A Student Proposal Could Make a University of California Education Affordable Once Again
Back in the golden days of the 1960s and 1970s, students could attend one of the 10 University of California campuses for almost nothing. They graduated without crippling debt, enabling them to buy homes, start families, and live the California dream.
Today, the system is balancing its budgets on out-of-state tuition dollars, and students are so angry about the spiraling cost of attending a UC school that they've marched on freeways and occupied meetings of the Board of Regents. But one group of students, Fix UC, is moving beyond protest signs, presenting a plan to the Regents that might help solve the Golden State's higher-education fiscal crisis.
Under the Fix UC proposal, students would pay nothing upfront to attend any University of California campus. They'd go through four years of school without having to worry about coming up with the next tuition payment or how to pay for housing, enabling them to focus solely on their studies.
After graduation, students would be required to pay back 5 percent of their income for 20 years. If a graduate lost her job or went through a patch of underemployment, her repayment amount would adjust accordingly.
