that explicitly includes UC. Peoples Advocate is the organization originally founded by Paul Gann of the Jarvis-Gann initiative known as Prop 13. You have probably heard of Prop 13. (Joke) The organization by itself does not have funding for signature gathering. But it has a history of getting funding from others. Most notably, it kicked off the recall of Gray Davis. So I would take this initiative seriously. It has things like $100,000 caps on pensions, limits on cost of living adjustments, rules about funding, etc. It…
CalPERS | pension | pensions | uc retirement
CalPERS May Contest San Jose’s Way With Pension
As noted in prior posts, it seems clear that accumulated public pension rights of retirees and current workers cannot be voided or reduced. And it is also clear that new hires can be given lesser benefits than current workers or retirees. In the private sector, benefit formulas of current worker going forward can be made less generous. However, the degree to which that is possible in the public sector has been disputed. CalPERS takes the position that only new hires can have reduced benefits and formulas. But San Jose has a measure on the ballot that would change formulas for…
Rooms at the Inns
UCLA (Covel on the first day) is the site of a conference sponsored by Governor Jerry Brown on “Local Renewable Energy Resources.” You can find the agenda for the event at: http://gov.ca.gov/s_energyconference.php Now here is an interesting side note to the conference. Apparently, the participants and guests can be accommodated without a big hassle (and without a new on-campus hotel). If you click on the website above, you will find the statement: Hotel information: The nearby Luxe Hotel is providing rooms at a group rate. Call (800) 468-3541 and provide the group code UCLAGOV to book a room. Below that,…
CSU | State Budget | tuition | UC | UC budget crisis
Fee vs. tax
The Sacramento Bee today runs an article on a shift in the new state budget towards “fees” and the impact on particular households. Temporary tax extensions ended in the last fiscal year. The legislature raised certain fees as a result. However, as the excerpt above shows, the dramatic fee increases occurred at UC and CSU where tuition went up, not directly by action of the legislature but through the governing boards of the two systems. The full graphic from which the excerpt above was taken and the accompanying article are at: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/24/3790500/california-lowers-taxes-raises.html
UCLA History: Moving Day
UCLA moves to its Westwood campus with police escort in 1929.
More on Take Your Med at UC-Merced
UC Merced chief finds support for med school Jul. 21, 2011 / Yesenia Amaro / Merced Sun-star There’s overwhelming support for a medical school at University of California at Merced, the school’s chancellor said Thursday during an editorial board meeting with the Sun-Star and The Modesto Bee. In the 20 days that Dorothy Leland has been on the job as leader of the university, she has been meeting with people with a stake in the campus. “Medical education, that’s probably the first thing out of everybody’s mouth … ‘How’s the medical school coming?’” … Full article at http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/07/21/2473185/uc-merced-chief-finds-support.html (Not sure…
OC Register Gives UC Financial Aid Program Bad Marx
As is well known, UC tuition charges are partly recycled into financial aid for lower-income students. In an editorial, the libertarian-leaning Orange County Register finds this practice to be Marxist: …The Republican caucus describes this wealth transfer as “from each according to his ability … to each according to his need.” If this sounds familiar, it’s because it was coined by Karl Marx. We wonder how many of those from whom the money is taken agree with the concept. We know it should not be done without the consent of those paying the fee. Full editorial at http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/students-309035-fees-pay.html I guess…