<p>....by 2600 students from Fall 08, a reduction of 6.8 percent.</p>
<p>This is significant since there has been much debate among parents and students here on CC about the recession creating a preference among students to opt for the public system over the more expensive privates -- especially where the public univ. are of a comparably high quality. The UC system results set out to achieve these reductions, and despite these recession, they appear to have succeeded.</p>
<p>Of course, within the system, there are interesting divergences among campuses.</p>
<p>DECLINES by Campus from 2008 to 2009:
UC Santa Cruz: approx. 1000 students
UC Irvine: approx 700 students
UC Davis: approx 650
UCSD: approx 580
UCLA: approx 280</p>
<p>INCREASES BY CAMPUS from 2008 to 2009:
UC Santa Barbara: approx 210 students
UC Berkeley: approx 100
UC Riverside: approx 135
UC Merced: approx 300</p>
<p>Thus it appears that Santa Barbara is over-enrolled. UCR and UCM are planned, even encouraged increases.</p>
<p>Since surprises are based on your own expectations, you can draw your own conclusions.</p>
<p>California is dysfunctional in its budget system due to four factors:</p>
<p>1) Prop 13 requires a supermajority of 2/3 of the votes to in the legislature to approve a budget or tax measures. This supermajority translates into the tyranny of the minority because </p>
<p>2) the mutual backscratching of gerrymandering “safe” legislative districts, wherein the politicians pick their voters instead of the voters picking their politicians, means the most competitive races are in the primaries, resulting in very liberal Democrats and very conservative Republicans and very few moderates in the state legislature, exacerbated by</p>
<p>3) term limits, which keeps politicians of both parties hewing to their ideological orthodoxies of their respective activists as, since they’re not going to be in the State Assembly or State Senate for a long period of time, they always are favoring short-term policies and pandering to the ideological base they’ll need for support to the next political job they aspire to; term limits also shifts the relative balance of power towards the lobbyists and the bureaucracy because the politicians don’t really have the time in place to develop expertise in the nitty gritty of whatever specialized issue is their calling, be it education, water policy, transportation, whatever, and the whole budgeting process is warped by </p>
<p>4) a runaway cancer of the initiative process which has locked in so much of the state budget via the voters being asked to do the Legislature’s job in that vast areas of the budget are now “off limits” for any legislative adjustment. And initiatives now mostly mean the opposite of what they’re labeled, e.g., “Citizens for a Safe Environment” is probably an initiative to permit off-shore oil drilling…or require it…and “Citizens for Responsible Drinking” is probably an industry-backed measure to reduce alcohol taxes.</p>
<p>The UC’s are part of the budget that’s not locked in (see item 3 above) and thus are extremely vulnerable when crunch time comes. Only 17 percent of the UC’s budget is funded out of the state’s general revenue but that 17 percent is unevenly distributed and the cuts are probably going to be substantial. </p>
<p>Reducing student count is a painful but fiscally responsible move on behalf of the UC.</p>
<p>Not really. California also offers an excellent LOWER-cost education at its Cal States system and community college system. Moreover, Merced will still take anyone minimally qualified, so if a four-year UC degree is critical, it’s still available and easy to access.</p>
<p>Sadly, I think the numbers may drop even more. The state budget is going to be a bloodbath, but it’s not been finalized yet. There has been a great deal of talk about gutting the Cal Grant program, which is going to make UC even more expensive on top of the already in place fee hikes for the coming year. I’ve not seen the enrollment numbers yet for the Cal State campuses, which might show if some of those not going to UCs are going to CSUs instead. The LA Times, in an editorial this morning, suggested that the community college system double their fees so that the system could afford to expand their offerings, since so many more students will only be able to afford the CC option.</p>
<p>I don’t think that the rest of the country will be spared either. California is in worse shape but most state budgets are under pressure. Prices going up to offset decreased state aid is just another form of rationing.</p>
<p>Completely agree - just as the economic crisis hit the US first and then spread to the rest of the world, the CA budget crisis is the first of many in the US. :(</p>
<p>I completely agree with TheDad. I don’t think what we’re seeing in California will necessarily happen in other states. We’re uniquely handicapped by our 2/3rds vote requirement on budget decisions. Until that changes, it’s hard to understand how any progress can be made.</p>
<p>In MA, tuition was raised by a non-trivial amount. Stimulus money might offset that and that was planned earlier in the year but that was before the large drop in revenues showed up in May. So the stimulus money might be directed elsewhere in the budget. We’ll know in a few weeks if a budget passes.</p>
<p>In WA enrollment is to be reduced and two consecutive (years of) tuition increases of 14% each are planned at the UW. I don’t think it will spread from CA, it is already taking place.</p>
The state budget is going to be a bloodbath, but it’s not been finalized yet. There has been a great deal of talk about gutting the Cal Grant program, which is going to make UC even more expensive on top of the already in place fee hikes for the coming year. I’ve not seen the enrollment numbers yet for the Cal State campuses, which might show if some of those not going to UCs are going to CSUs instead. The LA Times, in an editorial this morning, suggested that the community college system double their fees so that the system could afford to expand their offerings, since so many more students will only be able to afford the CC option.</p>