Recently in COLLEGES Category

The University of California Board of Regents finance committee is set to approve a series of highly controversial fee increases today that will raise undergraduate tuition by more than $2,500. It will be the eighth fee hike since 2002.

UC officials are seeking a $913 million increase in state funding.

The fee increases will impose strains on California families at a time when many are struggling in the recession, according to an editorial appearing in Wednesday's San Francisco Chroncile.

The committee is meeting at UCLA, and large protests are underway there and at other UC campuses

*Update: Fee increases have been approved, 14 protestors arrested.

From City News Service:

LONG BEACH - Despite the state's continuing budget difficulties, a California State University Board of Trustees committee approved a budget proposal today that requests nearly $900 million in additional state funding for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

"This is a very ambitious budget in these very challenging times," said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. "We are asking the state to not only restore funding of one-time cuts that were imposed for this year, but to also provide the needed revenue for mandatory costs, compensation increases, as well as fund our collective bargaining agreements for the past two years.

"This budget reflects the true fiscal needs of the CSU," Reed said.

The budget approved by the trustees' Finance Committee -- and expected to be discussed by the full board Wednesday -- asks for $3.2 billion in state funding, up from the current year funding of $2.3 billion.

In the face of cuts in state funding, the CSU system has implemented employee furloughs and other budget cuts. Enrollment for the fall semester was slashed by 4,000 students, with another 6,000 reduction expected in the spring.

CSU officials conceded that the increased funding request could be a long-shot, noting that the state is already facing a projected $7 billion deficit heading into the next fiscal
year.

Despite that deficit, CSU financial officials wrote in a staff report that the university "has
legitimate funding needs in order to carry out its critically important missions for California."

They also note that state revenue could increase rapidly if the economic recovery "becomes more robust that currently forecast."

"Nevertheless, on balance, the consensus of state fiscal experts is that 2010-11 will be
another year of great difficulty," according to the staff report.

Reed indicated last week that if CSU doesn't receive its full funding allotment from the
state, more tuition increases could be considered. CSU fees were already increased by about 30 percent in the past year.

Tuition for full-time undergraduate students increased to $4,026. Average campus fees are $801, bringing the total average cost to $4,827 a year - - a rate that CSU officials said is still lower than many other university systems.

Historic budget cuts and substantial decreases in enrollment have not hindered Californian's view of the state's university and community college systems, according to a recent survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Among the findings:

- 68 percent of those surveyed are against future student fee increases.

- 56 percent are unwilling to pay higher taxes.

- 60 percent rate the state's public university and community college systems as "good" or "excellent"

- Despite their attitude towards the state of education, Californian's have low marks for Sacramento politicians (28 percent approval for the Governor, 17 percent for the legislature).

From the survey:

While strong majorities believe state budget cuts (70%) and overall affordability (57%) are big problems, far fewer (21%) characterize the quality of California public colleges and universities the same way. Despite significant budget cuts in higher education, at least six in 10 Californians give good to excellent marks to the California Community College (13% excellent, 52% good), California State University (9% excellent, 52% good) and University of California (13% excellent, 49% good) systems. These grades are nearly as high as they were in 2007 and 2008, when about two in three Californians gave positive ratings to the three branches. Today, parents of California college students, current students, and alumni give the state's higher education institutions similarly high grades.
 
But residents have little confidence in the state elected officials who have authority over California colleges and universities. Californians give Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger a 28 percent overall approval rating that matches his record low in July 2009. They give the legislature an overall approval rating of 18 percent, near its record low (17%) from July. State leaders get even lower ratings for their handling of higher education: 21 percent for Schwarzenegger and 16 percent for the legislature. Both are new lows. And most Californians have very little (37%) or no (20%) confidence in state government's ability to plan for the future of the higher education system (8% have a great deal of confidence, 33% only some).

And the nations largest public university system is looking to cut more. Spring admissions have already been eliminated and university officials are expected to ask Sacramento lawmakers to restore $804 million in lost funding. The California State University Board of Trustees is expected to vote on an annual budget Nov. 17. If funding is not restored by the state, fee increases, program cuts and more faculty furloughs could be implemented.

Overall, university officials said they are looking to trim enrollment by 40,000 students across the 23-campus system.

Here's an article about how students are responding at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

And here's the press release from the Chancellor's Office.

California lawmakers have brought back a bill that would prevent pay raises for CSU and UC executives during years when university finances are tight.

The bill - SB86 - was proposed by Sen. Leland Yee, D- San Francisco.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

The earlier version died in the Assembly's Appropriations Committee after objections from CSU and University of California officials.

"It doesn't make good economic sense when money is tight for the public universities to increase compensation for executive officers, while furloughing faculty and reducing their salaries," said Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, who chairs the Assembly Education Committee. "Everyone must do their share of shouldering the burden of tight times."

CSU executives covered under the new bill include the chancellor, vice chancellors, general counsel and presidents of CSU's 23 campuses. In all, about 30 people would be affected, said Clara Potes-Fellow, a university spokeswoman.

