Straws in the Wind - Part 414

From Inside Higher Ed: Despite a drop in net tuition prices over the past several years, a new survey shows that the majority of Americans believe four-year colleges aren’t committed to affordability. ...Gallup and the Lumina Foundation published the results of a June web survey of 2,043 adults that asked about their views on college value and affordability. Although other recent data shows falling confidence in higher education over the past decade, nearly three-quarters of parents surveyed said they would prefer for their child to pursue some type of postsecondary pathway immediately after high school. And 38 percent of those parents want their kids to attend a four-year university, compared to 19 percent who want their kids to enroll in a community college and 17 percent who want them to enroll in a job-training or certification program. And 53 percent of respondents also said four-year colleges were “excellent” or “good” for advancing new knowledge and finding new discoveries, compared to 46 percent who said the same about community colleges...

At the same time, survey respondents gave four-year colleges the lowest marks on affordability, with 63 percent saying that those institutions are doing a “poor job” of making college affordable; just 12 percent said they were doing a good or excellent job. And among the 26 percent of parents who didn’t want their child to enroll in a four-year college, the most cited reason was that they believe it’s too expensive...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/academics/2026/07/22/survey-majority-americans-say-college-not-affordable.

Just so you know...

Source: https://www.ppic.org/publication/higher-education-funding-in-california/.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 175

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard College is raising its sticker price at a rate that now consistently outstrips inflation, following a recent stretch of increases that have grown larger each year. For the 2026-27 academic year, Harvard will raise its total cost of attendance by more than five percent to $91,634. The increase marks the latest in a five-year run of increasingly large dollar hikes — and the fourth straight year in which the percentage increase has accelerated.

A Crimson analysis using annual CPI averages found that Harvard’s cost would have reached about $88,300 next year if it had tracked inflation from the 2025-26 academic year. Instead, it will climb to about $91,600 — roughly $3,300 higher. Multiplied across Harvard College’s undergraduate enrollment, that gap amounts to roughly $22 million in additional listed costs before accounting for financial aid....

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/6/29/harvard-sticker-price-inflation/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 387

From the NY Times: College tuition will cost no more than 10 percent of parental adjusted gross income. That’s it. Grab the figure from Line 11a of your 1040 form, and divide by 10. Starting today, those are the instructions for anyone interested in applying to Whitman College, a small liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Wash. The school is one of a small but growing number of institutions that are finally answering the extremely reasonable question that families have asked in vain for decades: Why can’t you just tell us the price we’ll pay without having to apply and get in first?

...Last month, Brandeis University made a similar move by introducing a tool allowing prospective students and their families to upload tax forms and high school transcripts in exchange for a “you will pay” figure. What’s in it for you is clear. What’s in it for the schools may surprise you.

Whitman has seen a notable falloff in applications from the upper middle class. Many of those families have high enough incomes to disqualify themselves from much need-based financial aid, but they don’t have enough money to afford the school’s annual list price of close to $90,000. But even at a significant discount, often in the form of so-called merit aid, those families provide revenue that is above average for the school. Whitman, like a vast majority of colleges and universities, desperately wants its net tuition revenue per student to rise. It hopes to use transparency as a form of competitive advantage...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/21/business/whitman-college-tuition-pricing.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 386

From the Columbia Daily Spectator: Columbia and Barnard have both finalized tuition increases for the 2026-27 academic year, leading to a total estimated cost of attendance over $100,000 for most students. Columbia will charge undergraduate students in Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science $72,800 in tuition—a 3.75 percent increase from the 2025-26 academic year, according to the University’s financial aid office. A University official told Spectator that Columbia recently approved the increase, but did not respond to a request for comment on exactly when. Columbia’s new rate reflects an increase by nearly 50 percent in undergraduate tuition since the 2014-15 academic year.

Barnard will charge students $73,120 in tuition next year, a 3.5 percent increase, Jennifer Fondiller, BC ’88, vice president for enrollment and external affairs, and Sharon Hewitt Watkins, TC ’02, vice president and chief financial officer, announced in a May 22 email to students. After these increases, Columbia’s total estimated cost of attendance, not including travel expenses or health insurance charges, will reach $100,884 for continuing students and $99,774 for first-year students. Barnard’s estimated cost of attendance, which does include travel expenses, will reach $103,000 for students living on campus and $86,572 for commuter students...

