Stealing From California's Young People
There's an ancient saying that we do not inherit our society from our ancestors, but borrow it from our children. On July 21, the California State University Board of Trustees approved a fee increase requiring undergraduate students this fall to pay $4,026 a year, an increase of about $1,000 over the previous year (and this fee hike came after years of previous increases). The fee hikes, the denial of enrollment to 40,000 students, the layoffs of faculty and staff, the budget cuts and furloughs, the stuffing of more students into fewer classes, etc. are all sacrificing California's future for a short-term "fix" that in reality is not a "fix" at all. The 2010-2011 year will likely bring more bleak budgetary news. By blocking any new revenue streams to fund higher education, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Senate Republican minority are not only taxing California's young people and their families, they are crippling the state's future.
The degrees from CSU awarded during these furlough years might lead future employers to look upon them as suspect, perhaps even as inferior. The teachers, nurses, technicians, journalists, criminal justice professionals, and others we teach could have the quality of their training questioned. It's not fair to the students and their families to be forced into buying an inferior product for grossly inflated prices. Students are paying more than ever for a CSU education even though they'll be spending less time with professors, have fewer course offerings, and be crammed in overcrowded classrooms.
These budget cuts and student fee increases have gone on for years now, but 2009-2010 will be the cruelest year of all. In past budget cycles, CSU Chancellor Charles Reed and the Board of Trustees have responded with a shrug, saying simply: "We'll manage." Reed recently told the press that CSU is still a "bargain" compared to other institutions. Really? A "bargain?" Or is it a bargain basement sell-off? Some students are transferring to other colleges that are more prestigious and only cost a little more in tuition.
There has been a profound lack of leadership among our elected officials in the state Capitol and in Long Beach, where the Chancellor and Trustees preside. Now the CSU administration has been finally forced to acknowledge that the latest round of devastating cuts will adversely affect the quality of education: "Cuts of this magnitude will naturally have consequences for the quality of the education we can provide," a side letter to the furlough agreement states.
The California Faculty Association has stood and will continue to stand with students and their families. The record is clear. CFA has opposed every single increase in student fees whenever the issue has been raised in the Legislature. As a faculty organization we have consistently lobbied state legislators and the governor's office to invest in California's higher education. To that end we have voiced our strong support of Assembly Bill 656, sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico (D-Fremont), because it is a sensible and fair effort to secure funding for the CSU. The Republican minority in the State Senate and our Republican governor squashed it, and by doing so they denied the necessary funding for the CSU system that would have helped us avoid what we are seeing today -- cuts, furloughs, and fee hikes. (It's a tax on CSU students and their families. The pay cut is also a tax on faculty and staff.)
In order NOT to tax ExxonMobile, Shell Oil, and other oil conglomerates that have made record profits in the tens of billions of dollars off California consumers in recent years, the Republicans blocked Torrico's oil severance tax proposal that would have provided a billion dollars for higher education. They also blocked a tax on cigarettes that would have adverted cuts as well. And they did so for blind ideological reasons with a total disregard for what is in the best interest of the state of California. They sided with Big Oil and Big Tobacco to penalize college students who are just trying to increase their skill and knowledge levels to be productive members of the state's workforce and to make California's future as bright as its past.
Somebody should ask Governor Schwarzenegger and the Republicans in the Legislature why they insist on taxing students instead of oil and tobacco corporations. That's why students were chanting outside the Chancellor's office when he approved the fee hike: "TAX OIL, NOT STUDENTS!"
At his annual convocation to college staff and faculty, the president of CSU, Chico, Paul Zingg, pointed out that over the past 10 years state revenues have gone up while the percentage of the state general fund for higher education has gone down. Over the same time period general fund spending for prisons has gone from $5 billion to $11 billion. California spends about $50,000 per prisoner, and less than one-tenth of that to support a student in the CSU system. How can a state that spends more on prisons each year than on higher education create a better future for its citizens? President Zingg called it a "rejection of history and common sense." "Education is as fundamental to our state as waterways, railroads, highways and the Internet," he said.
It won't be easy, but CSU professors can absorb these pay cuts and we will absorb them. We'll manage. We'll get by. We can take the hit as our faculty union voted in favor of doing so in the name of protecting higher education in California. CFA approved a 9.23 percent cut in our remuneration that will be reflected in a 9.23 percent reduction in our teaching activities. We've done our part. The professors will endure. But the students and their families are the true victims here. They're getting ripped off. CSU students are taking on extra jobs and piling on extra units to get through faster just to make ends meet. The quality of their education is suffering even while they go into debt, work long hours, and stretch themselves thin with heavy unit loads to obtain a degree. If it is true that we do not inherit our society from our ancestors, but borrow it from our children, then the current downsizing of the CSU system represents a wholesale larceny against our children and our future.
