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Ever since the recent surge of costs for public education in California, there have been precious few signs of relief. Even the protests have died down a lot, and as the new semester/quarter begins, students are being hit with record-high student costs. Many have begun to accept that this is just the way things will have to be.

However, during the protests, one common argument that I heard a lot was that California spends more money on prisons than on higher education. Currently, California spends about 10% of its general fund on prisons and about 6% on the UCs and CSUs.

Luckily, Governor Schwarzenegger announced a proposal that could fix a lot of this: Limit the percentage going towards prisons to a maximum 7%, and set a minimum funding of 10% for the UCs and CSUs. Keep reading »

In light of the protests in California over the increases in higher costs, I’ve been following Occupy CA, a blog that’s had pretty accurate information from the student’s side of things over these protests.

Anywho, Saturday night Occupy CA posted that the Kerr Hall occupation at UCSC would probably end that night — administrators had hinted at police coming before midnight. I walked up to Kerr Hall to try to see, but nothing much happened during the time I was there. About 40 or 50 students were outside singing songs to pass the time (in addition to students occupying the building). Midnight came and went with no sign of police, so eventually I headed inside.

As it would turn out, the police came around 7 or 8 AM and then forced their way through. Students were ultimately allowed to leave peacefully without arrest, but not all went as well as it could:

Early Sunday morning, Chancellor Blumenthal and Provost Kliger turned the campus into an effective police state by stationing riot police at all entrances to refuse entry to everyone. In a blatant attempt to create a media blackout as they prepared for the police attack, even a Santa Cruz Sentinel photographer was refused access to the campus for some time. (They had already cut cruznet service, the campus wifi system, in the Kerr Hall area.)

At one point during the confrontation, students and neutral faculty observers were cornered by riot police on an outdoor balcony. As the police advanced towards the students and faculty, one faculty member fell from the balcony, injuring his back. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance. The student occupiers are very concerned about the well-being of the faculty member and denounce the administration’s use of force that caused his injury.

The police cleared the entry leading to Kerr Hall by pushing through the outdoor crowd, at times striking students in the chest with their clubs. Upon entering the lobby of Kerr Hall, they issued an ultimatum to students that they could leave peacefully and be arrested one-by-one outside. The students refused this outright. The police backed-off and offered to let the students leave without arrest through a rear entry to Kerr Hall; this offer was accepted immediately by the occupiers, who cleared out of the building at this moment.

Over 75 students have already volunteered to help clean the space in Kerr Hall that was occupied; there are concerns, however, that the University will refuse this offer in order to exaggerate costs associated with the occupation. Source Keep reading »

In light of the 32% increase in UC student fees, protests have erupted on at least four of the UC campuses. While these protests have been peaceful, they haven’t been without incident, and many students have been arrested for occupying buildings.

Personally, I stand for those who protest, and I really hope all of this continues to escalate. Whether or not it will, I cannot say, but I do believe the students and faculty who protest are entirely just. Raising the costs so drastically defeats the purpose public higher education, which is meant to be cheap and accessible. For years, the UC system has been a leveling-ground of sorts, where no matter what financial background you came from, you at least had a shot of becoming something. I believe protests should not only occur on campuses, but also at Sacramento where our state legislature has failed us.

So far, four campuses have running protests on them: UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Davis, and UC Santa Cruz. Here’s what each campus has been doing: Keep reading »

Hoh boy. I knew this was a likely possibility, but it still hits pretty hard. Today, Mark Yudof and the UC regents have decided to raise student fees by 32% for UC students.

California has been in a pretty big financial crisis due to the recession and other reasons, and the effects have been pretty rough on higher education. Massive cuts have been already made to the UC system, the Cal State (CSU) system, and community colleges statewide. Now, the UC system joins the other two in experiencing giant leaps in costs.

Right now, student fees run about $8,000 for the year — a 32% increase brings that to over $10,000. This, of course, doesn’t include costs of living on campus (or off), which will bring the cost of a year’s schooling to as much as $30,000. Financial aid is given to some, but not to all. Keep reading »

Today I read this article on MSNBC about why college costs so much. The article was an interview with a William & Mary professor who had researched the costs of college with a colleague.

It turned out not to be quite what I expected, however it was still interesting.

In summary, the article claimed that the reason college costs so much these days when compared to other times is because today’s society demands more of college graduates. Better and more effective services are needed to adequately prepare students for the modern-day work force. More technological equipment is needed to stay up-to-date, for example.

In theory, the increase in college costs should be offset by an increase in wages for college graduates.

What do you think?

I subscribe to posts at Blisstree, and this post caught my eye in a big way.

Apparently, a senior at a Christian school is being suspended for attending his girlfriend’s prom because her prom violated the school’s policies of “hand holding, rock music and dancing” (Source).

On the one hand, the student and his parents should have known about the school’s policy, and they were warned appropriately beforehand. As a private school, they can instate whatever policies they want.

However, these rules are blatantly unfair and show that this high school is definitely overstepping its bounds by trying to control the life of a student beyond the classroom. Keep reading »

According to the LA Times, the UC regents are considering making the admission requirements less steep, mainly by requiring fewer tests and allowing more applications to be reviewed.

The controversy comes in the form of dropping standardized tests like the SAT and ACT — are such tests a good indicator of whether a student is qualified for college or not? Should their importance be lessened, strengthened, or left as it is?

Even if the general admission requirements lessen, that doesn’t mean it will become easier to be admitted. Many UCs, especially Berkeley and LA, are still very tough to get into as it is. All this will do is lessen the admission requirements, allowing more to apply. The number admitted would stay the same.

Personally, I think having more applicants is good, but not requiring several tests will only save students money and time. Avoiding a bad score will help a student’s chances, yes,  but in the end the best way to allow more kids to enter college is simply to have more resources devoted to education.

Due to extreme cuts in California’s budget, schools are not being given as much money as normal, and so teachers can’t afford to buy all of the paper they need for tests, handouts, and so forth. In order to raise money to afford to print out papers, one teacher has a creative solution: sell advertising space.

According to USA Today, a high school teacher in San Diego has begun selling advertising space on his paper to help meet the costs of supplies. Keep reading »