Full story at https://www.columbiaspectator.com/news/2026/06/17/columbia-barnard-raise-tuition-sending-cost-of-attendance-over-100000/.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 171

From the Harvard Crimson: U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon urged Harvard to follow Yale University’s example and undertake a sweeping review of its academic practices and campus culture at a congressional hearing last month. In a brief exchange with Rep. Elise M. Stefanik ’06, McMahon — who has played a leading role in the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Harvard — praised Yale for a wide-ranging April report that scrutinized the university’s admissions policies, grading standards, academic culture, and commitment to free speech.

That 58-page report, produced by a Yale presidential task force, argued that high tuition, opaque admissions, grade inflation, and constraints on open discourse had helped erode public trust in elite higher education. The authors proposed a series of reforms, including curbing special admissions preferences, adopting a 3.0 mean GPA or another schoolwide grading standard, and revising Yale’s mission statement. McMahon called on Harvard to produce a similar self-indictment. “I’d like Harvard to take the Yale example of really doing the research and doing the surveys and understanding what is going on in their community and taking actions on their own,” McMahon said in her testimony...

Full story https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/6/16/mcmahon-harvard-yale-testimony/.

Squeeze 'em harder, says LAO

Summary section from a recent LAO report:

[This] Brief Analyzes Nonresident Supplemental Tuition Rates at the University of California (UC). 

In addition to the tuition charges other undergraduates pay at UC, nonresident students pay nonresident supplemental tuition (NRST). UC charges the same NRST rate across all nine of its general campuses. In response to legislative interest, we analyzed whether opportunities exist to raise additional NRST revenue. In particular, we focused on opportunities for raising NRST revenue at UC’s three highest‑demand campuses—UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles (UCLA), and UC San Diego (UCSD).

Several Findings Indicate Higher NRST Rates Could Be Warranted. 

As a university system, UC is unusual in charging the same NRST rate across all its campuses. Other major public university systems charge more at their flagship campus. For example, in 2025‑26, nonresident rates at the flagship University of Michigan, Ann Arbor campus are more than 4.5 times higher than at the Flint campus. Demand from nonresident students also is notably stronger at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD than at the other UC campuses. These three campuses receive more nonresident applications than the remaining six UC campuses combined, have the lowest admission rates, and enroll the highest shares of nonresident undergraduates. In addition, our UC‑specific research, together with national research on selective universities, indicates that aggregate nonresident enrollment does not decline as NRST rates increase. One reason this might be the case is that families could view a higher sticker price as an indicator of higher quality. Another reason could be that demand for selective universities is so strong and admission rates so low that many families are willing to pay higher NRST rates to secure a coveted enrollment spot.

Recommend Piloting Higher NRST Rates at Highest‑Demand Campuses.

If the Legislature wanted to pursue higher NRST rates, we recommend a four‑year pilot involving UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD. We recommend beginning the pilot in 2027‑28, as UC already has published its NRST rates for 2026‑27. If UC were to raise the NRST rate for 2027‑28 by $6,000 at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD, compared to an increase of $2,000 at the other UC campuses, we estimate an additional $20 million in NRST revenue would be generated (ramping up to $80 million in year four). This additional revenue could be used to supplement core funds at UC or offset state General Fund in response to a state budget deficit or competing state budget priorities. While the pilot is in place, we recommend UC collect and report data on the impacts of the higher NRST rates at the three selected campuses, including impacts on the composition of the undergraduate nonresident student body.

Full brief at https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2026/5183/2026-27_Budget_Nonresident_Tuition_Rates_at_UC_051226.pdf.

Straws in the Wind - Part 344

From the Daily Princetonian: Princeton will not have to pay any net investment income tax on returns from its $36.4 billion endowment, a University investment official said at a private event in January, after a recent expansion of its undergraduate financial aid program left the University below a 3,000 tuition-paying student threshold to qualify for taxation. Experts had projected that the new tax on wealthy university endowments — enacted under H.R. 1, the omnibus tax and spending bill passed by congressional Republicans in July 2025 — would have cost Princeton roughly $180 million annually. The 8 percent endowment tax was predicted to impose one of the country’s highest university tax burdens on Princeton, which currently enrolls 9,100 undergraduate and graduate students. According to University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83, recent widespread budget cuts have been driven by decreased long-term endowment projections — growth estimates that likely would have been further eroded if the University were required to pay the tax.

