Student Loan Blog : Arnold Schwarzenegger

California Legislators Act to Block Administrators From Censoring College Publications

Student Loan Girl — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:34:00 GMT

In a move that may soon further the free-speech rights of students writing for the state’s college newspapers, California legislators passed a bill on August 5 that would make it unlawful for school administrators to retaliate against college newspaper advisors, reports the San Francisco Chronicle (“Calif. Bill Protects Student Journalism Teachers,” Aug. 5, 2008).

If signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bill, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Leland Yee, would prohibit the dismissal, transfer, or disciplining of college or high school journalism teachers who are attempting to protect the free-speech rights of their students.

Journalism teachers have been punished at least 12 times since 2001 as a result of opinion pieces or stories written by student reporters, according to the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

The new bill comes two years after Gov. Schwarzenegger signed anti-censorship legislation into law, granting student reporters free-speech protections comparable to those held by professional journalists. The so-called “Hosty bill” came in response to a 2005 federal ruling by the 7^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that gave university officials the same authority as high school administrators to review and censor student publications.

Although the University of California had originally taken the position that it probably wouldn’t adopt the provisions of the newly passed bill, administrators for the state school system have since reconsidered after further discussions with lawmakers.

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Trade School Students No Longer Protected Under California Law

Student Loan Girl — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:50:00 GMT

California students at for-profit colleges now have fewer legal rights if their institution goes out of business. The state law that regulated for-profit colleges, which enroll some 400,000 students, expired at the end of June and lawmakers recently rejected a bill that would replace the law, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education article (“California's Oversight of For-Profit Colleges Lapses as State Law Expires,” July 1, 2008).

The rejected bill would have provided tuition refunds to California students at for-profit colleges through a state-run reimbursement fund and would have dropped the requirement that colleges place 70 percent of their graduates in jobs. The law would have also restricted students from suing their school over grievances.

Lawmakers, consumer advocates, and schools have battled for three years to negotiate terms of the new law without success. Advocates claim that some of these schools misrepresent the value and quality of their job-oriented educational programs, which causes students to incur large amounts of debt and leave many without viable options for employment.

Corinthian Colleges, one of the larger for-profit schools in California and a school that has been at the center of this controversy, recently settled a lawsuit requiring the school to pay $6.5 million for a charge that Corinthian exaggerated its job- placement record, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times (“Oversight of For-Profit Trade-Schools Expires in California,” July 1, 2008).

Robert Johnson commented that the for-profit college oversight bill that expired in June had so many requirements that he feared it would cripple smaller trade schools not part of a national chain like Corinthian. Johnson, the executive director of the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools, said that the bill “was 112 pages of punishment.”

Lawmakers believe that the bill may reemerge later this year in a different form, although Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may veto it, due to opposition from his Consumer Affairs Department. If the bill were to pass, it could go into effect as early as January 2009.

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Teachers in California Oppose $340 Million in Cuts to Education

Student Loan Girl — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:36:00 GMT

Following a tuition-increase protest last month by students in the University of California and California State University systems that resulted in 16 arrests, California educators are voicing grievances of their own.

Tens of thousands of teachers at nearly 900 schools throughout Los Angeles left their classrooms Friday to protest California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed state budget cuts to education, according to an article in The New York Times ("California Teachers Challenge Proposed Cuts," June 7, 2008).

During the scheduled hour-long protest, teachers and parents voiced their opposition to the budget cuts, which, if passed, would reduce funding for Los Angeles schools next year by $340 million, says A.J. Duffy, president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles union representing 48,000 teachers.

Teachers took to the streets, despite an attempt by Los Angeles Unified School District officials last month to win a court injunction that would have prevented the educators from leaving their classrooms to join the picket line.

To account for the teachers’ absence, administrators and substitute teachers from neighboring districts were brought in to sit with students in school auditoriums, gymnasiums, and on playgrounds, writes New York Times reporter Rebecca Cathcart.

The suggested education budget cuts and college tuition hikes are part of Schwarzenegger’s plan to help reduce the state’s projected $17-billion budget deficit.

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Students Protest, Struggle to Meet California Schools’ Tuition Increases

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:24:00 GMT

For the sixth time in seven years, California’s 670,000 public university students will pay more to attend schools in the University of California and California State University systems, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle (“UC, CSU Move to Hike Tuition Amid Protests,” May 15, 2008).

