Higher Education in California
1. Guiding question: What is the state of California’s higher education now and in the following years?
2. Thesis: The public universities in California were some time back the envy of the world. Following the state of California founding “master plan” for its higher education, which was made law in the year 1960, it provided for approximately 12.5% of high school graduates in the California state have a guaranteed entry to the well acknowledged University of California system. On the other hand, the community colleges accepted everyone else, adults inclusive. This “master plan” extended higher education in the state and also led to the growth of other highly proclaimed institutions such as UCLA and Berkeley. The question is, has this system been maintained? And what is the future of California’s higher education?
Citation: California, University of California Master Plan for Higher Education.1 March 2014 .
Summary and Analysis: In the document University of California Master Plan for higher Education, under the access and variation of entrance polls, University of California was to pick out from amid the topmost 12.5% of the graduates from high school . Also, California State University was to pick out from amongst the top 33.3% of the graduates from high school and the California Community Colleges were to accept any student who was able to gain from higher learning.
Response: I agree with the master plan and its applicability back when it was instituted in 1960. However, with the changes in public universities in California, they have been facing hard times with fiscal woes. The universities’ influences were tied together with those of the California state. The financial ...
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...as brought about and the impact of reduced funding to universities. I believe it is a viable source of information from the statistical data it presents.
Works Cited
California, University of California Master Plan for Higher Education. 2014 March 2014. 1 March 2014 .
Clemmitt, Marcia. Student Debt:CQR. 21 October 2011. 3 March 2014 .
Larry, Gordon. "CALIFORNIA; Tuition hikes at public colleges slow; Average price for tuition and fees at four-year institutions rises 2.9% for in-state students, report says." Los Angeles Times. California: Tribune Publishing Company LLC, 23 October 2013.
Sarah Bohn, Belinda Reyes,Hans Johnson. The Impact of Budget Cuts on California's Community Colleges. Research report. California: Public Policy Institute of California, 2013.
She includes quotes from George Boggs, president of American Association of Community Colleges, who says, “colleges are going to have to adapt to serve this population,” and that “community colleges have been the most adaptable institutions around…they are very flexible in trying to meet the needs of the students (Sander 784).” Sander makes the connection for the reader that with the influx of baby boomer students colleges will be forced to make changes in an effort to accommodate
One major decision one must make after exiting high school is whether to go to a university or go to community college. In the article “Two Year Are Better Than Four,” written by Liz Addison. She expressed her opinion on the significance of community colleges in comparison with the university. She stated that community college do not receive the acknowledgment and appreciation that they deserve. “what’s the matter with colleges?,” (Addison 255).
Community colleges and vocational tracks are not wrong about the high cost of traditional higher education. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, one year at a public, four-year institution costs upwards of $23,000 on average, while private institutions will cost nearly $10,000 more on average. Coupled with the fact that prices at public institutions rose 42 percent and private institutions rose 31 percent between 2001 and 2011, it’s not a shock that parents and students alike worry about paying for college. However, this won’t always be the case, as this rise in prices simply cannot continue the way it has. Eventually, people will be unable to pay the price that colleges charge. They will either settle for com...
Allan and Davis mention the spike of college cost since 1995 has increased by 150 percent; student debt has increased 300 percent since 2003, and with education, second to the mortgage industry in the nation’s debt, America needs to redirect their attention to the future and focus on education (Allan n. pg). Budget cuts from national to state
There isn't anything more important to community colleges than the certainty that they can and should provide all qualified people who are looking to be accepted with admittance (Vaughan). The people of the community college represent forty-four percent of all undergraduates and forty-nine percent of students attending college for the first time (David). These students include a lot of minority students, students with a low social standing and the non-standard (age twenty-five and older) student who commonly enters college less academically equipped (David). Most community colleges have made immense advancement in reducing a lot of geographical and economic blockades that have in the past limited college admittance (David). Community colleges are to be expected to present significant support to increasing occupation proficiency in the future as additional workers realize they must continue to improve their ability all the way through their profession (Black). Many people believe, that because these students are less likely to be ready for college, that they have a better chance of failing (Weis). All students should have the right to expand their knowledge through higher education regardless of how they did in high school.
Low-income neighborhoods in California are consistently known for falling behind in test scores, graduation rates, and most recently highlighted by the press: college enrollment. For decades a variety of solutions have been proposed to come up with a solution based off the belief that equal opportunity in this nation can only be determined by how hard an individual works towards success. Public school’s finances in California come from federal, state, and local levels. Many federal and state funds have faced budget cuts throughout the last decade, but, 57% of the funding public schools use comes from the property taxes paid by the surrounding neighborhoods. Californians are well known for their diversity, being home nearly 39 million residents,
This newspaper article discusses why schools have been raising their tuition rates and how this has been affecting their incoming students percentage. It does also touch on the fact that many “out-of-stater...
