More Pay Less/Say More from the Legislature

Say less or pay more

A reporter from the Daily Bruin called my attention to the proposed state constitutional amendment that would cap the proportion of out-of-state admissions to UC.  The proposed amendment caps such admissions at 10% of total, on a campus-by-campus basis.  It would require a 2/3 vote to get to the ballot and that is very unlikely to happen and even less likely to happen in time for November 2012.  There is no quid pro quo in this amendment, i.e., so much money in exchange for the cap. The issue of out-of-state admissions has been raised in the last few years precisely because of the funding squeeze on the university. Note that there may well be some legal issues related to UC's constitutional autonomy.

Some modest advice for those in the legislature:

Below is the amendment:

SENATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Introduced  by  Senator Rubio

May 15, 2012

A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by adding Section 9.5 to Article IX thereof, relating to the University of California.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SCA 22, as introduced, Rubio. University of California: admission of out-of-state students.

Existing provisions of the California Constitution establish the University of California as a public trust under the administration of the Regents of the University of California. The University of California system includes 10 campuses, which are respectively located in Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.

This measure would require the University of California system to modify admissions so that commencing with the 2013–14 academic year, out-of-state undergraduate students, as defined, would constitute more no more than 10% of an incoming class, or more than 10% of the total undergraduate enrollment, at each campus in the University of California system.

DIGEST KEY

Vote required: 2/3   Appropriation: no   Fiscal Committee: yes   Local Program: no  

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BILL TEXT

Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California at its 2011–12 Regular Session commencing on the sixth day of December 2010, two-thirds of the membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of the State of California, that the Constitution of the State be amended as follows:

First—

 The people of the State of California find and declare all of the following:

(a) California has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to higher education, beginning with the state’s landmark 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education, which divided public responsibility for postsecondary education among the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges.

(b) The University of California (UC) has a unique obligation to serve the diverse ethnic and economic needs of the State and provide ample educational opportunities to California residents.

(c) Recently, there has been an alarming trend of the UC system admitting increasing numbers of out-of-state students, thereby limiting opportunities for California residents.

(d) In Fall 2012, the percentage of non-Californians admitted to the UC spiked to more than 23 percent of the freshman class, which was an increase from around 11 percent just three years before.

(e) Between 2009 and 2012, the percentage of foreign and out-of-state students at UC campuses doubled.

(f) The biggest increases in out-of-state students are concentrated at University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and University of California, San Diego (UCSD), the three most selective and perhaps most widely known UC campuses outside California.

(g) This trend is contrary to the policy of the Regents of the University of California that caps out-of-state undergraduate enrollment at 10 percent systemwide.

(h) While the UC system guarantees admission to the top 9 percent of graduates from participating high schools, an increasing percentage of these graduates are not being offered spots at more competitive schools such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD.

(i) While out-of-state students contribute to the diversity of opinions and perspectives on campus, recruiting out-of-state students for the purpose of balancing the UC budget contributes to the perceived privatization of the system and undermines public support for restoring funding.

(j) Residents of California have shown an increased desire to enroll in the UC system, as applications from California residents for admission in Fall 2012 rose to 93,298, an increase of 9.8 percent over the preceding year, demonstrating that more California residents would like to attend UC and are being turned away.

(k) The Public Policy Institute of California projects that, by 2025, there will be a deficit of one million educated workers in California unless the state is able to substantially increase rates of college enrollment and graduation.

(l) California cannot close the gap by drawing college-educated workers from elsewhere, and will need to produce more graduates through its state colleges and universities.

(m) Therefore, it is the intent of the people of the State of California to cap admissions of out-of-state undergradate students for each incoming freshman class at each campus of the UC system at 10 percent in order to increase opportunities for California residents.

Second—

 That Section 9.5 is added to Article IX thereof, to read:

SEC. 9.5.

 (a) Commencing with the 2013–14 academic year, out-of-state undergraduate students shall constitute no more than 10 percent of the incoming class, and no more than 10 percent of the total undergraduate enrollment, at each campus in the University of California system.

(b) As used in this section, an “out-of-state undergraduate student” is a student whose residence was outside of California at the time he or she initially applied for enrollment in the University of California.