Mike Fong (D-Alhambra), chair, Assembly Higher Education Committee
“I appreciate the work on this draft budget and understand the difficulty and challenges that the 2024-25 fiscal year presents; however, I am disappointed in the governor’s proposal to eliminate the Student Housing Revolving Loan Fund and provide no allocation to implement the 2022 Cal Grant Reform Act. We must continue to find new ways to increase accessibility to higher education, especially for our most vulnerable communities who need these vital resources to complete higher education.
I avidly support the governor’s goal to ensure our students are prepared to enter the workforce. Developing a Master Plan for Career Education will require collaboration with diverse stakeholders and the Legislature. I look forward to working with the governor’s office and all parties on this critical issue.”
Full story at https://edsource.org/2024/advocates-education-leaders-speak-out-on-newsoms-initial-plan-for-state-budget/703833.
Note that there is no mention in Fong's statement of the fact that the governor "deferred" (really omitted) the incremental allocation due to UC under the compact. Yes, he said it would be included in the following year. But in the following year - a long time from now - there will be a new budget with no guarantee that it will include repayment of the omitted amount. That decision will be up to a new legislature. Nothing can commit that future legislature to repay the seeming debt. The governor's statement in his news conference that UC could borrow against the future repayment thus empty of any meaning unless he is proposing some kind of "loan" from the state that doesn't have to be repaid if there is no future delayed compact payment. Is that offer on the table? Has anyone asked? Will the Regents ask at their upcoming January meeting? Will the issue even be raised then?
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