Less seats available means less choices in universities.
By Heidi Manteuffel/Special to The Malibu Times
While most graduating seniors of Malibu High School have already been accepted at private, public state and out-of-town universities, as well as community colleges, and have their future careers planned out-the costs of college may put them, or their parents, in debt for a long time.
Extreme budget cuts and tuition hikes as high as 14 percent have put the squeeze on students and their families’ pocket books.
The Schwarzenegger administration on May 20 announced $240 million in budget cuts to the UC system, and $350 million in cuts to California State Universities, making for an unprecedented 14 percent tuition hike to the entire California public university system. Community colleges took a $100 million budget cut last year, and some such as Santa Monica College lost more than 6,000 students in enrollment, reducing income.
In addition, courses, research and faculty are receiving cuts, and many California students are deterred from next year’s enrollment or taking leave now that the Cal State and UC schools are becoming more expensive.
This year, the entire branch of UC schools increased undergraduate tuition by $700, and graduate school tuition by $1,050, with more hikes to come. The purposefully lower-priced Cal State schools saw an increase of $288 in undergraduate tuition and a $564 increase for graduate students. Unit fees for community colleges like SMC rose last year from $11 to $18 dollars per unit, and the Schwarzenegger administration proposed additional increases to possibly $22 per unit beginning in July.
While fees have gradually increased over the years, this substantial hit opens the eyes of students and parents to the fact that the affordability and attraction of public schools, especially for low- and middle-income students, may soon be a thing of the past.
“It doesn’t make sense that the disparity of costs between public and private schools is less noticeable when the point of a public school is take make it accessible to the greater public” said Chris Jennings, who currently has two sons in the UCLA system. Jennings commented that, while her family is able to weather the increase, she knows of friends of her sons who are having a much more difficult time. Her biggest frustration is the lack of concern for education in California.
“I’m a teacher so it really bothers me that California doesn’t support education as strongly as other states,” Jennings said. “With these increases planning to continue, there are already parents heading their children toward private schools.”
After the initial 14 percent hike, UC undergraduates face a subsequent 8 percent hike the following two years for a record 30 percent increase in fees. UC graduate students incur a 20 percent increase in tuition the first year and 10 percent the following two years, making for a 40 percent overall increase.
Whether the increases have affected Malibu families is not certain. “I can’t really think of anyone in Malibu that is too affected by the hike,” said Mollie Vandor, who graduated this year from Malibu High. “Malibu is full of privileged kids, you know.”
Laura Rosenthal, a Malibu mother, said, “There are definitely families that are going to feel the increase, but in a small community such as Malibu, I’m not sure if they really would want that public information.”
When asked if it would force monetarily tight families to plan ahead more with continuing tuition increases, Rosenthal responded, “Whether you have a lot of money or not, I think everyone I know starts putting away money for college as a sort of security for their child.”
Probably one of the places most Malibu students feel the budget cuts is decreased enrollment space in California public colleges. “I think the problem is more that they cut seats at the schools, meaning less kids are able to attend the public school of their choice,” Vandor said.
In Vandor’s case, she didn’t get into a top UC because, unlike years before, there were not enough seats.
In UC schools for instance, there has been a 10 percent cut in freshman classes. Student Regent Matt Murray from UC Berkeley said, “Normally we would be increasing our enrollment size. So that’s 7,000 students more who are eligible for the university who will be denied admission the upcoming year and reverted to community colleges.”
But even if Malibu students attended community college the first two years, they would also find a squeeze in enrollment. Santa Monica College cut enrollment by 26 percent. SMC lost federal funding because of the drop, as well as a significant amount of faculty and vocational programs, all these factors putting them on the watch list of colleges with severe fiscal problems.