California Must Put Students First (VIDEO)
3 comments so far (is that a lot?)
Written by Michelle Selesky on November 19, 2009
When you are a state with a $20 billion deficit, it is completely unreasonable and bordering on insane to increase spending. Add to that 12% unemployment (more like 20% when you count part-time workers and those who have given up looking), and it is even more foolish to raise costs on citizens already being crushed by the economy.
This is not difficult math. Unfortunately, leaders in California suffer from an inability to come to terms with the current reality of their worsening budget and unemployment crisis, and worse, what it takes to recover.
What it doesn’t take is wasteful spending on an inefficient prison system.
What it doesn’t take is the continued laziness and incompetence of California politicians to stop illegal immigrants from costing the state over $10 billion each year.
And what it doesn’t take is an appointed, 26-member UC Board of Regents to raise fees by $2500 on students who, out of everyone in the state, are not to blame for the California budget catastrophe.
Yesterday, 14 people were arrested as an estimated 500 students gathered on the campus of UCLA to protest the two-step hike in student fees. The LA Times reports that the University of California’s Board of Regents “reluctantly” approved a $585 increase for the remainder of the current academic year, and then a second increase next fall to bring the total to $2,514 more than students paid this year. This comes after a 9% increase in student fees that was already approved by the Board in May of this year. An increase that was supposed to be a last resort.
The truth is it makes no difference that the UC Regents were reluctant to financially crush their students. They still voted for the increase, and the consequences are the same.
Students who have a slim chance of finding a job in a state with 12% unemployment once they have a degree, are now in danger of not being able to even afford that degree.
This is a symptom of a larger governing problem in which our so-called leaders are unable to think past step one.
Perhaps an increase in student fees will, as the UC Regents argue, help them to avoid reductions in course offerings, hiring faculty, providing student services, and extending furlough programs that would reduce pay for UC employees.
But beyond that, what they fail to realize is that there will come a point when students and their families reach their breaking point and decide to leave the UC system. These students, now without a degree, will then decide to leave California and its 12% unemployment rate to find a job in another state.
Forcing the state’s brightest and most innovative students out of our universities and out of the state is not an effective strategy for sending California back on the path to being the most successful, entrepreneurial and prosperous state in the nation. Unfortunately, this was not a factor for the 10 UC Regents who voted for the 32% student fee increase. What was a factor was making sure that tenured professors and unionized UC employees didn’t see a 3-4% decrease in pay.
Off-loading the mistakes made by ineffective and incompetent politicians and bureaucrats onto students is no way to invest in California’s future.
Students, alumni, professors, and employees at UCLA, and all Californians across the state should – must- continue to protest.
GO BRUINS.
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Michelle Selesky graduated from UCLA in 2007, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science and served as team captain of the UCLA Women’s Gymnastics team. She holds a Masters Degree in Political Management from the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. Michelle currently works and resides in Washington, D.C.
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Video of riots at UCLA
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Filed Under: Lifestyle, VIP, politics
Tags: bruins, california, legislators, math, riot, riots, spending deficit, students, UC Board of Regents, ucla
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Comments (3)
UC Students Should Demand Full Disclosure | Parcbench
November 20th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
[...] I published an article on the University of California protests and why California Should Put Students First. The vote to increase student fees has now passed. This is Part II in my [...]
theloudtalker
November 21st, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I'm sorry, but I've got no sympathy for the UC students. When I was a sophomore my tuition rate was TRIPLED. We dealt with it and moved on. It sucked, but nobody said life is fair. If anything this is a great way for mostly liberal students to learn how frustrating it is to not be in control and to let government have its way with you. Move on, go back to class, and let your parents who are probably paying your tuition in the first place deal with this.
adlibn
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I am an employee of UC, and while I have sympathy for the students I think their protests are totally misdirected. The California legislature has cut funding to UC by hundreds of millions of dollars over the last several years. My colleagues and I were forced to take pay cuts, there have been some layoffs and services on campuses have been cut. This is the result of bad policy by Sacramento and the UC Regents are being forced to deal with it. Unless you want to drastically cut the number of students who are admitted to UC the funding has to be found somewhere. Sadly, like the Obama administration, their real agenda is to destroy the education system, destroy the middle class and impoverish all of us. It won't be long until California is bankrupt and there will be no education funding left. This will not change until we start putting people in office who want to do what's right for California taxpayers.
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