California’s Assault on University Students and Teachers
The freshly signed California budget slashes $650 million each from the budgets of its two preeminent university systems, the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU), serving hundreds of thousands of state residents. The cuts are $150 million more than originally threatened earlier this year and will result in significant tuition hikes and service cuts. The new budget is dependent on predicted increases in revenue to the state. The Bay Citizenwrites that if the increased revenue fails to materialize, the universities could lose another $100 million each.
Tuition for California college students has more than tripled over the last decade. With the new cuts, fees are expected to rise another 8% at CSU and 10% at UC next fall, according to theStudent Activism blog.
Not only has UC tuition been skyrocketing yearly for California residents, but the university has