Lorrie Reyes
Dear Gov. Schwarzenegger, University of California Board of Regents, educators, law makers, voters, or whoever will listen.
California education is in absolute shambles.
Fix it.
Despite a state deficit of $26.3 billion according to the L.A. Times, I don’t really understand what California wants from students.
You want us to have a higher education. I know this because you ask for my bachelor’s degree every time I try to apply for a higher position, yet the state budget forces colleges to have fewer classes with more students and now we’re the ones paying for it.
Ever since I could remember, I wanted to attend UCLA and have the prestige of being a Bruin. But money was always the issue.
That issue just increased by $2,500 a year.
The University of California Board of Regents voted Thursday that undergraduates will be required to pay more than $10,000 a year beginning next fall — which is a 32% increase — to attend a UC school, according to the L.A. Times.
Cal State schools have also felt a 10% increase in tuition fees which brought CSU undergraduate fees to $3,048, according to the California state budget of 2008-09.
During that time, UC schools received $5.6 billion from the state and CSU schools received $4.5 billion.
According to the California 2009-10 enacted budget, UC schools will only receive a little more than $2.9 billion and CSU schools will only receive $2.5 billion.
Closing the state deficit is a burden now placed on students’ shoulders.
I do understand that the state needs money and there are really no other options to make cuts, but the state could try to use other means to close the gap.
For example, in such an automotive city as Los Angeles, toll booths can be placed on the freeways including the dreaded 101 and 405 to help relieve some pressure.
Since there are so many cars on the road, registrations fees could increase slightly.
This possible solution might make drivers upset, but the increase in registration prices might make the governor release the mandatory furlough days for the DMV and decrease the wait time at the DMV.
California needs to remember that students are the future teachers, nurses, lawyers, employees and employers in this state, which means the students need to be able to get out into the workforce, pay taxes, buy homes — be consumers.
Now that we can no longer afford to go to college, what should we do now?
The UC price hikes are supposed to help increase financial aid, but increasing fees to give out money seems a little backwards.
Monday is the last day UC and CSU schools are accepting applications for fall 2010 admissions.
I have stopped filling mine out.