Follow Joseph A. Palermo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/N/A
Dan Geldon: Why is Anyone Listening to Ed Yingling?
It's time for the bank lobby to go the way of Big Tobacco -- and the dodo. It won't be easy, but let's not forget: even Phillip Morris never sunk our economy or demanded taxpayer bailouts.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-meranze/californias-crisis-coming_b_267461.html
check out Michael's blog on this topic
If this present budget squeeze leads to real change, then it is a good thing.
Sorry you have to go through this, Joseph - it's the luck of the draw.
Be comforted that those of us who went to college years ago, earned degrees and got what they thought were solid and dependable jobs are suffering as well.
And although we all work as hard, and as long, as our Teaching Brethern in the Universities _nobody_ out here working in the private sector has anywhere _near_ the guaranteed retirement plan, covering both income AND health-care, that our Brothers(and Sisters)-in-the-Ivory-Tower can look forward to.
So, be thankful for your budget cuts and student tuition increases - it's one way Life has of telling you that you're still alive!
And if you are lucky enough to be tenured, you're just looking at lighter class loads this coming year, or less research grant money, and not out looking for a new job or career or worried about when your COBRA runs out...
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I think you're missing the Professor's over all point. His concern lays with the students. What he and his family have to go through, to my understanding, is obviously secondary in his mind.
This is what is known as foresight. Not highly appreciated by the Rethuglican mind.
No offense meant, just talking about the Rethuglicans in the California Legislature.
Johnie2xs, yes, I'm emphasizing the burden on students because I was the first in my family to go to college and the UC and CSU systems were central to my education (I also attended Community College and transfered as a junior). So before I headed to the Ivy League it was California's public education system that allowed me to become a professor in the first place. I love my damn job. No matter how bad things get I still have that UCSC-type idealism about higher education -- why else would anyone major first in Anthropology, then add a double in Sociology, and then change to History? All my MBA buddies thought I was crazy because I wasn't in it for the $$$$$$$$$$ -- I'm still not -- the royalties from my books all add up to less than the cost of a used 1988 Dodge Colt.
rfdude, you're right, I wish my mortgage company saw things this way too.
Actually, tenured profs in the CSU system are looking at *heavier* teaching loads this year, not lighter ones. One way the system is saving money is by canceling classes and increasing class size. I often wind up teaching a classroom where there are so many students that it technically breaks the fire code. While I don't like teaching larger classes, because it cuts down on my ability to work with all the students, I'm more worried about classes that get canceled because there aren't "enough" students signed up for them. This means that courses essential to majors get canceled and time to degree is increased (and hence, students graduate with more debt.)
Research grants--the big ones don't come from the university. Most serious research money comes from foundations like the National Institution of Health or the National Science Foundation. Professors apply for those and the money is used to replace their salaries and pay for assistants, equipment, etc.
The university is talking about eliminating whole programs, which is one way to get rid of tenured professors. So the impression that our jobs are totally secure, or that we will have less to do, is false.
The professor's article explains why Republican policies lead to a low wage, squeeze the middle class type of society with huge disparities in wealth distribution. California conservatives are balking at taxing the oil companies that are making record profits and instead cutting back on education. The oil companies are happy. They can get their future engineers from abroad. In the meantime, fewer go to college, leave with more debt, are more burdened by work demands along the way. and may receive an inferior product due to being taught by graduate students instead of full professors. Thus, over time these policies cripple the middle class. Only the wealthy may be able to afford college leading to a sort of European class divide and inheritance economy. Fewer of the talented can break through the class system. Republicans are good at putting obstacles in the way of the middle class and working poor. Then instead of admitting their policies don't work in times of economic turmoil, like now, they ask for more of the same.
Education is the road out of poverty for a lot of people and the CSU is one of the most accessible places to get an education. Blocking that road will lead to social and economic messes for years to come.
WEEP WEEP WEEP, cry my a river! CA is in this mess because of a legislature that spends spends spends and because of the prop system that eats into the budget.
You are shocked at a $1000 increase? Look at the fees at Penn State!!! 12,000!...24,000 total (for instate people)...give me a break...5,000 for college fees in nothing. Progressives want free education, free health care, free bike paths...and what do you have???? A BROKE STATE...wait until CA politics take hold nationally with Cap&Trade and Health Care.
