Zero-Sum Game at the Regents With No Response from UCLA?

Zero Sum

From the LA Times: Although the University of California considers itself one system, its 286,000 students do not have access to equal resources and services across its 10 campuses. Among them, UC Riverside students fall far behind their peers when it comes to receiving essential services — transfer student support, counseling, academic advising...

The concerns have prompted UC to launch a new evaluation of how to allocate taxpayer-supported state funding to campuses, the first such review in a decade. But UC finances are complex and the politics thorny, touching on the combustible issues of equity and privilege, class and race. The impact on UC campuses is potentially huge. Should state dollars be taken from UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego — which raise billions in private fundraising and reap millions in extra revenue from nonresident student tuition — for smaller, struggling campuses with more disadvantaged students like Riverside and Merced? Should every campus stand on its own?

“It’s obviously delicate because reallocating funding amongst the campuses means inevitably that there are going to be winners and there are going to be losers,” said George Blumenthal, the former UC Santa Cruz chancellor who began lobbying in 2006 to reallocate state funds when he learned his campus was receiving substantially less per student than older campuses like UCLA.

Any solutions are bound to be highly contested. Ideas include sharing the extra tuition that nonresident students pay — which would take the most from UCLA, Berkeley and San Diego — or pegging funding to the number of disadvantaged students enrolled, which would most benefit Riverside, Merced and Irvine.

Nathan Brostrom, UC chief financial officer, said his office is modeling different approaches for Drake, including a needs-based element. “We are firmly committed to a transparent and equitable way to allocate state resources across the system,” Brostrom said. He added that all UC campuses are facing financial challenges since they’ve added more than 110,000 students over the last two decades without receiving enough state funding to cover their full cost of instruction. And the pandemic has deepened the pain — opening a $340-million deficit at Berkeley, for instance...

UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ said she joined the consensus to make that change even though her campus would not benefit. But she said any further revamping should recognize that higher-cost doctoral education appropriately receives more funding. She added that she dislikes the “caricature” of some campuses serving privileged students and others, disadvantaged ones, noting that Berkeley also enrolls many low-income and first-generation students. 

UCLA could be the biggest loser under any new formula. Chancellor Gene Block declined to talk about the issue.* ...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-08/uc-grapples-allegations-funding-inequities-racism

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*Editorial comment: "Declined to talk about the issue"? This news item could not have gotten placed on the front page of the LA Times without a big push from somebody. Some kind of response other than "declined to talk" is needed. The next Regents meeting is in May. UCLA better have a detailed response before then.