Higher Education Is Path To Raise Incomes

A new opinion piece from Yes to Higher Ed co-chairs Dick Ackerman and Mel Levine ran in Fox & Hounds on June 23, 2016.  Here’s an excerpt:

We can’t afford to take public higher education for granted when the State sets its Budget priorities.

Over the past several decades, there has been an unfortunate pattern of raiding higher education funding when the State gets into a fiscal jam.  During the Great Recession, California’s community colleges lost $1.5 billion in State funding from 2008-09 to 2011-12.   That lost revenue forced a 25% reduction in course offerings and shut 500,000 students out of the classroom.  Fortunately, in the last few State Budget cycles, the community colleges have received healthy increases and it is imperative that this trend continues.