...In July, amid several Trump administration attacks on higher education, Congress set the 8 percent tax rate for universities with over $2 million in endowment funds per student and over 3,000 tuition-paying students. At around $3.9 million in endowment funds per student, Princeton was expected to be subject to the tax, and many of its peer institutions are still likely to pay hundreds of millions annually. 

...Emeritus Professor of Economics Burton Malkiel GS ’64, who has publicly written about how universities benefit from the illiquid assets of endowments, called the University’s endowment tax strategy a “brilliant response to a punitive and discriminatory tax.” The expansion of financial aid “increases our income and produces much-needed student support,” he wrote to the ‘Prince.’ ...

Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026/05/princeton-news-adpol-university-spared-endowment-tax-financial-aid-millions-princo.

Straws in the Wind - Part 339

From Washington Monthly: It’s increasingly apparent that public support for the nation’s colleges and universities has eroded over the past few years. While some of the disillusionment reflects the impact of conservative attacks on higher education, including Donald Trump’s campaign against prominent institutions, much of it stems from growing concerns about affordability, tuition sticker shock, student loan debt, and nagging doubts about whether a college degree is still a reliable ticket to a successful career. One recent survey found that the share of parents who said a postsecondary degree program was their top choice for their child’s post-high school plans fell from 74 percent in 2019 to 58 percent in 2025. That result is not an outlier. Survey after survey confirms that Americans have become increasingly skeptical about the value of a college degree. (“Skepticism” may even be an understatement; resentment, especially toward elite colleges, may be the more accurate characterization.)

But here’s the odd thing: despite overwhelming public anger at the perceived unaffordability of higher education, the average net cost of college has barely budged over at least the past decade. It’s actually fallen a bit. What might explain this disconnect? One theory is that the opaque and occasionally deceptive ways colleges advertise their prices leads to public misperception about college costs. A 2022 Government Accountability Office study found that 91 percent of colleges understate or don’t include the net price families pay in the offer letters sent to students. Such incomplete or misleading information often leads to “uninformed and costly decisions, such as enrolling in an unaffordable college,” according to the GAO. The confusion has been aggravated by a policy, common across the vast majority of four-year schools, of discounting high “sticker costs” by strategically offering generous institutional financial aid through “merit scholarships.” 

This “high tuition-high aid” model results in a situation where published tuition prices bear little relation to what many students end up paying for college. Congress has recognized the problem, and, as this magazine has reported, several bills have been introduced in both the House and the Senate that would require greater clarity and simplicity in college offer letters...

Full story at https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/05/05/higher-ed-affordability-college-costs-financial-aid-confusion/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 306

From the LA Times: More than 7 million student loan borrowers who have been enrolled in a Biden-era repayment plan will receive notices ...with instructions to seek a new plan to repay their debt, the Education Department said. Borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan, which was struck down by a federal court last month, have been in forbearance since July 2024 as a legal battle played out in courts. Starting July 1, loan servicers will begin issuing notices giving borrowers 90 days to select a new repayment plan. The available repayment plans will mean higher monthly payments for most of those borrowers.

When Alexis Arredondo graduated from UCLA in 2024 with a degree in microbiology, he struggled to find full-time work in research or public health. Instead, he began working part time and freelancing for nonprofits in Southern California. A first-generation college student, he took on roughly $40,000 in student debt and enrolled in the SAVE plan upon graduation. Now, he said, he has to choose between paying more per month, which would be a struggle to afford, or a longer repayment period, which would increase how much he pays in interest. “It’s very difficult knowing where I’m going to be to able to get this money from,” he said...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-04-01/education-department-directs-student-loan-borrowers-in-save-plan-to-prepare-for-repayment

Free

From columnist George Skelton, LA Times:

One unique perk California kids enjoyed for generations was tuition-free college. Now, a candidate for governor promises to bring that back... The candidate, former congresswoman Katie Porter of Orange County, even suggests a way to pay for her bold pledge... She‘d raise the corporate income tax a notch.

