State Assemblyman Curren Price (D-Inglewood) today criticized a proposal by the University of California that would increase the number of out-of-state students enrolled in the 10-campus system — at the expense of in-state students — as a means of collecting higher out-of-state student fees to help U.C. balance its budget and cover its costs.
Currently, Mr. Price is competing in at least a three-way race for new County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas’s old state Senate seat. A special election on March 24 is expected to pit the Assemblyman against two other Democrats, Culver City School Board member Saundra Davis and Assembly colleague Mike Davis (Los Angeles).
As for the U.C. controversy, Mr. Price said the proposal, if implemented, would likely cost qualified California high school graduating seniors opportunities to be admitted to the state’s premier universities, such as Berkeley and UCLA, and other highly sought after UC campuses.
In a letter to U.C. President Mark G. Yudof, Mr. Price, who writes lengthy sentences, said:
“I write to voice my objection to a proposed U.C. system policy that would increase the percentage of out-of-state students enrolled in our state’s 10 campuses for the purpose of gaining higher out-of-state student fees to aid the university’s balance sheet at this time of state budgetary crisis.
“It would truly be a sad day in California if high school students here in our state, who have worked hard and diligently to meet the requirements for U.C. admission, were to find themselves turned away from the college of their choice or even an alternate selection because of a UC system chase for dollars involving the enrollment of students from other states who would pay more to attend a U.C. campus than their in-state counterparts.
“Such a misguided policy would be tantamount to pulling the rug out from under thousands of California students’ higher education aspirations precisely at a time when competition for enrollment to U.C. is at its highest. Dashing the dreams of U.C. enrollment for hard-working California students and severely frustrating their taxpaying parents is not, in my mind, a Phi Beta Kappa move for our state’s most prestigious institution of higher learning.”
Mr. Price said the cost of attending a private college in California often exceeds $100,000 for four years of post-secondary study leading to a bachelor’s degree, placing a private college education beyond the reach of many students and their families.
“Before the U.C. system embarks on a questionable drive to find funds out-of-state at any cost,” the Assemblyman wrote, “I suggest that your administration peer closer at your budget line items and explore ways to cut costs and tighten the system’s belt. Closing the doors of U.C. campuses to California students while opening those same doors wider to out-of-state students is not the best-and-brightest way to raise a buck.”
