Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 10/5/04 Section: Campus News

California is losing its ability to provide affordable educational opportunities.

The California Faculty Association recently addressed the fact that California State Universities lost the ability to provide affordable and accessible higher education, based on a report released by The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education released "Measuring Up 2004: The National Report Card on Higher Education" on Sept. 15. The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education is a nonprofit organization, which promotes public policies that improve opportunities in higher education.

The organization researched two and four-year public and private schools and analyzed state policies in the nation. The report card evaluates five categories of preparation, participation, affordability, completion and benefits in higher education by using a grading scale of A through F grades.

While California scores the highest affordability rating, 36 out of 50 states received a failing grade for affordability.

However, compared to the 2002 report, California's affordability rating has dropped from an A to a B. According to the report, California has shown strong performance in enrolling students in higher education, but the ability to provide affordable educational opportunities is in danger today, the report said.

"We wanted to respond and give our thought to the particular study," said Alice Sunshine, communication director of the California Faculty Association.

Sunshine said the association has been talking about the accessibility of higher education for a long time, and wanted to show the problems by pointing out the well-researched and reliable report.

Although access to higher education in California has been slipping in the last couple of years, the state still stands in the best position in the nation. However, Sunshine said California must offer the higher quality education and affordable prices, and the association must continue to work very hard to get it.

"We can't compare California with other states," Sunshine said. "California is the fifth largest economy in the world."

Sunshine also said quality education varies for different people. It could be earning basic writing skills or mathematic skills as well as learning foreign languages or getting job training, she said.

"This is the national study that's showing exactly what we have been saying for the past three or four years," said Patricia Evridge Hill, associate professor of history and California Faculty Association chapter president at San Jose State University.

Hill said the state of California could no longer sustain its "Master Plan for Higher Education," which promises to offer quality higher education for an affordable price for 40 years.

Hill also said quality education should offer reasonably sized classes, have classes taught by real experts in the fields, and have high-quality libraries and an availability of classes to help students to graduate.

For students, it doesn't matter what they are spending for tuition, rent or books, Hill said.

"The true cost of college is what students pay for everything," Hill said.

Daniel Decker, a senior kinesiology major who is originally from New York, said although he paid a higher tuition for junior college in New York compared to SJSU, the total cost of education was a lot cheaper in New York because he lived with his parents.

"If we look at tuition alone, we are definitely getting a better deal (in California)," Decker said.

He said all his experiences in California have been great, as well as education that he received in SJSU, but many

Californians take this opportunity for granted, he said. "California is still in a fine line," Decker said. "I don't have a problem paying for that."

However, Hill said SJSU is losing resources because of the budget cuts, with such examples of lost resources in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Joint Library and the loss of English writing centers on campus.

"When the budget is so low, they have to keep cutting the journal subscriptions," Hill said. "The lack of periodicals diminishes the educational environment."

According to the report, under the preparation category, although math, reading and writing scores on the national assessments have improved over the past decade, overall they still remain poor. I

n writing, California's improvement lags behind the national increase.

"On this campus, so many students speak English for second or third languages," Hill said.

"Writing labs on this campus is more important than writing labs in general."

Because there are fewer classes and more students in a class, instructors are not able to review papers in detail, grade adequately and tend to have more multiple-choice exams to deal with more students, Hill said.

"Employees are the heart of universities," Hill said. "We are in a crisis mode right now."

The California Faculty Association has requested a report of budget allocations and accountings, but the state doesn't release any detailed information to the public, she said.

Hill said education would affect the economy and society in California. However, the future of the CSU system will depend on how the public reacts and takes action on the issue.

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