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Students Take Over Mrak Hall

DAVIS, Calif. -- Police arrested 52 people at UC Davis after hundreds protested a 32 percent increase in undergraduate student fees on Thursday.

The University of California regents on Thursday approved the increase, despite protests by hundreds of demonstrators outside the regents' meeting at UCLA.

By next fall, undergraduate fees will be boosted by $2,500, sending the average annual education cost at a UC campus to more than $10,000. That's triple the amount from a decade ago.

Hundreds of angry students protested Thursday inside and outside Mrak Hall at UC Davis. One person held a sign saying "Question UC Leadership." Another read "Don't Deprive Me Of My Education."

http://www.kcra.com/education/21669598/detail.html

Oh the irony....liberal students who overwhelmingly vote for mandated social programs are now being tasked with helping fund said mandated social programs....hope this spreads nationwide....

At first I was surprised that the rates were going up 32% thinking they already paid an arm and a leg for tuition, but $10,000 doesn't seem like much considering the location of the school/size (national average is a little over 7K per year for public colleges). Plenty of other public colleges of their size already have tuition/fees over 10K.


Rates have been going up steadily ever since I started back in 2002 (perhaps even before, I don't know as I didn't pay attention before). In my 4 years at UGA, I've seen tuition and fees go up dramatically. My first year I paid $300 for student fees each semester.... this year, $700. I don't have to pay tuition here, but I'm pretty sure if you're not on the Hope scholarship, it's pretty pricey.

Public College education in California has been dirty cheap for years...

Now, they have to pay some money...still less than most other states...

Col Hogan wrote:Public College education in California has been dirty cheap for years...

Now, they have to pay some money...still less than most other states...

.... ah, my first post was in regards to UCLA, didn't read the Davis part. Either way, the point still remains the same for all of the public schools in California affected by this as highlighted by Col. I don't even think California residents have to pay tuition.


UCLA Protest - a bunch were arrested here too.
[youtube][/youtube]

JMU DJ wrote:

Col Hogan wrote:Public College education in California has been dirty cheap for years...

Now, they have to pay some money...still less than most other states...

.... ah, my first post was in regards to UCLA, didn't read the Davis part. Either way, the point still remains the same for all of the public schools in California affected by this as highlighted by Col. I don't even think California residents have to pay tuition.


UCLA Protest - a bunch were arrested here too.
[youtube][/youtube]

Oh yes, there is in-state tuition for normal folk.

native wrote:
Oh yes, there is in-state tuition for normal folk.

Ah, when I posted that I was just looking at the cost at UCLA and Davis and noticed that in-state/CA residents only have to pay "Fees" while out of state students have to pay "Fees" and "Tuition"... don't know what the delineation between the two (fees and tuition) are besides use of fees for athletics, buses, student centers, etc.

Appaholic wrote:
Oh the irony....liberal students who overwhelmingly vote for mandated social programs are now being tasked with helping fund said mandated social programs....hope this spreads nationwide....

That's why the Young College Republicans were one of the many student organizations sponsoring the protests right?

The Regents are EXTREMELY short-sighted here. They obviously don't understand the concept of pricing oneself out of the market. Inflows will decrease markedly when kids who can no longer afford tuition LEAVE.

That said, Davis folk will be even MORE upset tomorrow night when they get trounced at the Causeway Classic.

SuperHornet wrote:The Regents are EXTREMELY short-sighted here. They obviously don't understand the concept of pricing oneself out of the market. Inflows will decrease markedly when kids who can no longer afford tuition LEAVE.

That said, Davis folk will be even MORE upset tomorrow night when they get trounced at the Causeway Classic.

So who should pay with the state as broke as it is....

It's supply and demand. Lower tuition and registration rises. You make it up on volume.

Time for the federal government to bail out the Socialist Republik of Kalifornia?

What isn't being discussed is the Regent's fiscal mismanagement.

The university's waste hundreds of millions annually on nonsensical administrative programs created for local/regional social support (welfare). If the student is a parent, or falls into one of the protected "classes", they're provided lifetime education virtually for free.
I know of one woman at U.C. Davis, who's in her 50's, passed the bar, has never been employed (except a short stint working for her father's law firm about 20 years ago), but because she is "disabled" (has Aspergers), she has been a full-time student her entire life (has earned sociology and botanical degrees)...and she's working on public administration right now.
And she does it because they provide her housing subsidies (though she lives on a 20 acre farm, paid off many years ago), charge no tuition, gets reimbursed for books, and actually pay her as an assistant.

Why doesn't she go into the workforce and use her education?

