Gov. Jerry Brown of California has proposed modest increases in state higher-education appropriations in the 2015 fiscal year in return for a continued freeze in tuition and expectations that public colleges will work to improve student outcomes.
The increases are meant to be the second installment of a four-year plan “to provide steady and predictable state funding,” according to a summary of the Democratic governor’s proposed budget. And he expects the state’s three public higher-education systems to use the additional money “to maintain affordability, decrease the time it takes students to complete a degree, increase the number of students who complete programs, and improve the transfer of community-college students to four-year colleges and universities,” the summary states.
Overall spending on higher education would increase a little more than 4 percent in the governor’s budget. The largest percentage increase, nearly 13 percent, would go to the state’s Student Aid Commission, as it begins a Middle Class Scholarship Program that’s slated to cost an estimated $107-million in the first year.
The California Community College system would receive an increase of more than 11 percent. That amount is meant to cover a 3-percent increase in enrollment, according to the budget summary, and includes $200-million to improve access for and the performance of minority students. About half of that money should be used to “increase orientation, assessment, placement, counseling, and other education-planning services,” the budget documents state. The rest of the $200-million is to be used to “close achievement gaps in access and achievement in underrepresented student groups.”
“After years of budget cuts forced us to turn away hundreds of thousands of students, Gov. Brown’s proposal is welcome news for California and for the economy,” Brice W. Harris, chancellor of the community-college system, said in a written statement.
The University of California system, which already receives the most state money per student of the three systems, would get a 5-percent increase in state appropriations, while the California State University system would be slated for a 6.3-percent increase.
The governor has also proposed a $50-million competitive grant program that is meant to promote innovation in the three higher-education systems, using technology to increase the number of students receiving baccalaureate degrees at a lower cost.
While leaders of the three systems praised the governor’s budget recommendations, spending on public colleges will remain below levels from the 2008 fiscal year. State dollars for the University of California system will be 14 percent less than they were before the recession, under the governor’s proposal, while the California State University system will get 16 percent less than it did in 2008.
