The two Democratic gubernatorial candidates Steve Westly and
Phil Angelides have proposed broad educational reforms that they
say will increase the access and affordability of public colleges
in California. But due to the high cost of the proposals, education
experts are skeptical of the feasibility of the reforms and do not
think they are necessarily the best approach to giving more
California students an opportunity to get a college diploma.
Westly, the state controller, has proposed to make community
college free; Angelides, the state treasurer, said he would
decrease student fees and increase enrollment in the state’s
colleges.
Under Westly’s program, students would be able to attend
community college with money loaned by the state and would not be
required to repay the loans, so long as they complete their
two-year education within six years.
“For students who want to commit to getting a two-year
degree … (the state) will forgive the loans that they initially
take out,” said Nick Velasquez, a spokesman for Westly.
Velasquez said funds for this program would be provided by
reallocating state lottery funds and fixing tax loopholes to ensure
businesses pay all taxes due.
Angelides said he will roll back student fees to the amount they
were before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came into office in
2003.
He also plans to increase the number of students admitted to
state colleges and universities by 20,000 students per year.
If Angelides is elected governor, he said he would work to
assure fees remain stable after the initial fee rollback by working
“toward a compact with higher education leaders to make sure
public colleges and universities stay affordable for all,”
said Brian Brokaw, a spokesman for Angelides.
Brokaw said Angelides would fund his education reforms in part
by asking the wealthiest one percent of Californians ““
corporations and couples earning more than $500,000 annually
““ to “pay their fair share again.”
But Norton Grubb, a professor of higher education at UC
Berkeley, said finding the money to fund the plan to roll back fees
would not be an easy task.
Grubb said while he supports a change in the tax structure, this
is not the first time a tax like the one Angelides is suggesting
has been proposed and “it’s often just gone
nowhere.”
“Many people and corporations are not paying their fair
share (in taxes) … but it would be politically very
difficult” to create a new tax, he said.
Mitchell Chang, a professor of higher education at UCLA, said an
across-the-board fee cut may not be the best way to make higher
education more affordable while maintaining its quality.
Instead, he suggested decreasing fees on a sliding scale,
depending on the ability of students and their families to pay.
“It’s important to think more creatively about how
we charge students so that we can improve access for those who
can’t afford it,” he said.
Concerns have also been raised over the way in which Angelides
plans to expand enrollment in California’s public colleges
and universities.
Angelides’ proposed increase of 20,000 students per year
in state schools would be accomplished by the governor
“working with the state’s higher education leaders to
find ways to make universities more efficient … and possibly
making some classes available online,” Brokaw said.
But Chang said that for the public colleges and universities,
online classes is “not the way to go.”
“There’s a lot to be gained by being present (in
class) and we know through higher education research that
out-of-class experience within campuses is just as important as the
classroom experiences,” he said.
Grubb and Chang also pointed to some flaws they see in
Westly’s proposal to provide a free community college
education for all students.
One problem with the proposal is that the students who can least
afford the tuition may not be able to fulfill the requirement of
finishing two years of college ““ for reasons beyond their
control ““ in order to have their fees waived, Grubb said.
“The lower-income students who go into community college
tend to drop out, very often because of … family or work
obligations,” Grubb said.
“The students who complete two years of community college
will mostly be middle-class” and less in need of a free
education, he said.
But Chang said he likes the fact that Westly is thinking of
community colleges as part of the solution to improving higher
education, though he said finances are not always the biggest
factor of not attending community college.
“To the extent that financial incentives would improve
enrollment, that will be a big question,” he said.