Video via SFist where a commenter says
I’m confused. I missed the part where the UC regents have access to a magic wand they can wave to produce $500 million out of thin air.
The whole freaking state of California is broke. No, wait. “Broke” implies you just have no money. California is much worse off than that. It owes vast sums it has no idea how to pay.
In a state with huge unemployment and a high foreclosure rate, the tuition increases might not seem that onerous to many.
For an undergraduate student from California, annual fees will rise from $7,788 to $8,373 this academic year, and to $10,302 for next year.
Just saw a Facebook post about a single mother who got laid off four months ago, has looked hard for a job ever since with no luck and just got an eviction notice. Her daughter is fourteen.
California. The party is over. At least for a while. The money just isn’t there.
Ever in pursuit of somewhat statistical patterns of behavior to observe, the thought niggled on the math co-processor today “at what point do people not necessarily not pay rent but just not move out?” ‘Round here it’s a full blown renters market right now with something like a twenty percent vacancy rate. Eviction as a legal process takes upwards of ninety to a hundred and twenty days with attendant generally irrecoverable legal expense and a high likelihood of an extended period of vacancy afterward. Not to mention that evictions tend to trash the place. At what point does a property management recognize the difference between retaining a renter trying to make it right, if only to keep the pipes from freezing, and the alternatives: a (suddenly) militant renter who may or might have tried to make it right just refusing to leave, the expense of maintaining a vacancy for an extended period of time, or the vacancy eventually resident to (potentially militant) vagrants.
It could be a catalytic moment, one such as those the mainstream ‘social’ parties seem to be forever missing.
The party’s definitely over for California. It seems to me that the UC system, just like the rest of the state, should be focused on cutting unnecessary expenses and not on raising tuitions, etc.
There’s an interesting video on all of this at newsy.com. The video summarizes the controversy over decisions to hike tuition costs and the protests that have emerged as a result of those decisions. It also shows different opinions on what else could be done, including privatization.
It’s worth watching/commenting on if you have a few minutes:
http://www.newsy.com/videos/uc_protests_cast_light_on_higher_ed_s_financial_woes