OK, it’s very unlikely to ever happen. The powerful business lobby would scream, even though California companies would benefit from a more educated workforce. And California’s public universities would probably cry about their revenue streams having to rely on unpredictable corporate profits rather than the pocketbooks of students’ parents.

...[One] reason for making college tuition-free again, she said, is that “it was a promise made to the people” by the California Master Plan for Higher Education... Free tuition [would be] only for California residents who are undergrads. And only in their third and fourth years at the University of California and California State University. If they desired free tuition in their first two years, they could attend community college. Many community colleges already waive course fees for full-time, first-time students...

Full column at https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2026-03-09/skelton-monday-politics-newsletter-porter-college-tuition.

(Tuition) Strike News

From the Daily Cal: Graduate student organizers in the UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare began a tuition strike Jan. 19 in response to “grave concerns” about recent layoffs of two union-protected lecturers in the program. The lecturers... were named in a letter that students sent to leadership at Berkeley Social Welfare. Campus spokesperson Janet Gilmore said campus could not comment on confidential personnel matters.

In the letter, students said their tuition strike is also in protest of further grievances regarding department budget cuts and tuition increases. Students expressed that they felt there were “troubling patterns that have severely degraded the quality and integrity of our program”and announced that a collective tuition strike would “begin immediately.” The letter also details a list of demands, including the reversal of [the two] layoffs, restoration of practicum support, financial transparency and tuition freezes, reduction of required practicum hours and student representation in administrative decision-making...

Gilmore said campus would not speculate about the impacts of a tuition strike, but that campus policies around nonpayment would apply. According to the campus Student Billing website, if a student has unpaid fees of $100 or more over 60 days past due, Billing and Payment Services is authorized “to place a hold on a student’s registration and diploma until the financial obligation is satisfied.” ...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/uc-berkeley-school-of-social-welfare-students-begin-tuition-strike-over-staff-layoffs/article_64dd6826-bc01-44d0-a9a0-cfdde90928c2.html.

Watch the Regents Meetings of Jan. 21, 2026

We are catching up with the Regents meeting of last week. Note that we already covered the termination of a tenured UCLA faculty member.* And we covered the previous day earlier this week.** The Board meeting began with public comments. Topics included UC-Davis women's sports, Teamster bargaining, AFSCME bargaining, grad student support especially international students/use of emergency funds, AI-generated sexual abuse, rent increases by a firm owned by Brookfield Investments, non-cooperation with Trump administration, essential needs of undocumented students, demand to divest from Blackrock and Blackstone, student mental health, Native American remains repatriation, antisemitism, termination of a tenured faculty member, Turning Point and other protests, support for a science center, and NIL for athletes who are injured. There was a brief AFSCME demonstration at one point.

Following public comments, the student president of UCSA discussed various topics including transfer students being below the targeted percentage and concerns about the proposed new faculty disciplinary process. The grad student president raised the issue of sharing of student data with the feds and rent burdens. Thereafter, a new UC-Santa Cruz fundraising campaign was endorsed. Then the above-mentioned faculty termination hearing was held.

At Finance and Capital Strategies, there was a report on the governor's January budget proposal which we have discussed previously. It was noted that the proposal was based on optimistic revenue projections which might not work out. It was also noted that there was potential in the legislature for bonds to finance research and capital projects. Regent Cohen raised the issues of the longer-term fiscal outlook, i.e., beyond the upcoming year. Regent Park asked whether there was a mechanism for developing a new compact with whoever was elected governor in November 2026. (The current compact expires after 2026-27.) 

At Academic and Students Affairs, professional tuition requests were approved for selected programs. Then the proposed faculty discipline process was approved. Coming up with a new process was mandated by the legislature. The new version was approved by the Academic Council. The consultation process with faculty and the Regents was noted. Under the new process, there are specified time limits for the various steps, a systemwide faculty pool so that there will always be faculty available to staff the process, and more precise language and definitions. The new process was approved. Regent Leib requested a report on the process after two years. Then the full board endorsed the various committee endorsements.

