You are selfish if you don't want tuition to rise

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>Here are the facts:</p>

<p>The state is in deep debt
The state's income has fallen sharply
The UCs are in deep debt
The UCs' income has fallen sharply</p>

<p>To make up the budget shortfall, there are four options:</p>

<p>Californians pay (higher taxes)
Students pay (higher tuition)
UC employees pay (cut jobs/salaries)
Creditors pay (UC defaults)</p>

<p>The option that makes the most sense is to have students pay for their education:</p>

<p>-Even though the state of California benefits from the UC, the students are the direct beneficiaries of their educations. Students should pay their fair share.</p>

<p>-Expenses have already been gutted. Further reductions in library hours, professor salaries, and student services will damage the education received by students. At some point, these services add more value than they cost. Students should pay their fair share.</p>

<p>-A default by the UC would be disastrous for reasons that I hope are obvious. Before we exercise this option of last resort, Students should pay their fair share.</p>

<p>-UC students are the best and brightest in California. Their incomes rate to be high, and they will have more ability to pay than the average taxpayer or the average janitor or the average counselor. Students should pay their fair share.</p>

<p>-Accessibility of education is a goal of the UC system. Will increases in tuition make it unaffordable for the poor? No, not if tuition is raised only on the wealthy and middle class. Universities with the highest tuition also have the highest financial aid. We can raise tuition while still protecting the poor. Students should pay their fair share.</p>

<p>-The cost of a UC education is still well below average. Other state schools like Oregon, Arizona, Michigan, etc. charge twice as much for tuition. (I didn't cherrypick these schools, but it's possible they aren't representative, to be fair.) Students should pay their fair share.</p>

<p>The fact is that the money needs to come from somewhere and it makes the most sense for it to come from students. Every time I see students protesting on Sproul or see CALPIRG begging for change, it disgusts me. These students embody selfishness and greed and entitlement. They are a special interest group trying to lobby the government for money that will benefit them. Sure, the economy sucks and it's not fair that people in the past got better deals than us. But that doesn't matter now. We don't have time machines and life isn't fair. All we can do is move forward. And the best path forward, as far as I can see, is to sack up and pay our fair share.</p>

<p>Now tell me why you disagree.</p>

<p>And if anyone's interested in debating me or discussing the issues or listening to my perspective or even just heckling, I'll be giving a short speech on Sproul plaza on Tuesday around sometime between 1pm and 2pm.</p>

2

<p>This would be true if the funds received from the tuition increases weren’t discretionary (subject to the designs of Yudof and the Board of Regents). Here’s an article that was written a few years back by Professor Bob Meister of UCSC, which outlined how the Board used the promise of this future discretionary income to increase the UC’s Bond rating (for future building projects):</p>

<p><a href=“http://keepcaliforniaspromise.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/They_Pledged_Your_Tuition.pdf[/url]”>http://keepcaliforniaspromise.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/They_Pledged_Your_Tuition.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I’m not particularly interested in debating as I’m in knee-deep in my graduate research at the moment. I do, however, look forward to the upcoming discussion.</p>

3

<p>Here’s another take on the “Raise Tuition” issue:</p>

<p>[Higher</a> tuition is good for (most) students | Politify](<a href=“Wedding Table Decoration With 30+ Creative Wedding Lighting Ideas To Make Your Big Day Swoon | Politify.us”>Wedding Table Decoration With 30+ Creative Wedding Lighting Ideas To Make Your Big Day Swoon | Politify.us)</p>

<p>It’s short on sources, but still food for thought.</p>

4

<p>I really don’t want to debate or anything, but what about “middle class” people who can’t pay their “fair share” even though their FAFSA says they can? They say I can shovel out 35k+ when we have a household income of * barely * 100k (before taxes), send money to family (who are all old with chronic illnesses and need medical care), go back to India each year to take care of them, and are paying off the house we bought at the peak of the bubble (etc…). Unless they make a better system for finaid (idk what’s up with the new one they were talking about), I suppose it’ll be community college for me (or my sister, when the time comes) :/</p>

5

<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/financial-aid/grants/blue-gold/index.html]BGO[/url”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/financial-aid/grants/blue-gold/index.html]BGO[/url</a>] (UC) means that most students (from families up to about the 70th percentile family income) won’t notice any effect on tuition increases. [url=<a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/undergraduates/types_mcap.htm]MCAP[/url”>http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/undergraduates/types_mcap.htm]MCAP[/url</a>] (Berkeley only) means that even more students (from families up to about the 95th percentile family income) won’t notice any effect either.</p>

<p>So the effect of tuition increases on Berkeley students would be limited to those from families in the top 5% of family income.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>With MCAP, they say that the family contribution will be limited to $15,000. To that, an expected work study and loan amount of $8,000 will be added, for a total of $23,000.</p>

6

<p>Remember how this was posted on Reddit earlier today and then mysteriously disappeared right after 20 people posted detailed responses explaining the flaws in the foundations of this argument?</p>

<p>Yeah</p>

<p>That was a lot of fun</p>

7

<p>It didn’t disappear. It got downvoted. What are the flaws in the foundations of the argument?</p>

8

<p>As long as it’s not something like “lower the taxes, lower the tuition!” (lol really?) kind of argument, i am all ears.</p>

9

<p>The flaw in the foundation of the argument is that there is no need to increase taxes or increase tuition.</p>

<p>Rather, spending on prisons should be dramatically slashed, freeing up billions of dollars for higher education.</p>

<p>Direct state funding for UC, Cal State and community college systems combined: $8.3 billion</p>

<p>State funding for Department of Corrections: $9.1 billion</p>

<p>Every one of the 133,000 inmates in the state prison system costs taxpayers $57,000 each and every year.</p>

<p>If you don’t see the complete priority disconnect there, I’m not sure what to tell you.</p>