Today colleges are growing more and more necessary for attaining a solid path towards a successful career, yet the rapidly increasing cost of tuition is driving students away from their dream of attending college, due to the preposterous amount of money that is now being demanded by colleges across the nation and world as a whole. It is sad to see students being turned away from a successful future due to the money-hungry nature of the universities that dot the globe. More and more impossible it is becoming to have a “rags-to-riches” scenario that used to highlight the American Dream, as if a student doesn’t have the riches to afford a higher education and the tuition that is drug upon its coattails, then our society is doomed to be clothed in rags forever, unless major changes are brought about to restructure and end the indefatigable growth of tuition rates across the board.
Mortenson, Thomas. “State Funding: A Race to the Bottom.” American Council on Education. American Council on Education, 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.
...ch AMATYC Algebra Curriculum Reform.” 24 Jan. 2010 < http://www.amatc.org/ publications/Electronic-proceedings/LongBeach22/Steinfort.pdf> Rimer, Sara. “First Woman Takes Reins at Harvard.” The New York Times. 13 Oct. 2007. 23 Jan. 2010 “Secretary of Education Richard Riley addresses Mathematicians.” American Mathematical Society. 8 Jan. 1998. 24 Jan. 2010 Williams, Mara Rose. “What’s A Degree Really Worth?” NorthJersery.com. 24 Jan. 2010. 24 Jan. 2010 Zernike, Kate. “Making College ‘Relevant’.” The New York Times. 29 Dec. 2009. 24 Jan. 2010 < http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03careerism-t.html>
Rep. Dick Zimmer predicts that at the current rate of rising college costs, by the year 2000 the average price tag for attending a four-year public university will be over $50,000 and the average four-year cost at a private university will exceed $104,000. (College costs continue to climb, 14) During the years between 1970 and 1994, the consumer price index increased just under four times, but the average cost of tuition, room, and board at four-year public colleges went up nearly five times, and private college costs rose almost seven times, from just under $3,000 to over $20,000. According to the U.S. News Cost of College Index, the average middle-class worker must now labor 95 days to pay for a year at an average private college. Two decades ago, it took slightly more than half as long to pay for the same education. (Elfin, 90) By 1994, the average four-year cost at a private college was over three times the typical family's annual income. (Reiland, 59) However, The College Board recently announced that US college tuition and fees for 1996-97 increased at nearly the same rate as they had in the previous year, adding that the more than $50...
One cause of increased tuition is the reduction of state and federal appropriations to state colleges, causing the institutions to shift the cost over to students in the form of higher tuition. State support for public colleges and universities has fallen by about 26% per full time student since the early 1990s. In 2011 American public universities took in more revenue from tuition than state funding. About 80% of American college students attend public institutions. In a financial bubble, assets like houses are sometimes purchased with a view to reselling at a higher price, and this...
...ch environment filled with opportunity and funding when the time comes. I thank Empire State College for the role that they are playing in this process and hope to complete our relationship with the expected degree and foundation.
Merkein, M. B. (2013, October 23). Colleges see a slowdown in tuition price increases. Retrieved January 30, 2014, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/23/college-tuitions-rising-more-slowly/3151897/
As colleges’ funds dry up, colleges must turn to the public to further support higher education. By raising state taxes, colleges can collect funds to help improve the school’s budgets. The state provides funds from the taxes for colleges to receive a certain amount for each student currently enrolled. All community and traditional four year colleges collect these funds in order to maintain the school’s budget. As reporter, Eric Kelderman states, “less than a third of colleges’ budget is based from state taxes”. The school’s budget is how colleges are able to provide academic support programs, an affordable intuition, and hire more counselors. Colleges must now depend on state taxes more than ever for public colleges. Without collecting more funds from state taxes, as author, Scott Carlson explains how Mr. Poshard explains to senators “our public universities are moving quickly toward becoming private universities…affordable only to those who have the economic wherewithal to them” (qtd. in.) Public colleges must be affordable to anyone who wishes to attend. If colleges lack to provide this to students, it can affect dropouts, a student’s ability focus, and cause stress. The problem of lack of funding is that colleges have insufficient funds. Therefore, the best possible solution for the problem of lack of funding would be increasing and collecting more funds from state taxes.