Sometimes progress and stagnation are one in the same.
With a tuition freeze in California’s 2012-13 budget, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed last Wednesday, students in the UC and CSU systems will not face increasing education costs in the coming school year.
As students, we often feel like pawns in the political process, but with the tuition freeze, it is clear that our voices are being heard.
Demonstrations like Occupy the Capitol on March 5 have illustrated just how important this is to us. Students and stakeholders should continue to protest, provided they remain nonviolent and respectful. Meanwhile, advocacy groups are making headway too, especially from unions, the University of California Student Association and CALPIRG. Groups like these have also become a good way for students to keep track of what is going on.
In recent months, legislators have shown more of a commitment to student needs. The Middle Class Scholarship Program, passed on May 30, will cut fees by two-thirds for middle-income families. And two bills were recently passed in the state Senate geared toward providing students free access to textbooks for popular lower division courses.
Education is not an issue only for current students — it’s absolutely critical for everyone, even those outside academic circles. In hard economic times when there is a lack of long-term solutions, higher education shines even brighter. Investing in higher education is investing in future doctors, engineers and leaders.
In the end, though, this tuition freeze is just a band-aid — and one that might even be ripped off come November. The budget is largely dependent on Brown’s tax initiative, which raises taxes on the wealthiest Californians. If voters do not pass the initiative on Election Day, trigger cuts could lead to tuition increases for the UC and CSU systems, adding to what is already the fastest rising tuition in the country.
Advocacy thus does not end here.
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If the ballot measure doesn’t pass, your tuition could go up 25-30% as soon as January 2013.
Thank you editors for mentioning at the end of your editorial that the tuition freeze is just a band-aid. In fact, it’s an imaginary band-aid because it assumes California’s struggling taxpayers will vote for yet another tax hike ($8.5 billion) in November. The fact that it’s an imaginary benefit throws your entire argument out the window. Democrat legislators have NOT heard our complaints. Student advocacy groups have not made any difference because the Democrat politicians simply tossed an imaginary bone to the desperate but active students and waited for the liberal editorials to celebrate a hollow “victory”. If the tax hike proposition does not win then college students are first in line for the budget axe.
What if the tax hike becomes reality? Then the middle class UC students who actually pay tuition for themselves and for poor students may celebrate. However, when they look for a high paying job they will find that many companies have moved major operations out of state to avoid the tax-and-spend Democrats and the unions controlling them. Only high tech companies will be interviewing on campus.
The money from the tax initiative is supposed to go to K-12 and the community colleges. Does Cal qualify as a community college?
Not yet