UC System Needs a Boost of Higher-Paying Students
The University of California public school system is considering increasing the number of out-of-state students it accepts in an effort to help UC schools bring in more revenue and offset cuts in state funding, reports the Los Angeles Times (“UC Officials Debate Accepting More Non-Californians to Boost Revenue,” Jan. 4, 2008).
With the California budget gap now reaching nearly $15 billion and the state’s contribution to the UC system per student having fallen nearly 40 percent since 1990, the school system hopes increasing the number of out-of-state students will provide a substantial funding boost. Once school costs are met the university system gains $100,000 for every 10 out-of-state students it enrolls, since out-of-state students who attend UC schools pay about $20,000 more than in-state students, half of which is strictly profit.
Although accepting more non-California students could help the school system compensate for funding shortages, opponents of the idea warn that it also could squeeze out qualified California students.
“When we start chasing that money as a substitute for state money, that’s bad public policy,” said Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a member of the UC board of regents.
The idea to step up recruiting efforts out-of-state may not be unique to California; it may begin to gain traction at universities nationwide “as a matter of survivability,” says David Shulenburger, vice president for academic affairs at the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges in Washington, D.C. The premium tuition out-of-state students pay helps schools to cover their basic operating costs and to subsidize in-state students’ fees, he says.
Currently, about 10 percent of the UC system’s 220,000 students in undergraduate and graduate programs are non-California residents. Other prestigious state universities in Colorado, Michigan, and Virginia enroll more than 30 percent of students in their freshmen classes from other states.