New opinion: UC Needs Funds, Not Limits

A new opinion piece from Yes to Higher Ed co-chairs Dick Ackerman and Mel Levine ran in Fox & Hounds on April 8, 2016.  Here’s a excerpt:

We need to open doors wider at the University of California to allow more Californians in, but proposed legislation to limit out of state enrollment at UC campuses is misguided and counterproductive….

In opposing AB 1711, Assemblyman Das Williams of Santa Barbara got it right when he said, “the Legislature and the Governor massively cut UC and CSU funding, and yet, we have sort of expected that there wouldn’t be dramatic, bad consequences”.

In the last few years, Governor Brown and the Legislature have begun to edge funding up for UC and the California State University system,  but those increases do not begin to make up for decades of fiscal neglect.  At a time when State revenues are coming in ahead of projections, it makes perfect sense for the decision-makers in Sacramento to invest at least another $100 million a year in both UC and CSU.  That’s enough money to make a real difference in the lives and prospects of thousands of young Californians.

Read the complete article, “UC Needs Funds, Not Limits,” on the Fox & Hounds website.