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Regents Session on Tuition, Nov. 18

Byuclafaculty

The Regents take up increasing tuition (still termed “fees” until they change the name) on Nov. 18 at the 8:50 AM session. You can find the background material at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/f10.pdf As you might expect, the proposal is more complicated than the single 8% figure reported in the news media. However, the chart above (from page 9) is clear enough so that you can see we are no longer among the cheapest public institutions. The proposal for increases in professional school fees is at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/f11.pdf It is more complex than the undergrad/grad proposal, with considerable variation among the different schools.

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Regents Session on Retiree Health, Nov. 17

Byuclafaculty

The Regents will take up retiree health on Wednesday, Nov. 17, in a session beginning 10:15 AM. You can find the background materials at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/f4.pdf The chart above, which does not appear very clearly as reproduced in this blog, is on page 5. It shows the retiree health program’s unfunded liability. In fact, the program is not prefunded so virtually all funding is pay-as-you-go. But the background report treats it in the same way that the pension plan is treated. The chart shows the unfunded liability – with no change in the participant contribution policy – rising from around $15…

Who Knows What the Shadow Writes (and Chats)?

Byuclafaculty

The Chronicle of Higher Ed is oddly promoting a guy who ghost-writes student term papers. He is termed The Shadow in the account. Excerpt: …Ed Dante is a pseudonym for a writer who lives on the East Coast. Through a literary agent, he approached The Chronicle wanting to tell the story of how he makes a living writing papers for a custom-essay company and to describe the extent of student cheating he has observed. In the course of editing his article, The Chronicle reviewed correspondence Dante had with clients and some of the papers he had been paid to write….

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Yudof’s Pension/Retiree Health Plans Getting Outside Criticism

Byuclafaculty

As previous posts have noted, UC has proceeded on its proposed modification of the pension and retiree health plans with an inward looking focus. The external world may not be so receptive. Even before the formal presentation to the Regents later this week, there is public criticism. See below: UC changes barely touch retirement cost problem (excerpt) Daniel Borenstein, MediaNews columnist, Contra Costa Times Posted: 11/13/2010 09:00:00 PM PSTUpdated: 11/15/2010 08:34:45 AM PST GENEROUS retirement programs that have been irresponsibly managed for decades are pushing the University of California off a financial cliff. President Mark Yudof will ask regents this…

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Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheap, Cheap? Privates in Tuition Competition with UC

Byuclafaculty

Excerpt from today’s Sacramento Bee: Despite steadily rising tuition, California’s public universities still can look like a bargain when compared with nonprofit private colleges. With room and board factored in, a year at UC costs about $28,000, while a year at Stanford costs around $50,000. But dig a little deeper and the difference isn’t as great as it appears at first glance. That’s because on average students at nonprofit private schools are paying less than half the so-called “sticker price.” And many students whose families earn too much to qualify for grants at public schools can receive substantial scholarships at…

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Free Speech at Irvine (and Elsewhere)

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed today features an article about a legal case the right of public university faculty to criticize administrators. The case at hand arises from a complaint by a UC-Irvine professor who claims he was denied a merit increase after he made such criticisms. A lower court cited another local-origin case – this one arising from the LA County district attorney’s office (Garcetti v. Ceballos ultimately decided at the U.S. Supreme Court). In that case, an employee claimed retaliation for similar criticisms. The UC-Irvine case was appealed to the Ninth Circuit which – while not ruling on the validity…

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Inching Toward Michigan

Byuclafaculty

The main event of the upcoming Regents meeting is discussion (not decision) on the Yudof recommendation of Option C on the pension plan. But there is also scheduled a discussion of enrollment of out-of-state students at UC. You can find the announcement at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/regents/regmeet/nov10/e1.pdf It is scheduled on the morning of Nov. 17, after an open public comment session. (Those open comment sessions have tended to be a bit raucous of late.) If you click on the link above to the out-of-state student session, you won’t find any back-up material. The announcement just says Provost Pitts will review past enrollment…

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UCLA Academic Senate Opposes Anderson Self Sufficiency

Byuclafaculty

The Academic Senate has sent a letter to EVC Scott Waugh dated Nov. 1 opposing the Anderson “self sufficiency” funding plan (which some see as a form of privatization). Among the complaints are that salaries at Anderson are already at competitive levels with other business schools, that the proposal might overemphasize teaching relative to research, and that if the revenues projected fell short, there might be a financial risk to UCLA. You can find the Senate evaluation and other documents related to this issue at http://www.senate.ucla.edu/documents/AGSMFSS_AcademicSenateResponse.pdf A little self sufficient music: UPDATE: The Daily Bruin has an account of a…