University officials have argued that raises and fatter perks are approved only when executives take on new duties or are newly hired at something close to market rate. They have also pointed out that top executives have cut their own pay as part of system wide furloughs at CSU, and as part of non-union furloughs at UC.

Princeton University researchers examining public college graduation rates and looking for ways to increase them have come to a startling conclusion: Many students who don't graduate simply lacked an academic challenge.

From USA Today:

Researchers studying how to improve graduation rates at public colleges and universities have come up with a surprising and counter-intuitive finding: Many students may fail to complete a bachelor's degree not because the work is too hard -- but because they're not challenged enough.

The findings underscore age-old advice: Students should enroll in the most selective college that will admit them. But the problem is not that qualified students are being rejected from academically demanding schools. "They never apply in the first place," Bowen* says. And the research found that those aiming too low were most likely to be minorities, low-income students and those whose parents never finished college.

* President emeritus William Bowen at Princeton, lead author of the study

From City News Service:

A judge has denied a request by a group of California State University students seeking to block a 20-percent student fee hike while their case winds through court.

At a hearing Monday, Judge Peter Busch ruled against a preliminary
injunction on the fee increase for the 23-campus system. He also
previously denied a temporary restraining order that would have
frozen the undergraduate fees.

Students are paying $4,827 for this school year.

The Board of Trustees approved the 20 percent increase in July after
approving a 10 percent increase in May to help offset a steep drop in
state funding.

The students argue the second fee hike amounts to a breach of
contract because the university had told students they could enroll
at the lower fee level.

CSU argues it gave students enough notice that fees were subject to
change.

More California students than ever before took the 2009 ACT test, according to data released early today. Although they scored above the national average, room for improvement remains.
"I am pleased to see that a record number of California students this year took the ACT college readiness exam," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said in a statement. "This continued increase is a clear indication that each year growing numbers of our students are setting and reaching a higher standard and making the decision to go on to college. As is also becoming the trend, California students continue to outpace their peers across the country on average ACT scores in all subject areas."
The number of California students taking the test - 81,494 - is considerable, considering it has been long-rivaled by its SAT counterpart. First administered in 1959, the ACT serves as a measure of college preparedness among students.

Los Angeles Community College District Trustee Kelly Candaele resigned from a city board Tuesday after a Los Angeles Times inquiry into a possible ethics violation.

Candaele had been appointed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System board in 2005. He stepped down after Times inquiries about his having hosted a fundraiser for city attorney candidate Jack Weiss, who's supported by the mayor.

City ethics laws do not allow appointed commissioners or board members to participate in campaign fundraising activities.

Times reporter David Zahniser writes:

Top advisors to the mayor, upon learning of the violation, requested that Candaele submit his resignation, a Villaraigosa aide said. In a statement, the mayor described Candaele as an upstanding leader who made "an honest mistake."

Candaele was in March re-elected to his seat on the community college board by a huge margin. He represents District 4, holding one of seven at-large seats on the board.

California State University, Dominguez Hills on Tuesday will host a viewing of the Presidential Inauguration in the campus University Theater, 1000 East Victoria St. in Carson. The free event is open to the public and will begin with a continental breakfast at 6:45 a.m.

It will be followed by a panel of elected officials and political science scholars discussing issues facing the country and the political and policy changes anticipated with the new administration. Information: (310) 243-2001.

The California State University system announced today that it will put off sending bills to students whose state-backed scholarship funding is delayed due to the budget crisis in Sacramento.

The state has told California universities and colleges that there may be a delay in sending out Cal Grants in the coming spring semester, CSU said in a press release today.

CSU will not seek payment for the State University Fee ($3,048 for the 2008-09 school year) until the Cal Grants are released.

One variety of state funding to students -- called Cal Grant B's -- provide a stipend to students. Cal State will seek to provide " short-term emergency loans to needy students on a case-by-case basis," the release said.

CSU is not in a position to automatically cover these cash stipends to students until the (California Student Aid Commission) actually distributes the funds.

About 65,500 CSU students -- about 14.5 percent of the student population at the 23-campus system-- get Cal Grant funds, the release stated.

California State University, Dominguez Hills officials mistakenly told us yesterday that the salary freezes of its top administrators will only affect President Mildred Garcia and four campus vice presidents through the 2009-10 school year.

Spokeswoman Amy Bentley-Smith corrected herself and said the CSU system's budget reductions will lock in Garcia's $295,000 annual salary and FIVE vice presidents who earn $140,000 to $190,000 each year.

Redondo Beach resident Marquita Grenot-Scheyer was recently appointed dean of the College of Education at California State University, Long Beach, campus officials announced. She arrived at the school in 1988 and replaces Jean Houck who retired in July after 12 years as dean of the college. Grenot-Scheyer served as associate dean of graduate studies and research from 2001 to 2008.

The El Camino College Board of Trustees on Monday will continue to discuss whether to make a bid to keep President Thomas Fallo as he vies for the top spot at a college in northern San Diego County.

