The California State Legislature rejected Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed unit caps for the University of California and California State University, decrying the policy as unfair to students and as an ineffective means of cutting costs.
Despite promising greater system efficiency, the proposed unit cap — part of Brown’s proposed 2013-14 budget for higher education — failed in an Assembly subcommittee hearing Wednesday and a Senate subcommittee hearing this March.
Brown’s proposal would cap the number of units students could take at the state-subsidized rate. His plan initially limits students to taking 150 percent of the units required to complete most degrees. Two years after implementation, students would be restricted from taking more than about a year’s worth of additional units, according to the budget proposal.
“I don’t believe the administration has looked carefully into solving the issue that students find, which is their great frustration in finding the classes they need to take. Making an arbitrary ruling punishes the students,” said Assemblymember Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, who chaired Wednesday’s hearing and joined the majority’s 3-2 vote against the unit cap.
Bonilla urged California school systems to consider unit restrictions internally instead of imposing a statewide limit. A unit cap would have a far greater impact on the CSU system than on the UC, according to UC spokesperson Dianne Klein.
“We told the Legislature that it would only impact maybe 2,200 students systemwide if it were implemented in the fall,” Klein said. “We’re not opposed to a unit cap, but we think a more gradual implementation would give students more time to adjust, and it wouldn’t affect seniors.”
A report issued by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, which is the state’s nonpartisan fiscal and policy advisor, said that unit caps would likely increase efficiency within the UC and CSU systems, but it warned against a one-size-fits-all limit, such as the one Brown proposed.
“Setting a specific unit cap, however, will require consideration of the reasons students accrue excess units, including unavailability of courses, inconsistent transfer requirements, and requirements of particular majors,” stated the report.
UC Student Association President Raquel Morales and other UCSA representatives spoke against the unit cap at the Wednesday hearing. Other student leaders have also expressed dissatisfaction with the proposal.
“While the premise of a unit cap is to ensure or help facilitate that students graduate within a reasonable time period, I think that there’s also a possibility that (a unit cap) will actually hurt students in terms of being able to gain the academic and educational experience that they want to gain at the CSU and UC,” said Student Regent-designate Cinthia Flores.
Brown will publish a revision to his budget this May, which will consider the Legislature’s recent considerations.
Libby Rainey covers higher education. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @rainey_l.