Ratings agency Moody's
Investors Service applauded a new University of California, Berkeley proposal
to give each UC campus more autonomy, particularly when it comes to setting
tuition rates. Because its seats are so coveted, Berkeley has wanted to charge
higher tuition and admit more out-of-state students than other campuses. The
school's Center for Studies in Higher Education released a report last month
that suggests giving the system's 10 schools greater ability to set policies
that fit the "uniqueness of individual campuses." … Moody's said the latest proposal "would
be a credit positive for UC because the system's leading campuses could better
utilize their market potential to generate new student revenues and offset
continuing reductions in state support." The ratings agency said the UC
system has "considerable untapped pricing power."
Full story at: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/05/moodys-applauds-plan-to-let-uc-campuses-set-own-tuition.html
Readers of this blog will also know that the state in
various ways has been borrowing against UC’s credit card, because UC has a
better rating than the state.
And there is this from a write-up today in the Sacramento
Bee about tomorrow’s release of the May Revise state budget proposal by the
governor and the governor’s video message yesterday (see yesterday’s blog):
Brown's… announcement
[of less revenue coming in than forecast] makes it all the more likely that the
University of California will raise tuition for next school year. This week, UC
officials said they would need $125 million more than Brown gave them in the
January budget to avoid a 6 percent tuition hike. The governor's budget is
expected to move in the opposite direction, with another higher education cut,
one source said.
Full story at: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/13/4486112/brown-california-budget-deficit.html.
(But note that this article refers to what Brown called a budget “hole” as a “deficit.” Neither term is accurate. It is likely that Brown’s “hole” is the sum
of a projected deficit from this year, a projected workload deficit for next
year and the negative balance estimated in the general fund, thus mixing stocks
and flows and time periods.)
In any event, Moody’s
bond rating service clearly likes the idea of campus autonomy with the campuses
more able to raise tuition going their way:
And by the way, the original French song from which the melody, but not the lyrics, of "My Way" were taken has words that are more or less opposite in spirit from the American version and decidedly depressing. See the link below for a translation:
Perhaps that suggests there is a downside to every grand concept. As always, this blog is fair and balanced; you decide:
1 comment:
Charging higher tuition to Californians is not the answer to University of California financial crisis.
UC Berkeley now more expensive than Harvard.
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