| Tuition will exceed general fund support for the first time for UC system this year
by Brian Leubitz
There was once a vision for education in California that allowed us to dream big. It allowed the state to have expectations for the future, because we were investing in it through education. We went so far as to build a master plan that included tuition free higher education. Those days now seem like an extremely distant dream.
For the first time, the total amount that University of California students pay in tuition this year will surpass the funding the prestigious public university receives from the state. It is a historic shift for the UC system and part of a national trend that is changing the nature of public higher education.
Propelled by budget crises in California and elsewhere, the burden of paying for education at a public college or university, once heavily subsidized by taxpayers, is shifting to students and their families. (LA Times)
While the Right is crowing about class warfare, they are doing their damnedest to ensure that those below them can't work their way up. Higher education, for several generations, has been the most significant way of upward mobility. Decreasing access further cements that the rich stay rich. A sad day for the California dream, indeed. |
