Positive news about California public university funding is a rarity these days, so Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget revision released Thursday was both a huge surprise and relief.
The revision allocates $436 million to University of California’s vastly underfunded pension system over the next three years and 4-percent increases in base funding for the University each year. This buys crucial time for the UC to pay down its debt and develop long-term solutions for mitigating pension costs.
The UC system also agreed to rethink degree requirements for 10 of its 15 most popular majors so that they can be finished in three years rather than the normal four. This was a large concession for the University, but it was a necessary one to hold tuition down and secure more funding from the state. The measure is also likely to ensure students graduate quickly, efficiently and with less debt.
Most importantly, in-state students are guaranteed to face no tuition hikes in the next two years. These students, who have continually been forced to shoulder more and more burden of paying for public education, will be granted an important, if short, reprieve.
To be sure, the revised budget does nothing to address professional degree supplemental tuition hikes and potential nonresident tuition hikes. These issues were seemingly put on the back burner to deal with the more pressing issues of pensions and in-state tuition. UC President Janet Napolitano and Brown are by no means finished with their work trying to make the UC affordable at every level, and this success should not make us lose sight of that fact.
But this revised budget is a huge victory for student activists and the UC system – and credit must be given to Napolitano for negotiating this new budget. Despite frequent criticism for opacity, the “Committee of Two” meetings between Napolitano and Brown, during which they hashed out the future of UC funding, seem to have paid off.
Much criticism has been heaped on Napolitano for using the threat of tuition hikes as a bargaining chip. Say what you will about the ethics of her tactics, but they worked to the benefit of students and to the UC as an institution. It is more than likely that without Napolitano pressuring Brown with tuition hikes, the governor would not have budged on giving the UC the funds it needs to survive
Brown should also be commended for displaying his willingness to compromise and find a meaningful solution without sacrificing the health of California’s economy. His decision to help pay down UC pensions is a long overdue recognition of the state’s responsibility to subsidize the UC’s costs.
This is not to say that the “Committee of Two” acted singularly and without any prodding from students. Student outrage and protesting provided a substantial demand for tuition freezes and placed pressure on both Napolitano and Brown to reach an agreement that was politically favorable for both of them.
The deal that Brown and Napolitano reached was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination – but it showed that even in the face of political grandstanding and seemingly imminent tuition hikes, cooperation and compromise are possible.