Fifty years ago, visionary leaders created California's Master Plan for Higher Education. For decades the master plan provided millions of Californians with opportunities to pursue their academic ambitions and improve their vocational skills. A well-trained and educated workforce entered the private sector and enhanced California's reputation as a state on the cutting edge of the future, creating new and exciting industries, powering our economic growth and engaging in trailblazing research.
Now, however, our higher education system is reeling. The visionaries are gone and our community colleges and public universities are bruised by cuts, furloughs and ever-increasing fee hikes that threaten affordability and access for students across California.
Stories about this decline can be found on campus after campus. A University of California, San Diego professor worries about students' inability to get into the classes they need for graduation. California State University, Sacramento officials consider turning away qualified students because more people want to enroll than the university has funding to handle. A CSU student concludes the system is creating a generation of student debtors.
A report this month by the Public Policy Institute of California finds that the state is confronting two main crises in higher education: budget cutbacks and an education skills gap. By 2025, the state will have a shortage of one million college educated workers relative to demand unless we substantially increase rates of college enrollment and graduation.
Yet with all this daunting news, we spend more on prisons than we do on all three higher education