UC

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Good News for Everyone Except Florence

Byuclafaculty

Sorry about that, Florence From the LA Times: After previously proposing widespread and hefty tuition increases for graduate and professional degree programs, UC’s top administrators have retreated and will seek fee hikes affecting only a small group of graduate students, mainly in nursing, and at much reduced levels. Only about 800 students in eight programs will be affected by a proposal expected to be approved by the UC regents later this month, officials said. Under a previous and now abandoned plan, about 14,000 graduate and professional school students in more than 50 programs such as law, medicine, social work and…

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Vim and Vigor on UC Online Higher Ed

Byuclafaculty

From the Sacramento Bee Capitol Alert blog: Jerry Brown says UC, CSU leaders pledged to pursue online ed ‘vigorously’ Gov. Jerry Brown said today that he vetoed his own budget proposal to earmark $20 million for online education at the University of California and California State University systems only after leaders of those institutions assured him they would pursue online course offerings on their own.“I had an agreement from both the segments that they would carry out online vigorously,” Brown told reporters at an event in Sacramento. “As the leader of both governing boards, I’m actively engaged with both the…

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Changing Demographics

Byuclafaculty

The Sacramento Bee today carries this demographic chart showing the Latino and white/non-Latino populations are roughly equal in California at present and the relative growth in the Latino population is projected to continue.  Due to citizenship and voting propensities, the white/non-Latino group still predominates in elections.  However, the times, they are a’changing – as the song goes – with implications for UC and higher ed in California more generally. The article that accompanies the chart can be found at:http://www.sacbee.com/2013/07/01/5536254/latinos-poised-to-catch-up-with.html In a related article on the impact of Prop 209, the LA Times notes: …Latinos’ presence, after a temporary dip, has…

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Online Ed Earmarked Money Line-Item Vetoed

Byuclafaculty

Michael Meranze, in commenting on the previous post, noted that among the items vetoed by the governor was language that earmarked $10 million at UC for online ed courses.  As readers will know, that earmark was in the budget bill at the request of the governor.  Other quasi-earmarks were also vetoed.  The actual language doesn’t delete dollars from the UC budget – which is why I missed it in the prior post.  It just deletes specifications for how dollars are to be used.  The veto language reads: Item 6440-001-0001 — For support of University of California. I revise this item…

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UC Sues the Banks

Byuclafaculty

From Bloomberg: Bank of America Corp. and Barclays Plc (BARC) are among more than a dozen banks sued by the Regents of the University of California over claims they manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate.  The university system filed an antitrust complaint in federal court in San Francisco. It accuses the banks of fraud, deceit and unjust enrichment, among other claims, and it seeks unspecified damages for either paying inflated interest rates or receiving deflated interest rates on its Libor-linked investments. “The defendant Libor banks in this case engaged in illegal and improper conduct and engaged in a criminal conspiracy that caused harm to…

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The Gay Marriage Decisions: What Do They Mean for UC?

Byuclafaculty

As the preliminary reports and analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings on gay marriage appear, you may be wondering what effect it might have on U.C., particularly with regard to benefits.  Or maybe you are not wondering since you know that U.C. has provided dependent benefits for domestic partners.  There is actually an effect through the federal tax system.  The now-defunct Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) meant that the IRS did not recognize gay marriages, even in states where such marriages were permitted.  Thus a spouse/dependent in such a relationship, even if eligible for, say, coverage under his or…

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Cost of Living

Byuclafaculty

We often make faculty salary comparisons based on nominal dollars.  However, price levels (the “costs of living”) vary from location to location; a dollar may buy more or less depending on where you are. There have been private surveys that purport to tell you the relative price level in various locations but they typically have unknown methodology.  Now the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis has released estimates of relative price levels by state and selected metro areas.  Aboveyou can see the results by state for 2011.  With the U.S. average = 100, some metro areas in California are San Francisco…

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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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Want a Riverside Med School? Legislature Says (Commands?) Do It Yourself

Byuclafaculty

There has been ongoing agitation from UC-Riverside and UC for the state to put up money for a med school.  As bits and pieces about the state budget leak out, it appears that the legislature has not provided extra money but instead has told UC to take it out of its general allocation.  Apparently, the legislature doesn’t view this matter as a suggestion; more of a command. From the Riverside Press-Enterprise:The Legislature’s budget conference committee late Monday altered the funding mix for a school of medicine at UC Riverside, eliminating a $15 million augmentation but directing the UC system to…