Not that simple. The state is also broke because it won't pay for what it wants. Right now we're still operating on the CA Master Plan, where all students with a certain GPA are pretty much guaranteed admission. We can't do that anymore without more state support.
Yes, other states charge a lot more. My home state of NJ charges something much closer to the figures you cited. They do, however, have a cap on how much fees can be raised. They can't raise fees more than 3% a year, nothing close to the 32% the CSU raised them this year. We could raise fees, and a lot of students wouldn't be able to go. (We also really ought to call those "fees" what they are--tuition.) At some point, someone is going to have to say, you get what you pay for. Either the state will have to pony up more money OR we will have to cut access dramatically OR student fees will have to go up to meet comparable state fees, but no one gets something for nothing.
The idea of phasing it where it is not such a smack to people used to that tuition fee is a good point. The fact remains that CA needs to raise their cost. They also need to look at changing the legislature process and props. The also need to cut a lot out of the fat of that budget, so they can do the important things like health care, education etc.
middleof theroad is misinformed and doesn't know about how things operate in CA -- I think he should stay in Mississippi.
Did you even read the article or just glance at the headline? California hesitates to tax the oil companies making record profits and instead raises college fees. Do you understand the implications?
hey man, the rich of CA don't have to pay more taxes, and that's what matters! poor kids don't need college, they need to join the military! come on now!
Sometimes you need a spectacular failure to open the eyes of others. California is playing this role for the rest of the states.
"It's not fair to the students and their families to be forced into buying an inferior product for grossly inflated prices."
Please stop perpetuating the "education as product, student as consumer" metaphor for university-level and post-secondary education. It is not a straight exchange of money for commodity, but rather a more nuanced relationship between student and institution/faculty.
We have problems enough at the university level of students having the attitude of "I am entitled to a grade of X because I paid my fees," and couching it in your article in this way will only add to that.
That being said, I completely agree with you on your concerns about the financial situation and how it can impact students and their degrees.
The attitude "I am entitled to a grade of X because I paid my fees," has less to do with education as product and more to do with the ethics of the students who, have been raised as uber-consumers, used to buying what they want. Universities could easily stamp out this idea in freshman orientation.
And while it may not be a straight exchange of money for commodity, a university education is a big ticket item and should be viewed through a consumer lens applying both ROI and Caveate Emptor. There are so many stories of recent grads with huge debt whining about having no jobs or low-paying ones. But, few had done any research to find out what the opportunities were for their degree. They mostly just decide "I'm going to major in this because I want to." Even basic due diligence would have uncovered the lack of opportunities in the job market or the dangers of borrowing more than their starting salaries.
The same "I want" mentality that brought about their parents using, and too often losing, their homes equity to buy stuff has fueled stupid decisions about higher education. Welcome to the world of economic Darwinism--where universities are no different than any other huckster who preys on the weak and uninformed.
I don't think we have the same students. The ones I know rarely major in something because "I want" and then whine. A lot of the ones I know live at home and are working 20, 30, even 40 hours a week so they can get a job as a teacher. Some of them have children of their own and are *still* trying to get degrees that will be useful to the community.
I do see some students who major in something like engineering or business who just *assume* they will get high-paying jobs. When their narrowly-focused field fails (our college's "e-business" option as an example), they do tend to whine, because they attended college *only* in order to make money, hated their classes, and now don't have jobs either. These are also the students who assume that because they paid X amount of dollars, they are owed a grade.
Last fall, 152,000 recent UC and CSU grads enrolled in community colleges to earn skills so they could get a job. The joke is that community college is now the graduate school of choice for recent grads. Perhaps this is why funding to both systems is being cut. Community college grads triple their earnings within four years of graduation. Can the CSU and UC systems claim the same? I think not. Half of all those receiving bachelor's degrees end up working in jobs they could have gotten without spending $80,000 to $100,000. Both the university and state university system continue to enroll students in useless majors--like marketing, journalism, and communications. Perhaps making students pay more will at last get them to check out the ROI of their inventment in higher education. Right now, a UC or CSU degree is just an expensive lottery ticket--tens of thousands of dollars for a chance at a good job.
Sounds like Dr. Palermo is afraid he might have to go get a job.
You know what? Shut up. He has a job at a CSU. So do I. It is a harder job than you can possibly imagine. It requires about 8-10 years of specialized post-undergraduate training and eats up 80 hours a week, which doesn't count the research and writing we do. We just took a 10% pay cut after years of being starved out, and it is going to be hard to absorb. "Taking the hit" is painful when you're the only source of income and when your salary doesn't even keep pace with the cost of living. We make less than cops. We make WAY less than correctional officers.