Because she's an asshole. Everyone who's met her, can't stand her. She's narrow minded and incapable of carrying on a conversation (allegedly due to her Aspergers)...but those who know her suspect she's just a silver spoon child who missed the rights of passage (pimp hand).



More to the point, however, having worked with the long-term "fixed pricing" contracts the regents generally require from vendors, I can assure you that most vendors are forced to build in additional overhead markup to protect themselves from market fluctuation. In the case of the companies I represented, the margin was between 11 and 18%. If the regents allowed their purchasing department to renegotiate annually, I would wager fee increases such as this 35% gouge wouldn't become necessary.

This isn't about CA's historical education pricing, or ingrateful students...it's about (uber arrogant)mismanagement. And the regents have recently (past 30 years or so), been hack political appointees selected for the size of their campaign contributions or political ideological proclivities, rather than their management expertise.

While generally a fan of government, the one thing I can't stand is waste of any type. Excess overhead has been the death nell of many Private businesses. Hopefully it won't lead to the destruction of what is probably the finest University system of any state.

dbackjon wrote:While generally a fan of government, the one thing I can't stand is waste of any type. Excess overhead has been the death knell of many Private businesses. Hopefully it won't lead to the destruction of what is probably the finest University system of any state.

At least there is a natural way for businesses with excess overhead to die a natural death.

The PROBLEM with all your grandiose, off target, ineffective and intrusive government schemes, dbj, is that they are DEFINED by excess overhead and there is no way to let them die a natural death.

RobsPics wrote:

Appaholic wrote:
Oh the irony....liberal students who overwhelmingly vote for mandated social programs are now being tasked with helping fund said mandated social programs....hope this spreads nationwide....

That's why the Young College Republicans were one of the many student organizations sponsoring the protests right?

I'm sure they were as I doubt they, as Young Republicans, were exempt from paying the increase....this isn't Republican or Democrat, but more a testament of the naivete' of college students who support grandiose ideals of utopian society supported by the tooth fairy or some rich sugar daddy. I was the same way when I was in school the first three years. When I returned after taking two years off to work (and seeing 37% of my paycheck go to taxes), I tended to view those same grandiose ideals with the skeptical eye one can usually only develop after having paid one's on way for a while. Basically what I'm getting at is this...the student's should be out protesting the rampant waste within the administration every semester, not just the times when their tuition is affected...eliminate the waste, eliminate the need for the 32% increase....public education in this country is not underfunded, it's just the funds allocated for education usually end up in sweetening the benefits of the adminstration, not improving classroom performance whehter it's K-12 or College-level....

native wrote:

dbackjon wrote:While generally a fan of government, the one thing I can't stand is waste of any type. Excess overhead has been the death knell of many Private businesses. Hopefully it won't lead to the destruction of what is probably the finest University system of any state.

At least there is a natural way for businesses with excess overhead to die a natural death.

The PROBLEM with all your grandiose, off target, ineffective and intrusive government schemes, dbj, is that they are DEFINED by excess overhead and there is no way to let them die a natural death.

BINGO!!!!

The UC Regents are the epitome of perpetual mismanagement.

Since the 80's, they have plundered the UC system, yet are never held to account.

Years ago, CA's Little Hoover Commission acted as defacto ombudsman/grand jury/chief auditor over state agencies. I can remember the days when they had the political courage to take on UC Regents. Since Willie Brown, however, they've beed defanged and put out in the back 40 to whither. Willie heavily politicized the Board, appointing Regents with extremist agenda's. When the Little Hoover Commission began poking their noses into the shenanigans, Brown gutted their funding and staffing...a level which has never been restored.

Put the Little Hoover Commission back into play, and start holding the Regents accountable.

RobsPics wrote:

Appaholic wrote:
Oh the irony....liberal students who overwhelmingly vote for mandated social programs are now being tasked with helping fund said mandated social programs....hope this spreads nationwide....

That's why the Young College Republicans were one of the many student organizations sponsoring the protests right?

First a student, second a Republican.

I'd imagine the college republicans (if they are good republicans) are calling for cuts in spending rather than fee increases. I think a lot of you guys that went to college before the late 90s or so would be very surprised at how many auxiliary services there are on college campuses these days. That, and professors in certain departments are making way too much money when there is already a supersaturation of people with Ph.ds. that aren't of much use outside of academia.

dbackjon wrote:While generally a fan of government, the one thing I can't stand is waste of any type. Excess overhead has been the death nell of many Private businesses. Hopefully it won't lead to the destruction of what is probably the finest University system of any state.

I'm still scratching my head, wondering how someone can be a fan of government and simultaneously disavow waste.

Government is the epitome of waste.