Investing in the future — still smart
Students are protesting double-digit tuition increases at state colleges and universities. Research is projecting 1 million new college students within the next 15 years in California. State budget pressures are pitting investments in education against pension obligations, underscoring the dramatic demands on California’s volatile general tax revenues along with the frustration that our public investments in a smarter California are falling short of what our parents and grandparents provided for us.
Public education has been the ticket to the California dream for millions, particularly for students with families of modest means. These parents believe as fiercely in the dream as anyone, and yet their flexibility to assist their children is restrained by economic realities or, for those unfamiliar with the process of college admissions, their inexperience in guiding their children.
Good public grade schools, high schools, community colleges, four-year universities and graduate programs have fueled generations of Californians to help build the seventh-largest economy in the world.
This did not happen by accident. It was a consequence of investments by many generations in the institutions that helped create an educated and skilled work force. This work force more than paid back that investment by creating businesses and industries that have remade our world and whose leadership set the standard for America.
Investing in the future
At Ventura County Community Foundation, we believe investing in the future is a