The University of California is no longer a public institution.
Never has that fact been clearer than with the most recent funding battle raging between UC leadership and Gov. Jerry Brown. On Friday, Brown announced a budget proposal of $120 million in funding to the UC – $100 million less than what the UC needs to keep tuition flat. He followed that up with a threat that if the UC raises tuition in the coming year, he will cut the entire $120 million from funding in the next fiscal year.
Brown seems to fundamentally misunderstand the funding model for a public institution.
His plan calls for a tuition freeze, offers meager increases in funding and then demands the UC maintain its high quality without even increasing out-of-state enrollment. But where is the UC supposed to make up this gap in funding? How is it supposed to serve the additional 5,000 Californian students it wants to enroll in coming years?
Brown seems to think these funds can come out of thin air, since his plan demands that the UC ignore the two sources of funding that it can reliably use: tuition increases and out-of-state fees. Phrases like “tuition freeze” make his plan sound public-friendly, when in fact he is ignoring the state’s obligation to fund a quality public institution of higher education.
For education to be public, Californians should have broad access to school, and the University should be primarily paid for by taxpayers and the state.
But at the UC, students aren’t just asked to pay for their education; they’re asked to pay for it twice.
First, Californian students and their families pay for the UC through taxes as long as they live in the state. Then, during enrollment, the University asks for an additional $12,000 every year in tuition and fees.
Californians have been hoodwinked into thinking that they are supporting and promoting one of the world’s “premier public institutions” when they are actually funding a private institution in disguise.
While both the UC and the state legislature of California have made mistakes that lead to the privatization of the University, most of the blame sits squarely on the shoulders of the state for failing to provide funding. It is the state’s ultimate responsibility to fund public education through public funds. If that funding is lost, the University has little choice but to turn to private money.
Brown’s plan ignores the fact that someone has to fund the UC – if not the state, the students.
Until the state can cough up more taxpayer dollars to fund its public institutions, the UC will stray further and further from its public mission.