As always, we preserve Regents meetings since the Regents have no policy on duration of retention. You can find links to the meeting below:

General site for January 21: https://archive.org/details/1-regents-board-1-21-2026

Full board (initial meeting): https://ia600306.us.archive.org/22/items/1-regents-board-1-21-2026/1-Regents%20Board%201-21-2026.mp4

Finance & Capital Strategies, Academic & Student Affairs, final board session: https://ia800306.us.archive.org/22/items/1-regents-board-1-21-2026/2-Regents%20Finance%20and%20Capital%20Strategies%2C%20Academic%20and%20Student%20Affairs%2C%20Board%201-21-2026.mp4

===

*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/01/its-hard-to-keep-lid-on-part-10.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/01/its-hard-to-keep-lid-on-part-9-and-now.html.

**https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/01/watch-regents-meetings-of-january-20.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 211

From NPR: Brandeis University says it is revamping its humanities offerings to focus on preparing its students for the workforce. It is one of a number of schools making such moves... It's a tough job market out there for recent grads, and more young people in the U.S. are questioning the need for a college degree. That's putting liberal arts colleges under pressure to prove their value, like Brandeis University in Massachusetts, where educators are trying to reimagine the humanities. ...Brandeis is focusing on building skills and giving students work experience before they graduate.

...[A] job-shadow program is part of Brandeis' plan to make the world of work a little less mystical. Starting next year, every student here will have the chance to take what they learn in class and apply it in real work settings. It's also adding more student support. Brandeis president Arthur Levine says as soon as they step on campus, every student will get two advisers - one academic, one career - and two transcripts... One will have the grades and the course they took, and the other will be a record of what they know and what they can do...

Levine says the economy is changing dramatically, so schools also have to evolve and make sure students are acquiring concrete skills like communication, digital literacy, critical thinking and adaptability. Brandeis, with its roughly $1.4 billion endowment, could've coasted along for years, but with fewer potential students, the school has been discounting more than 60% of its tuition just to fill its seats...

For the past year, Levine's been pitching his restructuring plan to improve the quality of a Brandeis education to professors, and it worked... Eighty-eight percent of the faculty voted in favor. You never see that level of agreement on anything at a university...

The No. 1 reason why students enroll in higher ed is to get a good or better job... And if families continue to feel graduates are leaving campuses unprepared for the workforce, Busteed predicts more colleges will soon follow Brandeis' lead...

Full story at https://www.npr.org/2025/12/21/nx-s1-5640789/more-young-people-are-questioning-the-value-of-college-some-universities-are-rethinking-liberal-arts-programs.

Straws in the Wind - Part 193

From the Washington Post: The Trump administration... said it has reached an agreement with seven states to resolve a lawsuit challenging the legality of former president Joe Biden’s student loan repayment plan, a deal that could leave millions of borrowers scrambling to find another option to repay their debt. The proposal marks a key moment in the political battle over how to address staggering student loan debt, with liberals saying they want to ease the financial burden for borrowers and conservatives calling that effort fiscally irresponsible and patently unfair to Americans who never went to college. The fight has spawned one lawsuit after another and thrown the entire student loan repayment system into chaos. About 7 million people are now enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education program, commonly known as Save, which offers lower monthly payments and a faster path to loan cancellation. They will have a limited time to find a new plan if the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri approves the proposed settlement, the Education Department said...

The settlement stems from a lawsuit brought by Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma to overturn Save. Under the agreement, the Education Department must cease enrolling anyone in the Save plan, deny any pending applications and move current enrollees out of the program. The department will convene a panel of experts for a negotiated rulemaking to repeal the Save regulation, which was already part of the tax plan. The settlement calls on the department to notify the Missouri attorney general’s office at least 30 days before canceling more than $10 billion in federal student loans. That provision will expire 10 years after the date of the settlement agreement.

Conservatives and some moderate Democrats have argued that widespread debt cancellation disproportionately benefits students who attend expensive elite colleges and unfairly subsidizes higher education. Graduates of elite schools, however, make up a small share of students with education debt... 

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/12/09/trump-ends-biden-save-student-loan-plan/.

Straws in the Wind - Part 184

From the NY Times: The University of Chicago was where fun went to die. Tulane University was where you could die from too much fun. Neither place liked its reputation, but in 2016, both felt confident enough in changes on their campuses that they started offering an early decision option for student applicants. Apply by November (or January for the “Early Decision II” option) and get an answer weeks later. You just had to agree to attend if you got in.

