A new study by Charles Schwartz, professor emeritus at UC
Berkeley, would have you believe the University of California is
becoming like a private university.
Released Nov. 28, the study on university education, called
“Student Fees: Approaching the Limit,” calculates that
undergraduate students currently pay 95 percent of the cost of the
educational services provided to them because of rising student
fees.
But UC officials say that students pay only 30 percent of the
cost of education at the university.
“UC has never been honest with students and the public
about this,” Schwartz said. The vast discrepancy between
these numbers comes from a difference in methods of
calculation.
“What is unique about my study is that I separate the cost
of undergraduate education from its cost for other academic
programs like graduate education and faculty research,” he
said.
Specifically, Schwartz’s study examines only the cost of
the services undergraduate students receive, while the UC’s
figure takes the costs of other university programs into account,
even those not taken advantage of by undergraduate students.
The UC office’s estimate “is the answer to a very
different question,” Schwartz said. “The distinction
makes all the difference.”
Meanwhile, he believes the distinction between the definition of
a public and a private university is becoming blurred.
“If you care about the concept of a public university
being different from a private university, what is it that defines
the distinction?” Schwartz asked. “Is there some
fundamental line that can be drawn?”
Schwartz’s answer is that when the amount undergraduate
students pay exceeds 100 percent the cost of their education,
“then you are in the domain of the privates, where
undergraduate students are forced to subsidize a lot more than
their own education.” That students pay for more than what
they get at private universities account for the tremendous
difference in tuition costs. Schwartz estimates the total annual
cost of attending the UC is $6,648 per undergraduate student, while
Stanford undergraduates, for example, pay $29,847.
And the number keeps rising. The 2005-2006 UC budget, approved
in a 12 to 1 vote by the UC Board of Regents on Nov. 18, included
an 8 percent increase in undergraduate student fees.
Still, Schwartz warned against fees exceeding the amount that
would make the UC a private institution.
“The fees charged to undergraduate students at a public
university should never exceed 100 percent of the actual cost to
that institution for providing that educational program,” he
said.
The UC Office of the President questions the validity of
Schwartz’s data, though. “(Schwartz) has come up with
another calculation that’s based on a lot of
assumptions,” said Ravi Poorsina, a spokeswoman for UCOP.
Poorsina said UC officials use a cost-per-student calculation that
includes undergraduate and graduate students, and added that it is
“not completely possible” to determine the cost of
attendance for a single undergraduate student. UCOP, which
“probably” has more access to hard data than Schwartz
does, “can’t even come up with a number,” she
said. “He assumes a lot of data because he doesn’t have
access to a lot of it.”
Schwartz, a retired physics professor from UC Berkeley, said he
chose to look into the education cost issue because he noticed a
lack of involvement in UC budgetary decisions on the part of the
academic community.
“Usually we rely on the Regents and the UC president and
chancellors and their staff to handle all the money
decisions,” he said. “We students and teachers immerse
ourselves in the great world of learning.” But the recent
budget crises and continued swell in student fees at the university
compelled him to investigate “the social impact of the
decisions made at the top.”
Of course, one segment of the UC community that feels this
impact is the students.
Jennifer Brazeal, a fourth-year English student and Regents
Scholar at UCLA, now has to pay part of the cost of her education
out of her own pocket because of fee increases. Her scholarship is
intended to cover the full cost of attendance, but it doesn’t
anymore, she said.
“I actually have to pay more now,” she said.
“It’s a rip-off.”
But she acknowledged that budget constraints have made the UC
unable to increase the amount of her scholarship to continue to
cover the full cost of attendance.
Chancellor Albert Carnesale has insisted that the fee increases,
among other measures, are necessary in order to keep the UC
competitive with elite private universities. But for students like
Brazeal who recognize the value of their public education but
continue to be frustrated by fee increases, fees aren’t the
only thing being raised. So is the question of whether it really is
worth the high price to remain competitive with private
universities ““ especially when that price gets closer and
closer to the cost of a private education itself.
But Poorsina said it’s not that easy to measure the
advantages of research, teaching and services offered by a UC
education.
“It’s hard to put a price tag on an
experience,” she said.
Schwartz’s study can be viewed at
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~schwrtz/Part_7.html.