Posted by
Playful Walrus on Thursday, January 29, 2009 6:48:37 PM
Gale Holland of the Los Angeles Times has a story in which a couple of California State University students get to say "woe is me" about the rising student fees (it isn't really tuition), cuts in offerings, and delays of grants.
Somewhere along the way, the state officially took on the absurd idea that everyone has a virtual right to a higher education, and so there's the University of California system (UCLA, Berkeley, etc.), an extensive California State University system (Los Angeles, Long Beach, etc.) and a staggering number of "community colleges" - all of which receive public funding. You can loaf your way on the public dime from kindergarten (and in some cases "pre-school" – a.k.a. day care) through twelfth grade, and then take remedial classes at a community college or Cal State, subsidized by taxpayers - even if you are an illegal alien.
Meanwhile, California has high and numerous taxes, including (but of course not limited to), income taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes. But every time there is a budget "crisis", we get students moaning and groaning about how they'll have to pay more (it will still be subsidized) or will have fewer classes from which to choose. Perhaps their parents paid enough in taxes previously to warrant them to expect an education in return. Too bad their parents (and all of the rest of the parents in the state) couldn't have kept that money, invested it in an education-related savings account, and then sent their children to private universities. There are childless people all over California who are paying good money to provide a higher education to Mexico's refugees, and other young adults they don't even know.
California legislators have overspent for far too long by far too much, and now the people don't want to accept higher and new taxes, so cuts are needed. It is impossible to deal with a gap of tens of billions of dollars fairly without rolling back taxpayer spending on the Cal States.