Within a handful of years, two-thirds of Tulane’s first-year class had taken the deal. The University of Chicago found so much success that it recently added an opportunity to apply even earlier, in some cases before the senior year of high school has even begun. The enrollment chiefs who made this all happen also found success. According to federal filings from 2023, Chicago’s vice president for enrollment and student advancement, James G. Nondorf, received $967,000 over a year from the university and “related” organizations. At Northeastern University, the executive vice chancellor and chief enrollment officer, Satyajit Dattagupta, got $1.079 million in compensation after decamping in 2022 from Tulane, where he had a strong run in a similar role.

If you’re the gatekeeper at schools like these, where over a third of the students will pay full price — $400,000 or so over four years — you earn your keep by landing just a few more of them each year. Miss your number, however, and the shortfall can cascade through four years of revenue shortages. You could also be out of a job. Vice presidents of sales at high-performing organizations make the big bucks, and thousands of teenagers now sign up each year to say Chicago, Northeastern or Tulane is their true love always...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/business/tulane-university-chicago-early-decision.html.

---

From Inside Higher Ed: House Republicans held a hearing [last] Wednesday broadcasting long-standing conservative allegations of a left-wing bias in the small, prestigious Truman Scholarship program. Witnesses called by the GOP said the winners disproportionately espouse causes such as promoting racial justice and fighting climate change—and wind up working for Democrats and left-leaning organizations—while few recipients profess interest in conservative aims.

...Rather than counter the allegations, Democrats and their invited witness largely called the proceedings a distraction from the issue of college unaffordability, which they accused the GOP of exacerbating...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/financial-aid/2025/12/04/house-republicans-accuse-truman-scholarship-liberal-bias.

Straws in the Wind - Part 183

From NBC: Americans have grown sour on one of the longtime key ingredients of the American dream. Almost two-thirds of registered voters say that a four-year college degree isn’t worth the cost, according to a new NBC News poll, a dramatic decline over the last decade. Just 33% agree a four-year college degree is “worth the cost because people have a better chance to get a good job and earn more money over their lifetime,” while 63% agree more with the concept that it’s “not worth the cost because people often graduate without specific job skills and with a large amount of debt to pay off.”

...The eye-popping shift over the last 12 years comes against the backdrop of several major trends shaping the job market and the education world, from exploding college tuition prices to rapid changes in the modern economy — which seems once again poised for radical transformation alongside advances in AI.

...What has shifted is the price of college. While there have been some small declines in tuition prices over the last decade, when adjusted for inflation, College Board data shows that the average, inflation-adjusted cost of public four-year college tuition for in-state students has doubled since 1995. Tuition at private, four-year colleges is up 75% over the same period. Poll respondents who spoke with NBC News all emphasized those rising costs as a major reason why the value of a four-year degree has been undercut...

[Click on image to clarify.]

Full story at https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna243672.

----

From Inside Higher Ed: Chief diversity officers find their work has gotten harder and more stressful over the past two years, according to a new national survey by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. The survey results... are based on responses from 394 chief and academic diversity officers in February 2025.*

...About 68 percent of respondents reported their jobs were less predictable than two years ago; 87 percent found their work more stressful, and 77 percent reported their jobs were more upsetting. The vast majority of diversity officers—91 percent—identified the political climate as the greatest challenge to DEI work on campuses. Students’ and employees’ mental health and crisis management also rose to the top of their concerns. About 31 percent of respondents said their roles have changed in the past two years, with write-in responses about promotions, demotions, title changes and expanding responsibilities related to student success, human resources, Title IX and other campus functions. About 29 percent reported their DEI offices had been reorganized.

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/12/03/chief-diversity-officers-report-stress-amid-shifting-roles.

===

*https://nadohe.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/resources/NADOHE-2025-State-of-the-CDO.pdf.

Watch the Regents Meeting of Nov. 20, 2025

As noted in a post last Saturday, the big event of the November 18-20 Regents meetings was the approval of the cohort tuition plan on November 19. Thus, the business conducted on November 20 was more of a mopping up. There were public comments which mainly repeated themes heard on the previous two days: Opposition to a deal with the feds, support for undocumented and international students including issues of CalFresh, funding for disabled students, divestment from military, divestment from Israel, pro-Israel, low staff morale, Teamsters negotiations, post-doc funding, ICE on campus. 

