Student Loan Blog : University of California

Dorms Add to Community Colleges’ Appeal

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:19:00 GMT

In an attempt to offer a low-cost alternative to college students who typically attend more expensive private and public institutions, community colleges have started building on-campus dorms, a move that may soon alter the commuter culture at such schools, reports the Los Angeles Times (“Community Colleges Add Dorms to Boost Appeal,” April 7, 2009).

With tuition rising at most colleges and universities across the country, experts say that larger numbers of college-age students are opting to enroll in two-year schools offering the same type of college dormitory life traditionally found only at a four-year university. And many community colleges are actively promoting their on-campus housing amenities in their recruitment of international students and athletes, two demographics who often prefer on-campus housing.

“We do think it’s a trend for more community colleges to provide residential housing for students,” said Norma Kent, spokeswoman for the American Association of Community Colleges.

States Responding to Need for Community College Dorms

Dorms at community colleges are being built in Washington state, Florida, Texas, Minnesota, and California, where both the University of California and the California State University systems have said they will severely limit freshmen enrollment this fall.

Educators believe that California — with nearly 2.8 million community college students or roughly 25 percent of the nation’s total community college population — may be particularly ripe for adding new dorms.

With both of the state’s university systems accepting fewer freshmen this year, many of the 4,000 first-year students who’ve been denied admission to those four-year schools may be more likely to consider a two-year school that offers on-campus housing versus one that doesn’t.

And what may come as a surprise, the Los Angeles Times reports, is that 11 community colleges in the state already have dorms, although many of those decades-old dorms resemble 1950s-era military barracks. Other dorms, like those at Sierra College near Sacramento, have been updated and include meal plans honored at local restaurants, one of many features intended to lure students to its campus.

Cerro Coso Community College, a 300-student school located in Mammoth Lakes, says that its South Gateway Student Apartments — an $8.5 million residence hall built last August that can house 59 students — is the first new community college housing to go up in California in 20 years. Funded by a grant from the Mammoth Lakes Foundation, the new dorms aren’t cheap: $900 a month for a single room or $750 a month for a shared room, plus meals.

Feedback from students regarding community college dorms is largely positive. Some students say they’re succeeding at school for the first time and that they enjoy the intimate surroundings and small class sizes that community colleges can offer.

Sharon Carroll, a student at Cerro Coso Community College, said that if she had to fight the traffic and large class sizes of an urban community college, “I would have been sick of school already. I figured out a lot from being here. It made me want to go to a four- year college.”

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‘Discriminatory’ UC Admissions Policy Angers Asian Community

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:58:00 GMT

A new University of California admissions policy intended to increase the diversity of the school system’s student body may actually do the opposite, boosting the number of white students while decreasing the size of the Asian population, reports the San Jose Mercury News (“New UC Admissions Policy Gives White Students a Better Chance, Angers Asian-American Community,” March 27, 2009).

Under this new admissions policy, the UC system no longer requires the SAT subject tests, which Asians tend to excel at and which many low-income and minority students do not take, and places more weight on the SAT reasoning test, which tends to favor the white student population in admissions.

Community leaders and educators have characterized the new policy as poorly publicized, ill-conceived, and discriminatory. “It’s affirmative action for whites,” said Ling-chi Wang, a professor at UC-Berkeley. “I’m really outraged ... and profoundly disappointed with the institution.”

Although Asians currently make up only 12 percent of California’s state population, they represent 37 percent of the UC system’s admissions population — the school system’s single largest ethnic group — but may only end up comprising 7 percent of the UC system under the new policy, according to UC’s own estimate.

The admissions rate for white students, on the other hand, may rise by as much as 10 percent, while the number of black students would go up a negligible amount, and the number of Latino students would only modestly increase, Asian activists pointed out at a recent higher education conference in San Francisco.

UC administrators say that they’ve struggled to create a better cultural balance across all campuses for more than a decade in an effort to adhere to Proposition 209, which prohibited the state’s public institutions from promoting racial preference.

But this new policy has triggered a wave of suspicion throughout the Asian community not seen by the UC system since the 1980s, the Mercury News reports, when a similar policy caused a decline in Asian-American undergraduate enrollment.

“I fear a general sense that there are too many Asians in the UC system,” said Patrick Hayashi, former UC associate president. “It is a fatal mistake to think it will blow over.”

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UC System Considers “Free” Tuition for Lower-Income Families

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:02:00 GMT

The University of California is considering a program which would offer certain students free tuition, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education (“U. of California to Consider Covering Tuition for Families Below State’s Median Income,” Jan. 22, 2009).

As part of a series of measures intended to “broaden the reach of the university during the recession,” the university would cover the tuition and fees at any of its nine college campuses for an estimated 50,000 qualified students whose families have incomes below the state’s $60,000 median household income level.

The proposed tuition plan, known as the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan, is intended to encourage more low and middle-income students to attend a UC school, at a time when tuition costs are rising and state funding for colleges has been significantly reduced.

Estimated to cost the school $3 million a year, the plan will likely be funded from tuition increases, as well as from existing state, federal and institutional aid, said university system president Mark Yudof. The University of California’s Board of Regents must first approve the proposal, a process that The Chronicle of Higher Education reports could take several months.

It’s possible that the regents could vote to raise undergraduate tuition by as much as 10 percent, the Chronicle suggests, at the same time that regents approve the “free tuition” plan.

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Former UC Students Get $33 Million Settlement

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:58:00 GMT

The University of California school system paid out more than $33 million last month to nearly 35,000 former students after losing a class-action lawsuit over a fee dispute, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports (“U. of California Pays $33-Million to Settle Former Students’ Lawsuit Over Tuition,” Jan. 6, 2009).

