San Jose Mercury News
12/21/03

Keep the education promise
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES NEED CREATIVE THINKING, RESTRUCTURED FEES

Mercury News Editorial

California's golden promise of providing access to higher education for all students has been shattered.

The state's historic 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education promised all high school graduates a place at California's community colleges; a spot in the California State University system for students in the top third tier; and a seat at a University of California campus for those in the top 12.5 percent.

But dollars dictate a new reality. The state's community colleges turned away 170,000 students this year, and the UC did not even consider applications from about 1,500 of the state's eligible community college transfer students and 100 freshmen this winter. CSU turned away more than 5,000 eligible students for this spring.

So where do we go from here? Back to a principle that's fundamental to California's success: Access to higher education is a promise we can't afford to break. There's too much at stake.

Driving the economic engine

Our college campuses produce the skilled workforce of the future and the technical and professional job training that help workers adapt to changes in industry. Public universities are incubators of innovation, grooming the next generation of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. And a strong higher education system ensures California's prominence as the driver of the nation's economic engine.

For those on the receiving end of that promise, a college education usually means higher earning power and a better quality of life for families. That, in turn, creates stronger civic ties and communities.

Californians pay ``fees'' for higher education; there is no ``tuition.'' And fees for all three systems are among the lowest in the nation.

It's time to restructure the fee system. That means a schedule of consistent, measured and predictable increases tied to the cost of education. Right now, fees are tied to the deep and swift fluctuations of the economy. In good times fees drop, and when the economy is in trouble -- and students can least afford it -- fees shoot up.

At $18 per unit, California's community college fees are, by far, the lowest in the nation. New Mexico, which has the next lowest fee, is still more than 30 percent higher. Community college students in California pay for about 10 percent of the cost of their education.

Maintaining access, quality

Something's got to give -- and that usually means quality.

``In the master plan, we guarantee a mission,'' San Jose City College President Chui L. Tsang said. ``We're pressed to maintain our access at the expense of quality. That means some students can't get the courses they need, larger class sizes, using more part-time faculty and fewer students support.''

Like the CSU and UC systems, community colleges need fee increases -- offset by strong and clear provisions for financial aid for those who can't afford it.

Fee hikes are inevitable

A federal and state aid system that is easy to tap into and navigate should provide relief for those who can least afford the hike, while students with the ability to pay can shoulder their fair share. Yes, that'll mean some upper-end, middle-class kids who don't qualify for hefty financial aid packages could find themselves forced to make some economic trade-offs.

For community colleges, the state legislative analyst offers a good place to start. Raising the fee to $25 per unit would be more in line with the cost of education and would allow federal aid to kick in.
That large a jump would be tough to swallow, but a more palatable approach would be similar to one suggested by state assembly member Carol Liu, D-Pasadena, that raises the fee in smaller chunks over a three-year period to the $25 mark. Even if they did that, lawmakers would still weather the political storm and put in place a more permanent schedule for increases that will take us into the future.

Even with higher fees, the state would still pick up the bulk of the tab and California's colleges and universities would remain a bargain.

Preserving the promise of higher education will take more than just fixing the financing.

During a November roundtable on higher education held at the Mercury News (see opposite page), David Spence, CSU's executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer, said if the promise of access is to be kept, the three systems need to work together to improve the path to completion.
He's right. Core courses should be easily transferable, so students don't lose credits -- and time -- when moving from one campus to another or from one system to the next.

``Right now there is no consistency. Each college is different, even within the same system -- it's madness,'' Tsang said.

Part of improving that path to completion includes more incentives for students to graduate in a timely manner, not eight years and 300 credits later.

Sure, students deserve the intellectual freedom to explore fields before deciding on a permanent major -- it's part of the college experience. But perhaps it's time to start talking about capping the number of credits students could take, with anything beyond that cap subject to a higher fee.

With the largest wave of students in history about to come knocking on the doors of college and university campuses statewide, it's time to put these ideas and more on the table. If we plan to preserve the promise of access to higher education in the future, then we need to have the courage to make those difficult budget choices today.

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