"CSU faces worst fiscal situation in its history," by Nanette Asimov
March 23, 2011 in the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/23/MNPT1IH563.DTL&type=education
More grim news for California! As this article points out, 10,000 students will be turned away from the state's 23 campuses and "untold" numbers of employees will lose their jobs next Fall. The state is planning on cutting 500 million from the higher ed. budget of 2 billion next Fall if alternative funding cannot be found. To counter huge budget shortfalls, tuition will increase another 15.5% next year and more teachers and staff will lose their jobs (4,145 and counting since the 2008 economic meltdown)
Those cuts could double if the proposed tax extensions stall, CSU Chancellor Charles Reed told the board. "A cut of $1 billion in state support would have devastating effects on the CSU," including a long-lasting impact that would damage the state economy, he warned. Basically, the story says that unless other funding is found and lawmakers in Sacramento allow the cuts to go through, the state sytem of higher education in California (once universally recognized as the leader in the nation) will sustain damage that could last for generations.
The president of the California Faculty Association, Lilia Taiz said, "Not only will students not get a meaningful college education," Taiz said, "but kids who spent their whole high school career preparing for college will find the door slammed in their faces."
This is really pretty sad and I'm sure every state in the union is experiencing similar painful choices. It seems clear to me that if the idea of school funding is not address soon and in a meaningul way this will be the norm in the future.
Washington has found itself in the same position as California with its state schools. They, too, are looking to their three universities’ budgets to relieve some of the state’s deficit. And they always justify it by raising the tuition each year. For Washington the increase is closer to 9 to 11%, but that’s still a dramatic change when it is implemented in consecutive years. What I don’t understand, and it looks like you share the same sentiment, is why lawmakers are being so shortsighted (I could use the term “myopic,” but I’ll refrain this time). It seems they only care about the present financial problem and refuse to acknowledge that by cutting the universities’ budgets, they’re also cutting the state’s potential for future economical growth through well-paying jobs held by well-educated graduates. In addition, students will end up paying more for a lower quality education.
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