The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at 16007 Crenshaw Blvd. in Torrance. Information: 310-660-6067.

California State University, Dominguez Hills, professor Munashe Furusa was recently honored by the Carson Black Chamber of Commerce with the organization's Education Award for his work in the community.

Furusa came to CSUDH in 2000 as a visiting professor in African literature from the University of Zimbabwe. A student petition drive encouraged him to stay, and in 2001 he joined the faculty in Africana studies permanently. Information: 310-243-2455.

I'd like to get some feedback from School Notebook readers about my story today on El Camino College President and Superintendent Thomas Fallo interviewing for a job at a college in northern San Diego County.

Some have criticized the possible move as a way for Fallo to leverage a pay raise although the college board insist that's not the case.

The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office reports Fallo had a base salary of $268,840 last year. The average salary of a single-college CEO is just over $193,000, according to the Chancellor's Office.

So what I want to know from all of you is: should the board try to keep him or should they let him go?

Larry Gordon has an interesting story in today's Los Angeles Times that describes an increase in recruitment of L.A.-area seniors by Midwestern and East Coast colleges.

The uptick is due to demographic changes that have decreased the size of the schools' traditional applicant pool, Gordon reports.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of high school graduates in the U.S. peaked this spring with about 3.35 million "Echo Boom" youngsters, offspring of Baby Boomers. The number is projected to drop by about 18,000 next spring and continue to decline for the next five years.

New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania are projected to have significant dips while states such as Texas, Florida and Arizona are slated for growth.

California is in a universe of its own. The "College Door" report estimates that the number of California students graduating from high school peaked at 423,615 in 2008. The state projects a slight decrease for 2009 and a nearly 7% decline by 2017.

However, California's population of young people will remain the largest by far -- about double that of Florida and New York -- and will continue to draw recruiters.

(snip)

That was good news to Carlos Ramos, a Gertz-Ressler senior who attended recent presentations by several East Coast schools and expects to apply to some of them. Ramos, 17, said he heard a clear message from the out-of-state colleges:

"They definitely want L.A. kids to be there," he said.

The story also notes that an increasing percentage of high school grads are Latinos, a group that has tended to go to college less than white students -- a trend that would need to change to reverse the coming decline in the size of incoming classes of college freshman.

Also of note: reps from colleges in the Midwest and the East Coast say they come to L.A. students in part to boost their student-body diversity, Gordon reports.

.... And, a late link: Los Angeles Unified settled its dispute with payroll software provide Deloitte Consulting, the district announced Wednesday. LAUSD will get $8.25 million and will not have to pay between $7 million and $10 million in bills from Deloitte. The settlement amount is much less than some had hoped, after a long-lasting fiasco with a software system that overpaid and underpaid thousands of district employees.LAT Daily News

State high school students visiting the California State University Chancellor's Office YouTube channel will see new videos with a simple message: hurry up and apply if you want to attend a CSU.

The CSU system is asking students, high schools, education groups, news outlets, churches and communities to link and post these YouTube videos on their own websites.

Less than two weeks remain for the fall 2009 priority deadline of Nov. 30, 2008. At least nine CSU campuses will close their application periods for first-time freshmen on that day. Many campuses will follow soon after.

Find more information and apply online at www.csumentor.edu.

ABout 1,000 university students on Sunday held a demonstration at UCLA's Bruin Plaza to protest Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts to higher education, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The demostration comes a week after UC officials considered plans to limit freshman unless the state provides more funding, while the California State University system agreed to cut enrollment by 10,000.

The governor's proposed cuts, they said, would result in higher tuition, lower enrollment, larger class sizes and fewer student services.

"Students are being shortchanged," David Kirui, 21, a fourth-year undergraduate from UC Berkeley, told the crowd in Bruin Plaza. "We are sick and tired of the budget being balanced on the backs of students."

Schwarzenegger recently recommended a $65-million cut from the $3 billion in state money the UC system expected for the 2008-09 school year.

This was too awesome not to add into the blog.

A college intern at a Minnesota TV station after getting fired threatened an executive producer and kicked out the glass of a conference room door in an attempt to get at her, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Jennifer Nicole Anato-Mensah, 21, a University of Minnesota student, "just lost it" after she was let go from the part-time paid internship.

According to court documents:

Several newsroom employees heard Anato-Mensah shouting, yelling obscenities and threatening Danielle Prenevost, 33.

Prenevost attempted to walk away from Anato-Mensah, but the intern followed her. A male employee stepped between her and Prenevost, who went into a nearby conference room. The male employee tried to get Anato-Mensah to calm down and pack up her things, but Anato-Mensah left her desk and again tried to get to the conference room, the complaint said.

Several male employees then stood at the conference room door as Anato-Mensah continued to yell and swear and try to push her way in. At one point, she kicked at and broke a window in the conference room door. She had to be restrained to keep her out of the room, the complaint said.
"The whole situation was very scary," Prenevost said.

Authorities charged the student with criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct.