Gov. Schwarzenegger’s declaration last week that California is officially in a fiscal emergency has forced the legislature to focus its full attention on the state’s $11.2 billion deficit. This decision has paralyzed the state, because if the legislature does not reach a solution after 45 days, all other legislative action will be barred until it does.
While the state struggles with this budget crisis, families across California are dealing with their own financial problems, and the rising cost of college can be a critical factor.
It is important for the state to prioritize the fiscal crisis, but while the legislature focuses on this issue, the governor should do his part to help alleviate the many other looming crises.
In California, the average family must now devote 28 percent of its income to a four-year public education, compared to 21 percent eight years ago, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
This rising cost is not new ““ college costs rose by 439 percent over the past 25 years ““ but there are several aspects of the current economy which make skyrocketing tuition especially harmful today. For instance, the credit crunch compounds problems of affordability by making private loans less available and more expensive.
The state is also facing difficulties in funding higher education. Gov. Schwarzenegger is asking for a $65.5 million cut to the University of California’s operating budget at the same time that the UC Regents are requesting a budget increase of $755 million.
The regents said they will not raise student fees. However, unless Sacramento fills the regents’ budget requests, the UC isn’t left with very many other options. The regents say they will resort to enrollment caps if they do not receive increased funding. Already, the UC is supporting 10,000 more students than it can afford.
California State University ““ facing the same budget problems as the UC system ““ has already taken action with a cap that will turn away at least 10,000 students. If the UC system follows CSU’s lead, up to 20,000 qualified students will have to find their educations somewhere else. It seems unlikely that Sacramento will be able to fulfill the UC system’s requested budget; by February, the state may find itself out of money across the board.
As frustrating as it is to find the state government so incompetent, the state is not completely helpless in this situation. The governor should continue to take action to lobby the federal government for help, as he did last week in Philadelphia. But Schwarzenegger’s step forward was not enough ““ he warned that California would not accept federal money until the state legislature fixed its budget.
It is understandable to be wary of putting more money into a broken budget, but the University of California must know if help is coming so that they can make their own plans for the upcoming year.
Congress needs to broaden its focus beyond bailouts. In September, when the current economic problems were first becoming painfully obvious, President-elect Barack Obama remarked, “Presidents need to be able to do more than one thing at a time.”
The same idea applies to Congress. Between the 535 of them, they should be able to focus on long-term, emerging problems along with the short-term crises.
Possible solutions include direct increases in federal funding to state universities, as well as increases in Pell Grants. It will be expensive, but education should be a top priority.
E-mail Ohlemacher at dohlemacher@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.