Pursuing higher education is something that most young people dream about, but actually getting that college degree can be hard. Going to school is expensive which is why some students decide to opt for less costly community colleges and state universities.

Facing tight budgets, even that path may now be in jeopardy.

The University of California is facing an $800 million budget shortfall. In a press conference, University of California President Mark Yudof talked about his plan to address this budget crisis by increasing student fees, implementing furloughs for staff and faculty, and cutting programs on 10 campuses.

 • A quarter of the $813 million gap will be filled in the form of a previously approved student fee increase.
• Another quarter will be gained through what Yudof termed a modified furlough plan. To be implemented Sept. 1, the furloughs will be administered systemwide, with some exceptions, and progressively scaled to ease the burden on those who earn less. This course was chosen after UC employees indicated a clear preference for furloughs rather than across-the-board pay cuts.
• Through the refinancing of debt and further administrative cost controls, the university will gain another $100 million offset against the $813 million shortfall.
• The remainder of the gap to be closed -- $300 million in all -- will come from cuts spread across the university's 10 campuses. The specifics of those cuts will be left to individual chancellors, who will make presentations to the Regents at the July 15 meeting. Read more

In the press conference, Yudof said "we're going to have to look at everything, at where the revenue is coming from and how to enhance it, and how to reduce expenditures without closing the door to student opportunity and research."

This economic downturn has inevitably affected funding to public institutions, including schools.

Not too long ago, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger suspended Proposition 98, a state constitutional amendment that requires a certain percentage of the State’s budget to fund K-14 education—all in an attempt to balance the budget. Worse still: California’s deficit grew by $2 billion overnight because lawmakers failed to pass a budget fix by last Tuesday.

Listening to KQED earlier today, I got a chance to hear governor Schwarzenegger speak about the budget. His voice was clearly filled with annoyance and frustration due to a budget deficit that is millions of dollars deep. Still pushing for privatizing prisons, Schwarzenegger gave insight into how substituting publicly-funded prisons with privately-funded ones would help keep money in California’s health and education budgets.

During the first ten minutes of my Development English class, my professor requires us to respond in our journals to a prompt she assigns. The other day, like countless others, just under ten out of a class of thirty enrolled students bothered to show up to complete the assignment. I do not remember the exact question she had asked in class that day, but our shrinking attendance prompted a serious discussion about whether there would be room for classes like ours in the California state budget. Read more...