Thursday, April 14, 2011

"Can you hear us now?"

$25,000 a year tuition for a UC education? (OC Reg)
     Students attending the University of California system could eventually pay up to $25,000 in annual tuition, Gov. Jerry Brown warned during a recent effort to solicit support for his proposed tax extensions.
     Currently, tuition for UC campuses is around $10,000 to $11,000 annually….
. . .
     But Brown said that tuition for the nation's most prestigious public university system could eventually double with a state budget balanced on only spending cuts.
. . .
     "I want to do everything I can not to kill the California dream but to keep it alive and keep it growing," said Brown in a news report from the San Francisco Chronicle. "If we go to an all-cuts budget, (UC tuition) could be $20,000-$25,000 for the whole year."
. . .
     For months, Brown has been working to send to the ballot a measure that would allow voters to extend taxes that could help bridge a $15 billion budget deficit.
. . .
     Republican lawmakers have said that continuing tax extensions will slow or reverse the recovering economy. Some have also said they may support the extensions only if the governor attaches pension reforms to the initiative.
Thousands rally at Cal State campuses against higher education cuts (LA Times)
     Decrying what they called an assault on higher education, thousands of faculty and students at California State University campuses across the state rallied, marched and held teach-ins Wednesday to protest steep funding cuts and rising tuition.
     Dubbed the Day of Class Action, events were held on all 23 Cal State campuses, featuring speakers, workshops, gospel singers, guerrilla theater and, on one campus, a New Orleans-style "funeral" march.
     The protests were largely peaceful and there were no reports of disruptions, although student groups staged sit-ins in hallways outside the offices of presidents Jolene Koester at Cal State Northridge and James M. Rosser at Cal State L.A.
     No arrests were made, and students left the buildings by the end of the day. Peaceful sit-ins were also held at campuses in Pomona, San Francisco and the East Bay.
     With education funding at risk and higher tuition possible in many states, students and faculty at public universities elsewhere also held rallies and teach-ins Wednesday, including at Portland State in Oregon, Rutgers University in New Jersey and the University of Massachusetts' Boston campus.
     The goal, organizers said, was to raise public awareness of the consequences of continued disinvestment in higher education and to give faculty and students a greater voice in policy decisions.
     Public colleges in California, including Cal State, the University of California and the community colleges, have been under particular pressure. Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed cutting $1.4 billion from the state's higher education budget, potentially leading to enrollment cuts, tuition hikes and pared course offerings. The numbers could grow if a budget stalemate is not overcome.
     Cal State is set to lose $500 million in state funding, and annual tuition will increase by 10% in the fall.
. . .
     A concert and rally organized by UCLA students is scheduled for midday Thursday near the state office building downtown.
     The event, titled "Can You Hear Us Now," is expected to attract busloads of students from UCLA and other UC campuses.
Language and International-Studies Programs Face 'Devastating' Cuts Under Budget Deal (Chronicle of Higher Education)
     The federal budget plan expected to be approved by Congress this week would make sharp cuts in foreign-language and international academic programs, with some university officials saying they could result in staff layoffs.
     International-education advocates are raising objections to reductions in programs authorized under two federal laws, Title VI of the Higher Education Act and the Fulbright-Hays Act. The budget deal, which would finance federal agencies until the end of September, would slash funds for these Department of Education programs by 40 percent, or $50-million, reducing their allocation to $76-million.
     "A cut of that magnitude to such small programs really has a huge impact," says Miriam A. Kazanjian, a consultant with the Coalition for International Education. "It would be devastating."….

3 comments:

CLittle said...

Gosh, the sky really is falling!

homegirl said...

So, do you have any good news?

Roy Bauer said...

Well, I'll be heading to Europe soon.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...