Students at universities throughout California have been faced
with continuous fee increases and an increase in competition for
admission as consequences of state budget cuts to higher education
over the last several years.
Despite the proposed increases in higher education budgets for
2005-2006, California’s public universities have had to
continuously cope with less government money over recent years. One
reason for these repeated budgetary cuts are that the results of
spending money on higher education are not realized
immediately.
Werner Hirsch, professor emeritus of economics at UCLA, said
that when the government spends money on higher education it is a
long-term investment.
“You have competition between health care, children and
old people, and if you don’t provide for them, the effects
will be immediate. The results of spending money on higher
education will only materialize in the future, and a short-sighted
government will first respond to different demands from people who
need drugs, police protection and other things.”
Hirsch also said the recent 3.5 percent budget increase given to
UC schools does not make up for the 15 percent to 18 percent
decreases it has faced over past years.
“In 1940 the state gave us about 60 percent of our budget.
Now it only makes up 20 percent of our budget,” Hirsch said.
“This cut makes us much less competitive with private
universities in California, and because of this we cannot attract
out-of-state students.”
According to the California Department of Finance 2003-2004
Budget Summary, fees of undergraduate students have increased about
11.8 percent, while fees for graduate students have increased about
11.2 percent. That year also saw a $410 million cut in budgets for
UC schools.
But some believe the budget cuts made to California public
universities are justifiable.
“A lot of states are cutting budgets because of a huge
budget gap. Higher education isn’t getting cut more than some
other areas, and it still makes up a significant share of the state
budget,” said Anthony Simbol, the principal fiscal and policy
analyst for the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Simbol also pointed out that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s
recently proposed state budget for this year has increased funding
for higher education. This increase may be due to the fact that the
government has seen the consequences of past budget cuts and are
now reacting to them.
As a result of the decrease in budgets from the state
government, universities have had to look elsewhere for financial
resources.
“Budget cuts have encouraged institutions to look for
money from other sources such as fund-raising campaigns and private
money. This was unheard of a dozen years ago,” said UCLA
Graduate School of Education & Information Studies professor
Arthur Cohen.
Cohen believes the government’s tendency to cut higher
education budgets is due to a lack of a unified voice lobbying for
higher education.
“Higher education doesn’t have a single voice.
Public California universities, the UC system, Cal States and
community colleges fight each other for money, and as a result,
other lobbyist groups, such as transportation, gain power,”
he said.