We Need More College Grads, Not Fewer

I completely agree!
I just paid my tuition for next quarter and wow, that was rough.

I agree! Das- thank you for speaking out on this horrid injustice that's going to hurt us all, eventually.

Das's 'solutions' did not include any ideas how the city could contribute to the solution -- what about eliminating the city's defined benefit retirement plans and using the money for college scholarships.
It would wonderful for the City Council to come up with a way to pay for state school (UC, CA State, and CC) for all the city residents.
Das is a true politician -- he truly believes he can spend someone else's money better than they can.

Pardon me, loneranger, but doesn't your solution involve raiding promised retirement accounts from long time working folks?

That seems a lot like you would "spend someone else's money better than they can."

Ok Binky you have a good point and I am willing to compromise ... no retirement plans for new city workers and redirect the savings to education.

Das: I am so glad you have a genuine appreciation for the importance of accessible education. I worked full time to put myself through school and struggled to balance tuition and living costs. But the great thing about California is that education - and therefore opportunity - has always been possible! Now, even with hard work, that dream for a good, affordable education is being taken away by these types of decisions. We need better solutions than just raising fees on students.

"(the) dream for a good, affordable education is being taken away by these types of decisions."

Not true. This dream is being taken away by irresponsible politicians who can't restrain themselves from increasing spending beyond population growth and inflation. The irony of this article is that Mr. Williams is a prime example of this kind of politician. But you've got to hand it to him, he's got real balls to sign his name to an article like this.

I went through the California education system in the 1970's, I was grateful and proud, still am. But this year I see the education system as a bloated corrupt system of good old boys awarding themselves ridiculous salaries and benefits while they make getting through the college system so difficult that many will drop out in frustration, this state of affairs is designed to make military service seem appealing to those with nothing else to do. Can't make the payments for college? They've got some bombs for you young people to catch, far away in a pointless war.

I remember hearing that college education in Scandinavia is free. Is this true?

What the good old boys have done is stripped the UC system of any integrity and made more than 100,000 workers wonder why they try so hard. How many signatures can we get to overthrow the upper echelon of UC crooks?

There is no such thing as free education, or free anything for that matter, unless the person is voluntarily teaching out of their own free will in a building that they own and are willing to use as an educational facility. Otherwise that person must be paid. Their payment comes from somewhere, in fact it is taken from the private sector. That means we are all paying for it. Now, I don't mind paying for something worthwhile, but why should I be forced to help pay for someone's education who is just going to get a worthless degree in sociology and end up working for the government and taking even more production from the private sector? I mean, if people want things, they need to make things. People who work in government buildings taking tax money need to have people farm for their food, they need to have people who will build and maintain their home, retrieve and deliver their energy needs, etc.. If these people were instead actually producing something that people wanted, then prices would come down and things would become more affordable for everyone. Instead they choose to leach off of every day citizens who are actually involved in the production and distribution of goods and services. Again, if the government is doing something worthwhile, then I don't mind paying for it.. but the fact that the free market could provide nearly every service that the government provides for less money if the government didn't force a monopoly on those industries pushes me to the logical conclusion that we shouldn't really be spending a lot of money on non-essential government services. So while I think that private police and private fire departments would be more efficient, I'm willing to pay for these services as long as the government holds a monopoly on them.. but otherwise I have no desire to contribute to more government services.

The most important thing, that I always try to emphasize, is that we need to change our country's monetary system. Study the Federal Reserve and Austrian Economics to see how the banks have been increasing their interest payments by artificially decreasing interest rates and creating more money out of thin air via the private Federal Reserve. We let people counterfeit money in our country, and then loan it out at interest. Why are we so damn stupid? I can't do that, why did government give a monopoly to a few private banks to be able to do this? We need commodity based competing currencies, and this can be done without government involvement if they were to only legalize competition with currencies. Ron Paul has several bills introduced into congress that address this issue.

The UC system was never free; it was reasonable until the fat cats got their way. How many well paid professionals - not within the government - do you know that didn't go to school?

'This dream is being taken away by irresponsible politicians who can't restrain themselves from increasing spending beyond population growth and inflation'.
Leave it to the repugnants to blame spending once again.
It not spending that's the problem, its the salary, kickbacks and funneling of money into their own wallets that UC regents get away with. Everybody just can't wait to be a millionaire (the regents probably are already). Also, don't touch the city employees retirement, instead lower their retirement so that they can still afford to live. How about taxing those that make a killing off of this system? Tax their retirement. They can afford it. When the political machine puts up rejects for election, why does the public put up with such buffoons?
With less educated constituents, we will pay the price of more Bush, Palin, & Cheney clones, not that the democrazies are much better, maybe just less criminal.

The UC system is something that Californians can be proud of. No other state run system in the country (or even world) compares. That said, it sadly is loosing ground due to fee hikes and budget cuts.

I am a senior at UCSB and believe me these changes have not gone unnoticed. Classes are exponentially harder to get into and lacking the funding they once had. Professors, due to decreased wages, have become passive and unenthusiastic.

We can't let this continue.

"I remember hearing that college education in Scandinavia is free. Is this true?"
--billclausen

Yes. At least in Norway where some of my friends are from. Their domestic college tuition is free. Plus, they can get low-cost student loans from the government to cover living expenses. In addition, Norwegians can go to universities *abroad* and receive the same benefits (tuition plus loan for living expenses provided by the government). That's a great deal considering UC's foreign student tuition is so much higher than for California state residents.

The only catch is the foreign university and degree program must be on an approved list. Engineering and Computer Science @UCSB was OK 15 years ago, but not physics (I guess Norway had enough physicists back then).

Of course, Norway is a relatively wealthy country and can afford to invest in their childrens' education (they are oil-rich and have hydroelectric energy). But as a society, they are also willing to be taxed to spread the benefits around - Norway's tax burden is ~45% of GDP compared to ~20% for the US. IMO, Norwegian citizens are better off than the average American. They don't have to worry about education, retirement, or health care (they have a well-regarded single-payer health care system provided by the government and paid for by taxes). Norway is a much smaller country than the US, but the contrasts between the two capitalist systems are pretty interesting.

Thank you for the information EastBeach,

The Swedes have free education but they also have mandatory military service.
It is a trade off but I'd rather do what I did -- work and take out loans for college.
If your scores are high enough you can go to college in Sweden free of charge without being a Swede.