tuition

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Middle-class scholarships to UC, CSU likely

Byuclafaculty

But not this year! So says the headline in the San Francisco Chronicle: [excerpt] The “Middle-Class Scholarship” proposed by Assembly Speaker John Pérez, D-Los Angeles, would offer tuition discounts for students from families earning $80,000 to $150,000 a year. The program would start in the 2014-15 school year, with partial scholarships costing the state $107 million from its general fund. The state would increase spending on the program each year until it was fully implemented in 2017-18, at a cost of $305 million – assuming 75 percent of eligible students apply. Tuition discounts would decrease as family income rises… Full story at…

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New Student Regent-Designate

Byuclafaculty

The LA Times has a profile of the likely new student regent for 2014-15 (shown in the campaign poster).  As the article notes, there is both a student regent and a student regent-designate at regents meetings.  The latter doesn’t vote but becomes the student regent the following year.  Excerpts: Sadia Saifuddin, who is studying social welfare at UC Berkeley, is believed to be the first Muslim who would represent students on the Board of RegentsA UC Berkeley senior who majors in social welfare and has been active in student government and Mideast issues is expected to become the next University…

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Cheap, Cheap

Byuclafaculty

Poll results from today’s LA Times: …Among the registered voters who participated in the survey, 59% said they agreed with the idea that increasing the number of online classes at California’s public universities will make education more affordable and accessible. However, 34% expressed fears that expanding online classes will reduce access to professors, diminish the value of college degrees and not save money… The poll found substantial opposition to another possible campus change: increasing the share of students from other states and nations. Even though non-Californians pay much higher tuition, 57% of the poll respondents said that adding out-of-state students…

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UCLA: It’s Tufts to Get Into

Byuclafaculty

The University of California system remains a popular destination for incoming freshmen – and getting into UCLA is now as hard as getting into Tufts and Cornell, at least for California students…  UCLA reported an in-state admission rate of 17.4 percent, Becker said, a level comparable to Cornell and Tufts, two of the nation’s most selective universities. Overall, the 10 campuses accepted 82,850 freshman, for an average acceptance rate of 59 percent. Berkeley and San Diego campuses were more exclusive than the average… But the prestigious public U.C. system is changing in one profound way: out-of-state students increasingly make up more…

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A Quick Review of the May Revise and an Inadvertent Lesson on Online Education

Byuclafaculty

As per our previous post this morning, the governor’s May Revise budget was released today in a presentation by the governor and his finance director.  But before we get to the numbers and issues relating to UC’s budget, yours truly cannot resist the following observation: There is nothing per se about online education in the latest summary document that accompanies the May Revise.  (More budget details will come out in the days to come.)  However, the online transmission of the news conference was a fiasco of jerky images, frozen audio, and total breaks in the transmission.  The effort in real…

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And if you are done celebrating “more” in the state budget as on the previous posting…

Byuclafaculty

The drawing board According to the LA Times, UC is not likely to like important elements of the forthcoming May revise budget to be issued by the governor: …”We’d like to go back to the drawing board,” said Patrick Lenz, a top UC budget official. The university was not consulted in advance about the details of Brown’s proposal, he said… And what are those elements? Gov. Jerry Brown wants to tie some state funding for California’s public universities to a host of new requirements, including 10% increases in the number of transfer students from community colleges and the percentage of…

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Hold the Line: Jerry Knows Best

Byuclafaculty

From today’s LA Times: Gov. Jerry Brown is pushing forward with plans to shake up California’s higher education system, including strict rules on tuition and fees, according to an administration spokesman. Under the governor’s proposal, university officials would forfeit increases in state funding if they raise student costs during the next four years.  The governor originally outlined his plans in his January budget proposal. Now, as he prepares to release a revised spending plan next month, administration personnel have been briefing legislative staff and university officials on the details… Full story at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/political/la-me-pc-jerry-brown-colleges-20130419,0,6532913.story  And we thought it was someone else…

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LAO on Cost of College and Cost to State of Cal Grants

Byuclafaculty

The chart above is self-explanatory.  The chart below shows that budget cuts produce tuition increases which then increase the cost of the state’s Cal Grant program. The LAO’s full report is at:http://www.lao.ca.gov/handouts/education/2013/Financial-Aid-and-the-State-Budget031313.pdf

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Bad Law?

Byuclafaculty

Inside Higher Ed  today carries a brief report that faculty from many law schools (including some from UCs and Hastings) have signed a letter saying the current tuition, debt, and job market for law students are incompatible.  Excerpt from the letter:  …Over the last three decades, the price of a legal education has increased approximately three times faster than the average household income. With the help of the federal student loan fund, some ninety percent of law students borrow to finance their legal education and the average law school debt now exceeds $100,000. Overall, law students in 2011-2012 borrowed more…

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Tobacco Tax Initiative for UC/CSU Student Aid Advances

Byuclafaculty

As prior posts have noted, an initiative was filed featuring a tobacco tax to be used mainly for student aid at UC and CSU.  Unlike many initiatives that are filed, there seems to be serious money behind it since it is being handled by a professional law firm that deals with electoral matters. The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has now come up with an analysis of the initiative, a step towards petition circulation. According to the LAO, about $730 million, net, would be raised by this initiative annually. Once the initiative is approved for circulation, we will see whether someone…