More eligible students, fewer college slots

[bemildred]

(12-09) 20:24 PST -- California high schools are graduating more students qualified to enter a public university than in past years - especially Latinos - but the state's grim financial picture means not everyone may get to enroll.

Between 2003 and 2007, the number of public high school seniors eligible for the University of California or California State University grew by 11 percent, from 145,100 to 161,200 students, a new study shows.

But being eligible to enroll is not the same as enrolling. Both university systems have recently announced plans to cut their budgets and shrink enrollments in the face of reduced state funding. CSU has said it will lower enrollment by 10,000 students, while UC has been less specific.

"Our public higher education systems face a growing challenge of accommodating more students with reduced state funding," said Murray Haberman, executive director of the California Postsecondary Education Commission, which looks every four years at the percentage of high school graduates who meet admission requirements for the two public university systems.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/10/BA1314IG75.DTL

[davidinalameda]

1. the private colleges will pick up the slack

I'm sure they'll be happy to get those financial aid dollars

[bemildred]

2. Yah, public schools and colleges don't make anybody rich. nt

[davidinalameda]

3. if you look at the salaries of some of the higher-ups

you'll see that some of them are getting paid very well

[bemildred]

4. That's true.

But not like in the private sector.

[davidinalameda]

5. I don't know

the UC system pays comparable to the private colleges so they can attract the "best"

[bemildred]

6. So you favor privatizing education, or you just object to me saying it's about money?

Or what? I'm not sure where you are coming from. I think it's been a long downhill slide since when I went to school (60s & 70s mostly) and I think it is no accident.

[davidinalameda]

7. I want good affordable public education

but since the state public education system is so screwed, the private schools are going to have to pick up the slack

what I do object to is some of these administrators making so much money; I understand that you have to pay them a comparable salary to other schools on their level to keep them but come on

I want to see UC Berkeley spend some of their billion dollar endowment on the students

[bemildred]

8. Well, opinions will vary.

I think since the public schools suck, we need to give them more money and so on so they don't suck anymore. They didn't used to suck this bad, we know they can be better.

I think we should fire all the administrators and go for workplace democracy in the schools, I have never seen any sign that education bureaucrats would not be much improved by having to teach regularly and be held accountable for the results.

[davidinalameda]

9. I don't like bureaucrats no matter where they are

and what they're doing

I'm going to start taking classes at the Peralta community college-it's the community colleges in the Oakland-Berkeley-Alameda areas

they have four campuses each with its own president and the assorted staff that goes along with it plus a chancellor that is the head poo-bah

I have yet to figure out why each campus needs its own president and a chancellor

it's not like these schools are spread out over hundreds of miles like the UC and the CSU systems and need the day to day attention of a separate president

If I had the time and the energy, I'd do some digging and make some noise but I don't know