On Monday, The New York Times’ Thomas B. Edsall made a compelling argument that the role of American higher education has been inverted over the last few decades: During the post-World War II economic expansion, college education served “as a springboard to social mobility,” but today it largely reinforces class Read More…
UC Berkeley officials announced a new financial aid plan Wednesday for middle-income families that caps parent contribution toward undergraduate student education at no more than 15 percent of family income. Starting next academic year, students whose families’ gross income ranges from $80,000 to $140,000 annually and have assets of less than $200,000 — Read More…
Top UC Berkeley administrators will unveil a new financial aid program Wednesday aimed at making the campus more affordable for middle-class families. Campus officials say the program is the first of its kind in the nation at a public university, according to a statement released by the campus Tuesday. The Read More…
UC Berkeley officials have until Dec. 12 to decide if the campus wants to be considered for participation in one or more financial aid “experiments” that will alter requirements and distribution for federal financial aid. The U.S. Department of Education invited postsecondary institutions Thursday to participate in experiments designed to Read More…
Often, the word bureaucracy comes with strong negative connotations. This bad vibe is not entirely unwarranted — anyone who has battled a belligerent receptionist, gone hoarse leaving voice mails for unresponsive departments or grown exhausted shuffling paperwork across campus can attest to the sometimes wily ways of bureaucrats. That said, Read More…
I want to welcome everyone back to campus and share some reflections on what I think makes this campus so special. It is no secret that UC Berkeley is going through challenging times and that the state’s persistent disinvestment in higher education forces us to make unhappy choices, such as Read More…
As a result of the ongoing debt-ceiling negotiations in Washington, D.C., federally funded Pell Grant aid packages — which many University of California students rely on — may undergo serious cuts or gain new avenues of funding in the latest proposals to reduce the federal deficit. Pell Grants — a Read More…
Gov. Jerry Brown signed one part of the California DREAM Act — which will provide increased financial aid for undocumented students — into law Monday at a town hall hosted by the bill’s author. AB 130 — which was authored by state Assemblymember Gilbert Cedillo, D-Los Angeles — was passed Read More…