<p>I’m a class of 2011 senior, and a few of the UCs are some of my top choices for college next year. However, I’m not sure how confident I now am about the education and experience I would be receiving due to budget issues. Of course, I know that, cut budget or not, the UCs provide a strong education and a high quality of learning, but the friends I’ve spoken to who now attend them say budget cuts are easily visible in class sizes and class availability. </p>
<p>Though this concerned me, it was easy to brush off, but with the cut to the UCs proposed a few weeks ago, does anyone know the extent of how bad these effects will get? Should this years graduating class be taking these cuts into account when choosing the UCs as a possible college option?</p>
<p>NPR did an article about this last year (before the current cuts). They talked to a UCLA history prof. He said that he used to have 80 students and a couple of TAs in one of his classes. Now he has 120 and no TA (the numbers might be a bit off, but not much) His office hours used to have students wanting to discuss something from the class, but now it is all about why he cannot add one more student, even though the students tell him if they cannot take that class this year, they will not be able to graduate in 4 years. They talked to an Engineering prof who spoke of a class that used to also have a lab component and that was cut. They were considering cutting the freshman english class.</p>
<p>I read something in the LA Times - a professor at UCSC was wondering why no one came to his office hours, but then found out they locked the building to save on costs.</p>
<p>Even with the increase in prices, they are still a better deal than private schools, if you cannot get finaid or scholarships, but often you can. </p>
<p>My daughter did not apply to the UCs for this reason.</p>
<p>Even though UC San Diego was (is?.. still not sure) my absolute dream school, I’m reconsidering… I applied to one private and will apply to my local JC. $500 million in cuts… that’s outrageous. And the tuition is basically getting to private levels at this point (assuming the privates give even some FA.) I still would probably go to UCSD if I’m accepted, only because I intend to major in science. But if you’re considering a UC which doesn’t have a top notch program in your intended field of study… definitely not worth it.</p>
<p>The effects of these budgets cuts on the average student are really being exaggerated by the media. Yeah, there have been small changes here or there, but they’re the kind which nine out of ten students won’t notice.</p>
<p>I’m an upperclassman at a UC, and I can tell you that my daily experience now is identical to the experience I had as a freshman.</p>
<p>Remember, the $500 million in cuts to UC which everyone is citing is from a proposed budget. It could very well not happen at all.</p>
<p>The UCs and CSUs are still a good and practical economic option for thousands of Californian families to educate their kids.
To all the Chicken Littles, yes, the sky is falling, but in small chunks at a time.</p>
<p>My son attends a private school and is a science major and did so because small classes meant more opportunities earlier, and deeper learning early on(the kind that’s hard to do when large classes mandate multiple choice exams- you tend to forget info after the tests). And while no FA, he did get nice merit aid. That said, my daughter has applied to four UC’s and three state schools. She is unsure of her major and the public tuition makes exploration a bit more feasible (ie. a fifth year won’t kill most people, you can live off campus, probably have time to work). What continues in my mind to make a UC (or the larger CSU’s) a strong college choice is that they are mini-cities of a dynamic energy. Between the wildly diverse students, clubs, and speakers, sheer number of majors, and professors- it’s just so much interesting stuff in one place. Only some of what you learn comes from a classroom.<br>
Anyone who has had a bad experience related to budget cuts should be sending a polite email/letter to their elected officials. I would suggest that the Regents need to take a hard look at the salaries being paid to the top tier administrators.
Good luck.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to generalize about the effects of budget cuts across all UCs. Some programs at some campuses have been affected, but not all have seen a pronounced effect on undergraduate education (and probably not even a majority). Even within one campus, this will vary. In some cases, budget problems led to cuts in non-teaching staff. In others, cuts may have affected the budget for speakers, and that will not necessarily translate to an effect on undergraduate teaching. (Yes, I realize speakers add to the educational atmosphere.) Sometimes people talk about students not getting into classes, but that is not across all majors and campuses. I think you may get a more precise answer to this question if you specify the campus and major or general area of study (e.g. Spanish or social sciences or graduate work in physics at a particular school)</p>
<p>Copterguy, my point is not in being specific to school and major, but rather the system as a whole. I’ve seen plenty of facebook posts lamenting over not getting a spot in a class, or how many classes that were once intimate are turning into 500 person lectures.</p>
<p>Though many of these of these posts are from college students at the freshman and sophomore level, where larger classes are more normal anyway, they still show a concerning trend.</p>
<p>My questions and concerns really broach upon how the average day for the average student will be affected. It is encouraging to see posts from people like sndebrosse, who say their lives at the UCs seem unaffected, and yet i still harbor concern after hearing from people like those I’ve previously mentioned.</p>
<p>I applied to many of the UCs, which i why i made my question more broad, but the school I’m most interested in attending is UC Davis.</p>
<p>So far it’s still worth it, though some even huger than before budget cuts are about to be enacted and I’m a little scared. I’ve noticed no real change in anything thus far though.</p>
<p>I think a lot of this is a bunch of baloney. So far I haven’t seen any changes. I can’t necessarily speak for the future, but the UCs are still amazing places to get into research positions early in your undergrad career.</p>
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<p>This sounds ridiculously overblown. Both the fact that intimate classes magically spring up to 500 kids and that you’ve seen “plenty” of Facebook posts saying so. It’s also fair to note that I’ve NEVER seen anything exaggerated on Facebook.</p>
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<p>And you don’t think there are opportunities at large research universities? Also, I’ve had plenty of large classes where their tests weren’t multiple choice. And how is it that you forget information after taking multiple choice tests? I’ve never heard that one before.</p>
<p>I asked my son about getting classes (he’s at Berkeley in Engineering). He said “You can get the classes you need if you aren’t picky about the time.” He has classes starting at 8:00 a.m. every day of the week, but he got everything he needed without being on any waitlists. Also of note, he has one class (a R & C requirement) that only has 30 students in the class. He also is in classes with 100 plus students, but it is possible to find a class with a small amount of students. He does not regret choosing to attend Cal.</p>
<p>Bobeth, the UC has an administrative structure that oversees the system, but in practice they are different universities. They have individual budgets, which means some campuses have more money than others. You probably won’t get an “average” UC experience. It would be interesting to see your question posted on a couple of different individual UC boards.</p>
<p>I agree with those who say these are still great universities with a lot of resources for students, but there has been belt-tightening in many places and that may account for some of the anecdotal stories about courses being filled, etc.</p>