I put up with a lot because I care about my profession and I care about my students, but I am dead sick of this "lazy professor" rhetoric, and I am sick of people who talk a lot of bullhockey about how it isn't a "real job." . The next person who hands it to me is getting it straight in the mazzard with the Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
I'm really worried about the way this is going to damage programs. I'm concerned that we're going to eliminate whole fields and water down what we teach until it's practically valueless. Reed has shown, over and over, that he doesn't care, and we're pretty much stuck until we can fix a system in which everything sensible can get shot down in the Legislature by a few ideologue Republicans.
I will not shut up. I'm not one of your students.
Being a tenured professor at a state university is the easiest job in the world. I will not cry for you over how "hard" you work. No matter how horrible you are at your job, you can't be fired for it. No matter what sort of asininity spews from your mouth at your captive audience, you can't be fired for it.
The only threat to your job security is when the voters decide they have had enough of paying good tax dollars so you and Dr. Palermo can tell them how horrible America is.
actually that's not the case at all sdskelt
You should really have more respect for education and the professors who provide it. America has the best university system in the world and it is why we are who we are.
I'm a UC professor. I've written to about everyone who can be written to. Not even courtesy replies from anyone other than Feinstein.
So I am asking here: what can be done? We obviously need a new state constitution. Where can I sign up for an initiative to rewrite the abysmal document and permanently outlaw more initiatives, which are really nothing more than mob rule?
The solution is Voter Registration drives on every campus.
100% Student and Faculty turnout should be the goal.
The republicans do this for the reason previously stated: They NEED ignorant people. Educated people have this annoying tendency to THINK for themselves.
They also do it for another reason: They don't want their Own Kids, educated in expensive Private Schools, to have to compete for jobs with a bunch of "peons".
Republicans increasingly see themselves as Royalty, chosen and anointed by God.
And while God may have proven his love of the "Common People" by making so Many of them, he still doesn't like it when they get UPPITY.
Just ask Rush. He'll "'splain it" to you.
That won't solve everything. I have a Republican senator and a Republican rep. I write to both of them, and it is a waste of time. They're accountable to their party, not to me, evidently. But even if I had Democratic reps, the ridiculous budget rules nullifies just about anything we vote for.
I'm not saying, "don't vote." I'm saying that after ten years teaching here, I have no hope that it will ever get better.
Under the unfeeling Schwarzenegger administration California State University students have been made to suffer unjustly with yearly tuition increases, many fewer courses from which to choose, and filled-to-bursting classrooms.
Charles Reed, the chancellor, seems intent on warehousing teaching while corporatizing the Cal State system. In the last 20 years many more administrators have been hired than faculty, and at salaries often more than twice that of faculty. Many of these administrators never use the word "student," since their interests are increasing revenue through corporate alliances; burnishing the university image; and promoting division-1 sports that bring in capital and garner publicity.
Though the primary blame certainly lies with the governor's and Cal State University chancellor's administrations, the California Faculty Association (CFA) which represents faculty and staff must share in the blame. Despite its good intentions, the CFA has not negotiated with sufficient firmness and has allowed itself to be easily out-muscled by the university administration.
Were the faculty represented by a stronger, savvier union, such as the AFT, it is very likely that students, faculty and staff would be in a much stronger position than they currently are.
The Republican party relies, for it's very existence, on uneducated ignoramuses who will blindly tow the party line, no matter how stupid it is. Do you really think they're going to do anything but obstruct education?
The most uneducated people, are mostly black and they vote dem's.
You appear to be just as uninformed and bigoted as Niet.
Thanks for the article. I am surprised the media and others who are supposed to be our leaders arent outraged about this. The Republicans have run this country into the ground and now Arnold is trying to dig himself out of the hole he made, on the backs of the poor and our young people. I for one am truly disgusted. Because of his stupid decisions California is leading in unemployment.
tempting, the CA budget cripples the nation and stops Obama's "stimulus" in its tracks -- it's a national ploy by CA Republicans to help make Obama fail - they love America so much they want the nation to go down the toilet.
I know. I noticed that the CSU has been raiding the stimulus dollars to make up for budget cuts, instead of using them to make the university better or more affordable to poor students. It's outrageous.
It takes my breath away when I look back to my first year of college which was tuition free! If we could do that in the 50's what's wrong with us now?
Lack of morals in Republicans and lack of spines in Democrats are what's wrong with us.
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