When I attended UC Berkeley in the 1960s, tuition was not a concern. Our state and university leaders understood that California's prosperity rested on broad access to higher education.

The Master Plan made clear that all students in our state deserved an opportunity to pursue their dreams and discover their talents-an opportunity to thrive at a UC, CSU or community college campus.

Our state's leadership in biotechnology, computer technology, aerospace, finance and other high growth sectors today is largely attributable to our past commitment to higher education. Multiple California generations have grown up with the keen understanding that if they study hard and play by the rules, our state will make sure that a quality career-building education awaits them when they finish high school. Will students now working their way through California public schools have that same understanding? That's up to us.

Since 1990, student fees at UC and CSU have increased more than fivefold. In 1980, 18 percent of our state budget was invested in higher education. Today, we're at 10 percent. Because of budget cuts approved by the state legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger, nearly 50,000 qualified students were denied admission this year to a UC or CSU campus. Those students are our state's future nurses, teachers, engineers, inventors and entrepreneurs.

As a student, you should be outraged. As a resident of California, you should be alarmed.

We know that for every dollar we invest in higher education, more than four dollars is returned to the state. We also know that despite a bad economy today, our state is projected to have one million fewer college graduates than needed to keep pace with our economy by 2025.

Of the 4.5 million new jobs that will be created, it is estimated that 3.5 million will require at least a bachelor's degree. If an additional two percent of Californians had associate's degrees and another one percent earned bachelor's degrees, California's economy would grow by $20 billion, our state and local tax revenues would increase by $1.2 billion a year and 174,000 new jobs would be created. Education is our smartest investment.

Instead, we slash and burn our way to a non-solution and continue starving the higher education system. If we do not act soon, our state's global competitiveness will be compromised.

So where do we go from here? Our leaders in Washington talk about stimulating our economy. Long term, there is no greater stimulus than a renewed commitment to education. We must forcefully advocate for higher education funding at both the state and federal levels.

We must also recognize that the cuts to higher education are a symptom of a larger illness. Because of the two-thirds majority requirement to pass budgets and adjust taxes in California, it only takes one-third of the legislature to block budgets. Commonsense reforms are routinely blocked by a small minority of legislators whose values and priorities do not reflect the views of an overwhelming majority of Californians. Our economy depends on reinstating majority rule in California.

We must also reexamine the effectiveness of term limits. When I was in the state legislature, we knew that we would have to answer for any budget we passed in later elections. These days, the incentives are reversed. Legislators today have no expectation of being held accountable for the long-term implications of their budgets, because they have no expectation of staying in the legislature. Short-term political survival beats out the long-term interests of the state, and political careers rise and fall on the ability to avoid controversy, not on the ability to effectively govern.

There is a solution to this madness. Business, labor, community and good government groups have joined forces to advocate for a constitutional convention that could fix our state constitution. I support their efforts and expect to see an initiative on the ballot soon that helps jumpstart this important reform.

We must save higher education in California. Our economy depends on a broadly educated workforce. We must stridently fight for more funds and for budgetary reform, because in a very real sense, our livelihoods depend on it.

Tags: STATE OF THE STATE