And if you are done celebrating "more" in the state budget as on the previous posting...

The drawing board

According to the LA Times, UC is not likely to like important elements of the forthcoming May revise budget to be issued by the governor:

..."We'd like to go back to the drawing board," said Patrick Lenz, a top UC budget official. The university was not consulted in advance about the details of Brown's proposal, he said...

And what are those elements?

Gov. Jerry Brown wants to tie some state funding for California's public universities to a host of new requirements, including 10% increases in the number of transfer students from community colleges and the percentage of freshmen graduating within four years.
Brown, who has repeatedly said the universities should be leaner and serve more students, is asking for equivalent increases in several other areas as well, according to a copy of his plan obtained by The Times. Those include raising the overall number of graduates and a stipulation that more students coming from community colleges finish their studies within two years. The document, which updates Brown's January budget proposal for overhauling higher education, also reiterates his demand for a four-year freeze on tuition and fees for undergraduate and graduate students. If either university system hiked costs, it would forfeit $511 million in state funding — a roughly 20% increase — over the life of Brown's plan...

Full story at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-brown-higher-ed-20130423,0,249490.story

The Regents have a meeting on May 14-16.  It will be interesting to see if they continue to fawn over the governor as they did when online education was on the agenda. The meeting will be in Sacramento so there is a good chance the governor will attend.

And, of course, there is the question of what outgoing UC president Yudof will say to the governor.  Will it be:

Out-of-state and international students rising at UCLA

 

The numbers are out on UC and UCLA freshman applications and admissions.  Among the findings is the fact that the proportion of non-California admits to UCLA have risen.  Two years ago, three out of ten admits were non-Californians.  A year ago, the proportion rose to four out of ten where it remains this year.  You can find these and other data at http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/fall2013adm.html [Note that admissions are not the same thing as eventual enrollments.  Note also that undergrads also enter UCLA through community college and other transfers.]

 

California Assembly Speaker John Pérez on the UC Budget, Tuition, Access, and Other Matters

At the January 17, 2013 UC Regents meeting John Pérez spoke about the state budget and other issues. Pérez is an ex officio regent.  A summary follows and there is a link to an audio of his remarks at the bottom of this post:

Summary: UC is unrealistic about increased funding from the state, backfilling of past budget cuts, or predictability for the university.  It is not addressing predictability for students.  UC was good at protecting the neediest students but not so good at protecting the middle class.  There are legislative concerns about graduate and professional school students, not just undergrads.  If UC raises graduate and professional school tuition, the legislature won't be receptive and will instead ask questions about executive pay.  There should be "no additional harm" to students. Education, including higher ed, is benefiting from Prop 30 under the governor's budget, unlike other programs.  The legislature ultimately enacts the budget; what the governor issued was a budget proposal.

Pérez spoke about the unfunded liability in the UC pension system.  He seemed unclear about the actual history of the pension contribution "holiday."  The story is more nuanced than he implied.  The holiday began because UC's pension was seen as overfunded and the state had a budget crisis (in the early 1990s).  That is, the decision to suspend contributions was based on the notion that UC could not ask a legislature strapped for cash for contributions to an overfunded pension.  Later, the stock market boomed as part of the more specific dot-com boom and the pension became more overfunded despite the lack of contributions.  So, again, there was a decision that even though the state budget crisis had ended, UC could not go the legislature and ask for contributions to an overfunded pension.  In short, there was a political/legislative element to the pension holiday; it was not just some internal decision isolated within UC.

It might also be noted that Pérez did not discuss research in contrast with the governor (who questioned what research quality was, but at least thought research was worth mentioning). 

An audio of Pérez's remarks is below:

No Sander?

From the Daily Bruin on Thursday:

A forum on UCLA’s holistic admissions policies planned for Wednesday has been postponed because of scheduling problems and legal concerns about the form of the discussion, according to organizers. The forum, organized by the Undergraduate Students Association Council Academic Affairs Commission, was intended to discuss a report by UCLA law professor Richard Sander that claims the undergraduate admissions process is illegally taking race into account...

UCLA admissions officials declined their invitations after receiving legal advice against participating in a public forum with Sander, according to an email from Janina Montero, vice chancellor of student affairs.  Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, associate vice chancellor for enrollment management, and Gary Clark, the new UCLA director of admission, were supposed to attend the forum with Montero. All declined to attend because of this legal advice, Montero said. "We are happy to describe holistic review and answer general questions about the admissions selection process, but the planned format was not appropriate given the allegations about our work,” Montero said in an email.

Sander said he did not have any concerns about the format of this event and had planned to attend...

Full story at http://www.dailybruin.com/article/2012/12/forum-on-uclas-holistic-admissions-policies-postponed 

An earlier post on this issue can be found at:

http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/10/ucla-admissions-controversy.html

Note to those giving the admissions folks legal advice.  Sometimes it's best not to refuse to defend yourself.  It looks bad:

PPIC Poll Covers Higher Ed Concerns

The latest opinion poll from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) covers a variety of issues including higher education.  It suggests parents are worried about whether their kids will get into a public higher ed institution and what it will cost if they do.  As the table below shows, half want their kids to go to grad school. [Click on the table to enlarge and get a clearer image.]

You can find the poll at:

http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/survey/S_1212MBS.pdf

Listen to Regents Meeting of Nov. 13, 2012

The UC Board of Regents, Committee on Grounds and Building met on the afternoon of Nov. 13, 2012.  On the agenda were public comments, approval of the UC capital budget plan, discussion of a long term plan for student housing at UC-Santa Barbara, and design approval of a $118.6 million faculty office building project at UC-San Francisco.

Two speakers in the public comments session referred to out-of-state students although exactly what was being suggested was unclear.

The capital budget is a wishlist of projects that it would be nice if the state funded through general obligation bonds.  However, given the governor's concern about the state's "wall of debt," that seems unlikely for the most part.  There is some receptivity toward seismic upgrades.

There was discussion of a long-term housing plan for students at Santa Barbara.  One regents suggested that housing might be handled more efficiently through a public-private partnership of some kind.  Campus reps from Santa Barbara said that the housing the campus provides is 40% cheaper than in the private market for students.  This discussion was followed by design approval the UC-SF office building.

We note, as we have before, that the Regents typically approve large projects - such as the UC-SF building - without having the capability of independent auditing or of verification that what was promised is what was delivered after the fact. 

You can hear the meeting (under one hour) at the link below:

Crowded market for out-of-state students?

You may have overlooked this ad that appeared in yesterday's LA Times.  But seeing it now should remind you (and those seeking out-of-state students for UC for budgetary reasons), that UC is not the only player in the out-of-state student marketplace.  ASU is clearly trying to attract Californians by placing such an ad in a Los Angeles newspaper.  And other players will be coming along.

Not all campuses of UC have equal weight in the out-of-state market, of course.  But the market is getting crowded, is it not?