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The California state college system, designed under “the long established principle that state colleges and the University of California shall be tuition free to all residents of the state,” is just not reasonably priced anymore.
The university system boasts that,
The CSU is a leader in high-quality, accessible, student-focused higher education. With 23 campuses, almost 427,000 students, and 44,000 faculty and staff, we are the largest, the most diverse, and one of the most affordable university systems in the country.
But this just isn’t really true. In fact, according to an investigation by Matt Krupnick at the San Jose Mercury News, it would actually be a lot cheaper for a student to go to one of the American colleges historically know as schools for the rich. As Krupnick explains:
Consider a family of four — married parents, a high-school senior and a 14-year-old child — making $130,000 a year. With typical aid, the family should expect to pay nearly $24,000 for a Cal State freshman’s tuition, on-campus room and board, supplies and other expenses. At Harvard? Just $17,000, even though its stated annual tuition is $36,305.
The same family would pay about $33,000 for a freshman year at UC Santa Cruz. UC Berkeley… would cost $19,500.
According to the same article, fewer than a quarter of Princeton students graduate with debt. About 45 percent of students at San Jose State graduate with debt.
Obviously America’s elite colleges have no financial ties to the California higher education system. Princeton is cheap for middle class students because the institution enjoys the generous support of rich alumni. Cal State is expensive because the California system is funded by a stingy and cash-strapped legislature.
But America, and California in particular, has public colleges so that people who don’t have very much money can still have access to high-quality instruction.
And this is what American higher education looks like now. For a student from a middle class family, it’s cheaper to go to Princeton than it is to go to Cal State.
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Milan Moravec on March 06, 2012 12:08 AM:
UC Berkeley (UCB) pulls back access and affordability to instate Californians. Chancellor Robert J Birgeneau displaces Californians qualified for public Cal. with a $50,600 payment from born abroad foreign and out of state affluent students. And, foreign and out of state tuition is subsidized in the guise of diversity while instate tuition/fees are doubled.
UCB is not increasing enrollment. Birgeneau accepts $50,600 foreign students and displaces qualified instate Californians (When depreciation of Calif. funded assets are included (as they should be), out of state and foreign tuition is more than $100,000 + and does NOT subsidize instate tuition). Instate tuition now more expensive than Harvard, Yale. Like Coaches, Chancellors Who Do Not Measure-Up Must Go.
More recently, Chancellor Birgeneau�s campus police deployed violent baton jabs on Cal. students protesting Birgeneau�s tuition increases. Tough choices must be made: the sky will not fall when Birgeneau and his $450,000 salary are ousted. Opinions make a difference.
Tramey on March 06, 2012 12:53 PM:
"And this is what American higher education looks like now. For a student from a middle class family, it’s cheaper to go to Princeton than it is to go to Cal State."
I suspect it's a lot harder to get into Princeton though. So it may be cheaper, but not as accessible.
Crissa on March 07, 2012 7:18 PM:
UC Santa Cruz is a special case, being a UC in a place with limited water and housing. While it's awesome we have a university here, it cannot expand and has requested an additional allotment of our limited water supply for expansion students. Santa Cruz County doesn't have access to the piped in water that most Californians enjoy for their farms and businesses, and depends entirely upon half the rain that falls in its own boundaries.
While the UC system is getting expensive, why did you choose the UC in the most expensive place to live in California?
Alison on March 11, 2012 4:42 PM:
It's amusing to hear how much money there is for "middle class" families at private colleges. Our son received offers of $1500 off his $52,000 freshman year at a prestigious CA private, $1000 at another. During his last 2 years of high school, we'd hear 'apply to the privates, there's lots of money available'. Based on our experience, and that of most of our friends, it's not. Many of these same families are now taking on a mountain of debt. Many of the Cal states and UCs are still a (relative) bargain.
Tamim Azizadah on March 26, 2012 4:11 PM:
These days, colleges are a primary means of enslaving people in debt. They have become so expensive that there is no way that students can get a degree without burying themselves in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of debt in loans and credit cards. If and when they DO graduate, they are then conveniently transferred to the enslavement of corporations which constantly remind them that they should take the crappy pay and shut up because they have that dark cloud of debt over their heads. The current state of education in American disgusts me, especially California. They keep increasing tuition, cutting classes, and giving the university presidents huge raises for sucking up to corporations that donate to them to build useless rec centers with their names plastered on them.