|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Students Rally Over Cutbacks | ||||||
| Students, teachers, and administration officials from local CSU, UC, and Community College campuses converged on the campus at CSU-Dominguez Hills on Thursday to speak out against Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed tuition hikes and budget cuts. | ||||||
| The proposed hikes involve increasing tuition fees by 40% or $902 for graduate students, 10% or $205 for undergraduates, and 20% or $1692 for out-of-state students.� If passed, it would also mean the destruction of certain services such as university outreach and educational opportunity programs.� It also may force more schools to lay off teachers, much like CSU-Los Angeles did during the last budget cuts. | ||||||
| CSU Chancellor Charles M. Reed sent a letter to all employees of the school system detailing the cuts and fee hikes that have been proposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger.� The 2004-05 budget may be cut by $240 million, or 9%, and students who are qualified may have to be turned away.� Projected estimates show that 4,200 first time freshmen may have to be sent to community colleges, which "means that there will be fewer educated citizens entering the workforce," according to the letter. | ||||||
| According to Reed, "The governor's proposed budget...leaves unfunded $57.4 million in 2004-05 mandatory cost increases," which he says, "include collective bargaining commitments, health benefit rate increases and insurance, and energy cost increases." | ||||||
| Kevin Bolling, general manager for Associated Students Inc., at CSUDH, is also concerned about the proposed budget cuts and what that might mean for prospective students.� "20,000 students will not be allowed to come to CSU schools, providing less access to the CSU campuses," Bolling said.� This, however, is just one of the many issues that was tackled at Thursday's mass meeting, which was sponsored by the California Faculty Association as well as the Congress of Racial Equality. | ||||||
| A.S.I. at CSUDH has set up a pre-written letter on its Web site that students can sign and send to Sacramento and their representatives to urge them to stop the budget cuts and tuition hikes.� The letter compares the new proposed budget cuts totaling $240 million to the cuts that took place during the 2003-04 fiscal year, which totaled $540 million.� "With $771 million cut within two years," the letter says, "services will be cut, the quality of education will suffer, and 20,000 students will be turned away." | ||||||
| Another issue the letter confronts is the potential jobs that will be lost from the cuts, which would not only harm California's economy now but in the future as well.� "Keep your commitment to education that you strongly voiced during your campaign for Governor," the letter says, urging Gov. Schwarzenegger to provide "quality and access in higher education," which were issues he adamantly supported during his bid for office. | ||||||
| Gov. Schwarzenegger believes the cuts are crucial to help cover California's debt, which has now amassed over $22-billion. | ||||||
| Copyright Gerry Wachovsky, 2004, and Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. | ||||||
| Back | ||||||