Other topics included gender-affirming care, military equipment for UC police, opposition to the proposed investment in the Big Ten athletic conference and divestment from Blackstone (which - as faithful blog readers will know - got a quasi-bailout from UC in exchange for a promise of above-market returns). There may have been some confusion between Blackstone and Blackrock, two separate firms with similar names in the comments. (???) AFSCME negotiations were also mentioned.

The undergraduate and graduate students leaders both complained of lack of access to Milliken and the campus chancellors. Undergraduate complaints also included lack of access to collective bargaining sessions, lack of data on penalties imposed for protests, notification of ICE on campus. Proposals included having the newly-approved 1% surcharge on tuition go to student services and zero-cost textbooks. Graduate student complaints concerned data sharing with the feds, opposition to the tuition hike, lack of access to chancellors, a problem with Clery crime notifications, and ICE-on-campus notifications.

There was then a brief meeting of Compliance and Audit which consisted of presentation of annual and fiscal audit reports. It was noted that there is increased complexity in legal rules regarding research security with regard to certain foreign countries and companies. The Governance Committee then dealt with an executive pay adjustment and regental meeting dates for 2027. Finally, the full board reconvened to approve the various committee recommendations.

As always, we preserve Regents meetings indefinitely since the Regents have no policy on retention. The general site for the Nov. 20 meeting is at:

https://archive.org/details/31-regents-board-11-20-2025

The initial board meeting is at:

https://archive.org/download/31-regents-board-11-20-2025/31-Regents%20Board%2011-20-2025.mp4

Compliance and Audit, Governance, and the second board meeting are at:

https://archive.org/download/31-regents-board-11-20-2025/32-Regents%20Compliance%20and%20Audit%20Committee%2C%20Governance%20Committee%2C%20Board%2011-20-2025.mp4

Watch the Afternoon Regents Meeting of Nov. 19, 2025

The main event of the November Regents meetings was renewal and approval of the "tuition stability plan" by the full board. The essence of the plan was that tuition goes up automatically by cohort. But once a student enters, the tuition is constant in nominal dollars thereafter. Each cohort pays more, but then the rate is fixed. As several speakers noted, the plan does not deal with non-tuition costs (living expenses, textbooks, etc.), which can be a significant element in the total cost. 

Given current fiscal stringencies and federal uncertainties, the proposed plan was less generous than the previous with a 5% cap on inflation but with "banking" of inflation above 5% that would be applied in lower-inflation years, a drop in the diversion of revenue to student aid dropping from 45% of incremental revenue down to 40%, and a 1% surcharge above inflation for capital needs (said to be student-oriented buildings, whatever that exactly means). There were several disruptions at the beginning of the presentation that led to the room being cleared.

Two changes in the proposal were eventually adopted. One set a 7-year deadline for revisiting the plan instead of no specific deadline. Another allowed campuses to use the 1% surcharge for whatever needs they had, rather than just capital.

The plan passed with a handful of negative votes.

At a meeting of the Finance and Capital Strategies Committee, a long-range plan for the UC-Santa Barbara campus was approved, but with a call for the campus to lower the proposed costs. Reports on capital spending and finances were passed. An operating budget for UC was passed. But Regents raised the question of whether there is really a "compact" with the state, given the propensity of the governor and legislature to "defer" compact obligation to the future when the budget outlook is constrained. It was noted that the outyear of the compact extends to the period when a new governor will be in place. Finally, it was noted that given the recent boom in the stock market, the pension is now funded at 90% on a market basis.

At Academic and Student Affairs, there was a report on the UCAD-Plus committee that is dealing with "disruptions" in state and federal payments to UC and their impact on research, the academic advancement on junior faculty (who must demonstrate research capability), and related issues. The new committee is composed of both administration and Academic Senate members. It is to deliver a report in January 2027. (Meanwhile, the Regents are negotiating behind closed doors with the feds so it is unclear how what UCAD-Plus will be doing relates to these negotiations.)

One hint of what's to come came in the form of references to cross-campus programs for low enrollment programs such as languages. Presumably, cross-campus means online education. 

