<p>hmom5, </p>
<p>that same problem that you were enumerating are also happening to a lot of private institutions, not just Cali schools. Even Princeton and Yale are cost-cutting for this year. What makes you think USC hasn’t been affected? Besides, it’s not that Cal will plunge significantly because it’s on cost-cutting operation for this year. It has a wide advantage over USC and a slight drop would not mean it’s going to fall tot he bottom of the league table.</p>