A state judge determined the university system was guilty of unfairly raising fees for thousands of students in 2003 — a price hike that the judge said represented a breach of contract between the university and students. The UC system had pledged not to raise certain fees but eventually did so during a state budget crisis, leaving students at a handful of professional schools, including UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, with sharp fee increases, according to the Contra Costa Times (“Nearly 35,000 Get UC Holiday Present,” Jan. 6, 2009).

As part of the settlement, the University of California compensated former students for the difference between the tuition fees they paid and the tuition fees they had originally expected to pay. Former UC students received reimbursement checks for as little as $1 and as much as $12,000, although most students received between $200 and $300.

A UC spokesman said the school system would not be adversely affected by the payout despite recent state budget cuts, and that it would pay for the judgment, which rose to $42 million after interest, over the next five to six years using a portion of student fees.

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UC System Needs a Boost of Higher-Paying Students

Student Loan Girl — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:53:00 GMT

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.

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College Employees’ Donations to Obama Far Outweigh Contributions to McCain

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:38:00 GMT

College employees have given eight times as much money to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign — $12.2 million — as they have to John McCain’s — just over $1.5 million, making it the widest gap in donations by academics in the past five presidential elections, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Obama, who taught constitutional law as a lecturer at the University of Chicago, has received donations from dozens of college presidents, from professors from a variety of liberal arts disciplines, and from faculty members at business, law, and medical schools, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Donors From Academe Favor Obama by a Wide Margin,” Oct. 24, 2008).

A large amount of McCain’s donations from academic sources also came from a handful of college presidents and from faculty members at business, law, and medical schools. McCain also received donations from the head football and basketball coaches at the University of Arizona, a school in his home state.

Among the top 10 academic institutions to make donations to Obama’s campaign were the University of Chicago, Columbia University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science, and Harvard University, where he earned a law degree.

Top 10 Colleges With Donors Giving to Obama Campaign

University of California: $778,000
Harvard University: $496,000
Stanford University: $342,000
University of Chicago: $285,000
Columbia University: $267,000
Northwestern University: $179,000
Georgetown University: $179,000
University of Washington: $165,000
University of Pennsylvania: $162,000
New York University: $158,000

Top 10 Colleges With Donors Giving to McCain Campaign

University of California: $40,000
Harvard University: $39,000
Columbia University: $35,000
University of Texas: $33,000
University of Pennsylvania: $28,000
Northwestern University: $21,000
Stanford University: $19,000
University of Minnesota: $18,000
George Washington University: $17,000
Washington University in St. Louis: $16,000

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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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Controversial Admissions Policy Proposal Could Shake Up University of California System

Student Loan Girl — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:53:00 GMT

The biggest change in how the University of California system evaluates prospective applicants in 10 years could come from a major administrator-proposed revision to the system’s admissions policy, allowing schools to depend less on test scores and more on individual student evaluations when making admissions offers, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (“U. of California Proposes Sweeping and Controversial Admissions Changes”).

The new policy would give more discretion to admissions officials at each school, David Longanecker, president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, told the Chronicle. Longanecker also said that the move would bring the state’s college admissions policies more in line with those of private and public research universities.

Advocates say that the system’s current strict eligibility formula doesn’t adequately consider deserving students from minority or low -income backgrounds who have high GPAs, but who didn’t take the correct college-prep classes or the SAT II.

Under the newly proposed rules, students would no longer have to take this additional test or as many required college-prep courses. Administrators would be allowed to evaluate applicants on an individual basis and would be able to forego the system’s current formulaic admissions methods that depend solely on test scores or other pre-set criteria.

Those administrators who are in favor of the change say that while the new policy would only marginally affect the largest campuses, such as U.C. Berkeley and UCLA, those like the U.C. Riverside and U.C. Merced campuses, which are less selective, may see a significant shift in the composition of their freshmen class.

Critics contend that fewer students with the highest grades and test scores would be guaranteed a spot at a California state school; a factor that may violate the state’s constitution which requires that the UC system admit the top 12.5 percent of California’s high school students.

“It's a change in substance as well as in symbol,” said William Drummond, a Berkeley journalism professor. “Ever since the 1960s and the master plan, we’ve been telling kids from primary school on up that if you work hard, we will guarantee you a place. Now we’ll just guarantee that you’ll be reviewed.”

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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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$50 Million Given to California Community Colleges to Aid Needy Students

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:30:00 GMT

In what may be the largest gift ever donated to the nation’s community colleges, the San Francisco–based Bernard Osher Foundation recently announced that it has pledged up to $50 million to help needy students attending California’s two-year institutions, writes Matt Krupnick of The Mercury News (“Endowment to Aid Needy Students,” May 5, 2008).

The gift funds will be placed in an endowment that will be managed by the Foundation for California Community Colleges, with $25 million to be paid immediately and the remainder to be paid over the course of the next three years. In order to receive the second $25 million, the FCCC must raise $50 million on its own during that three-year time period.

California’s community colleges serve nearly 25 percent of the nation’s community college students, with 2.6 million students enrolled each year, and comprise the world’s largest public college system.

To Bernard Osher Foundation President, Mary Bitterman, it had become clear that the state’s community colleges needed more financial assistance than the four-year universities to which the Foundation has already given millions.

“The more we have focused on the needs of California, we have really begun to look at the critical role community colleges play,” Bitterman said. “Our trustees decided that we would really like to help community college students.”

The Bernard Osher Foundation followed its initial donation with the announcement of an additional pledge of $20 million to multiple campuses within the University of California and California State University systems, to establish endowed scholarships for students transferring from California community colleges.

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