Finally, there was a presentation on UCLA's program dealing with the aftermath of the Palisades and Altadena fires.

At the Investments Committee, everyone was cheerful because of recent gains in the stock market. The above-mentioned 90% funding ratio for the UC pension came up. There was vague discussion about the proposed investment in the Big Ten athletic conference - which has yet to happen. CIO Bachhar was upbeat about the prospect and no one seemed in a mood to challenge him. Basically, UC is 64% invested in public equity, 19% in private assets (which are harder to value - the word "opaque" came up -and create liquidity risks), 15% in fixed income, and 2% in cash.

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As always, we preserve recordings of Regents meetings indefinitely since the Regents have no fixed policy on retention and the recording are on YouTube with unlisted addresses which cannot be searched.

The general address for the afternoon sessions of Nov. 19 are at:

https://archive.org/details/2-regents-board-finance-and-capital-strategies-committee-11-19-2025

The board and Finance and Capital Strategies sessions are at:

https://ia801703.us.archive.org/28/items/2-regents-board-finance-and-capital-strategies-committee-11-19-2025/2-Regents%20Board%2C%20Finance%20and%20Capital%20Strategies%20Committee%2011-19-2025.mp4

Academic and Student Affairs is at:

https://ia801703.us.archive.org/28/items/2-regents-board-finance-and-capital-strategies-committee-11-19-2025/3-Regents%20Academic%20and%20Student%20Affairs%20Committee%2011-19-2025.mp4

Investments is at:

https://ia801703.us.archive.org/28/items/2-regents-board-finance-and-capital-strategies-committee-11-19-2025/4-Regents%20Investments%20Committee%2011-19-2025.mp4

Watch the Morning Regents Meeting of Nov. 19, 2025

The morning session (open component) of the Regents meeting of November 19 consisted solely of a full board meeting beginning with public comments. Several comments dealt with the proposed tuition stability plan which escalates the rate for each new cohort of undergraduate students and then freezes it for their career at UC. Complaints revolved around the impact on low income students, the impact on international students, or just the general idea of tuition increases. 

Other comments dealt with support for undocumented students, support from SB 98 (notification of ICE agents on campus), complaints by the Carpenters union about inadequate medical coverage by a UCLA contractor, support for disabled students, loss of funding for employment of low income students, support for Latino post-docs, a complaint of anti-Israel indoctrination in a class, a UCFW dispute with an employer, anti-Israel divestment, and the high cost of textbooks.

There were then statements by Regent chair Reilly (who referenced the need for "fiscal prudence" in connection with the tuition stability plan) and by UC president Milliken (who spoke about the conflict with the feds, problems related to the state budget, a hiring freeze, and layoffs). Milliken advocated for full payment by the state under the "compact." These remarks suggested that the tuition stability plan was likely to be adopted in the afternoon session, maybe with small modifications. (There was a brief disturbance during Milliken's remarks.)  

Faculty representative Palazeglu said the Academic Senate opposed any deal with the feds that conflicted with academic freedom. He noted the move from UCAD to UCAD-Plus.*

There was a special presentation by Regent Makarechian - which we noted in an earlier blog post** - dealing with his treatment for paralysis at UC-San Francisco as an illustration of the value of UC research.

Afterwards, there was a program devoted to the achievements of UC Nobel prize winners:

• Laureate and UCLA Professor Andrea Ghez, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics
• Laureate and UCSF Professor David Julius, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
• Laureate and UCSB Professor John Martinis, winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize for physics
• Laureate and UC Berkeley Professor Randy Schekman, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine

The Regents then went into closed session and discussed the conflict with the feds - which would have been very interesting to watch had it been open. 

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As always, we preserve recordings of Regents meetings since the Regents have no policy on duration of retention. You can find the Nov. 19th morning session at:

https://archive.org/details/1-regents-board-8-30-am-11-19-2025_202511 or

https://ia801700.us.archive.org/1/items/1-regents-board-8-30-am-11-19-2025_202511/1-Regents%20Board%208_30%20AM%2011-19-2025.mp4.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/08/ucad.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/09/ucad-part-2.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/10/successor-to-ucad.html.

**https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/makarechian-on-value-of-uc-and-of.html.