News of the tuition increase was met with protest. Sixteen students were arrested for “unruly behavior” and removed by force during a UC Board of Regents meeting held at the University of California Los Angeles, after a regents committee voted 7–2 to raise tuition by 7.4 percent for the 2008–09 academic year, the Chronicle reported.

UC San Diego sophomore Gracelynne West told the regents she struggles to put herself through school. She holds two jobs at nearly 30 hours a week and has already borrowed more than $20,000 in student loans.

“It is hard to find time to be a student and focus on academics while struggling to stay in this university financially,” she told the committee.

The UC system tuition hike — which regents could increase to 10 percent if the state makes more budget cuts to education this summer— raises the annual cost of undergraduate tuition to $7,126 from $6,571.

Students attending CSU schools will definitely see a 10-percent increase this year, pushing the annual cost of undergraduate tuition to $3,048 from $2,772.

The two institutions have raised tuition every school year since the 2002–03 academic year, the newspaper reported, except for the 2006–07 academic year when the schools avoided an 8–percent tuition hike after the state Legislature provided additional government funding.

Both universities, writes Chronicle reporter Tanya Schevitz, endorsed tuition increases May 14 despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s restoration of $98.5 million to the UC system and $97.6 million to the CSU system in his proposed state budget.

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Congress Joins States and Colleges in Efforts to Reduce Soaring Textbook Costs

Student Loan Girl — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:09:00 GMT

With the average college student now shelling out between $900 and $1,000 each year for textbooks and supplies, according to the College Board’s latest Trends in College Pricing report, schools, states, and now Congress are getting involved in the crusade to control the spiraling costs of college textbooks.

Propelled by studies that show the prices of textbooks are rising faster than the rate of inflation, the House of Representatives included provisions in the recently approved College Opportunity and Affordability Act that are specifically targeted at making textbook costs more manageable, reports Elia Powers of Inside Higher Ed (“Different Tacks on Textbook Choice,” Feb. 19, 2008).

The House bill (H.R. 4137), which passed the House on February 7 and renews the Higher Education Act, would have colleges provide advance information in their course schedules about required books to give students time to plan for expenses and comparison-shop for the most cost-effective options.

Also approved by the House was an amendment (H.AMDT.951) proposed by Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio that would create a pilot competitive grant program to assist a select number of colleges in setting up textbook rental programs.

States Enacting Their Own Textbook Legislation

H.R. 4137 would also require textbook publishers to provide more information about pricing and changes from previous editions, which follows bills already passed by some state legislatures, writes Powers.

Last April, for example, Washington state House Bill 2300 was signed into law, requiring textbook publishers to disclose retail prices and a history of revisions from edition to edition when presenting any materials to faculty.

In June, Oregon passed its similar Senate Bill 365 into law. In addition to charging publishers with providing retail prices and a list of all previous versions of a text to potential adopters, the Oregon measure requires publishers of textbook “bundles” (textbooks packaged with an accompanying CD-ROM or study guide, for instance) to make each component of the bundle available to students separately and to disclose the retail price of each piece.

In California, Assembly Bill 1548, known as the College Textbook Transparency Act, likewise calls for publishers to provide a list of revisions made to new editions, as well as for college bookstores to release the wholesale prices of textbooks. The California bill was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October and goes into effect in 2010.

Changes at the College Level

In response to the increasingly vocal concerns of students, families, and legislators, not all schools are waiting on Congress or state officials to adopt changes to textbook pricing and marketing practices. Some schools, writes Powers, have already instituted book rental, buyback, or other programs in a move to extend textbook affordability.

At Rio Salado College in Arizona, for example, a partnership with Pearson Custom Publishing allows professors to “build” custom textbooks, drawing material from multiple sources. Administrators believe this program could save students up to 50 percent on reading materials.

The University of Virginia, in addition to expanding its textbook rental and guaranteed buyback programs, is increasing its selection of e-books, which can save students as much as 30 percent over print versions of new editions. And a growing number of U.Va. professors are choosing to purchase older editions of books in cases where the new material isn’t a necessity, a move the university says cuts an average of 75 percent off new book prices.

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