They worry that Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed California budget will mean fewer classes, fewer services and fewer students getting the higher education they need to succeed.
Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposals to slash state spending on higher education has triggered anxiety across California’s already budget-battered public colleges and universities about possible new waves of staff and faculty layoffs, reductions in class offerings and higher tuition bills.
Administrators said it was too soon to say definitively how they would respond if the Legislature approves the $1.4 billion in proposed state funding cuts for the University of California, California State University and the state’s community college system. But they predicted that daily life at the schools would surely suffer in various ways, including more-crowded classes and less pristine campuses.
“It’s not so much the quality of instruction but the quality of the overall educational experience for these students” that may be affected, said Steve Boilard, higher education director at the state Legislative Analyst’s Office,
Among the most concrete predictions came from California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott, who said the cutbacks will mean, in effect, that about 350,000 students will not be able to enroll in any classes at those 112 schools. (more…)