Calif. budget crisis hurts college affordability

California’s promise of an affordable higher education for its residents is being jeopardized by state budget cuts, the leaders of the state’s college and university systems warned.

The cuts threaten to violate a half-century-old Master Plan for Higher Education that has made California’s higher education system a model for the world.

In a rare joint appearance, the heads of the University of California, California State University and community college systems on Monday told lawmakers the education promise was in doubt because of the budget cuts.

“You better increase the size of the pie because that’s what the issue is all about,” Jack Scott, chancellor of the state’s 110 community colleges, told a joint legislative committee examining the state’s master plan.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature have cut spending at UC and CSU by 20 percent to help balance the state’s budget amid the steep economic downturn. Community colleges received about 8 percent less funding in 2009-10 fiscal year.

To deal with the cuts, the UC system, which has about 220,000 students, has raised student fees 15 percent since January, reduced freshman enrollment by 6 percent and forced most of its 180,000 employees to take furloughs and pay cuts up to 10 percent.

The university intends to raise fees by another 15 percent, a move that has triggered student protests on several campuses.

CSU, the nation’s largest four-year university system with 450,000 students, plans to cut enrollment by 40,000 during the next two years. Nearly all 47,000 employees have agreed to take furloughs two days a month, and fees for in-state undergraduates increased by $1,000 this year.

Meanwhile, the community college system, which last year served 2.89 million students, raised fees from $20 to $26 per credit and reduced the number of classes.