I am actually a product of primarily private (independent) education from K-12. That doesn’t actually change any of my argument, I’m just responding to your comment.

I agree that there’s a benefit and value to the general population when it comes to having an educated society. The inevitable question is how to quantify that value? In this case, the taxpayers are paying about $20k per year for each student. That amounts to approximately $100k for every degree. How do we decide if that person will use their degree to give back at least $100k to society? How do we average the output of everyone who has use subsidized schooling? There is no way to accurately answer these questions. We have to take a best guess and go from there. My point is simply that our best guess is way off target. I have a hard time seeing how giving a degree to a California citizen will bring back $100k+ to benefit society.

I’d be interested to see the figures regarding research in this area. Of course we would need to take into peripheral effects of an education such as a reduction of crime and an increase in small businesses.

Jeff

There is certainly a value to the general population in the availability of a public education – you yourself (I’m guessing) were the product of one for 12 years (unless you went to private school from first grade right on up). And part of having a public education system, including higher education, is that it is subsidized by the taxpayers – all the taxpayers. This is the same as the single people and the seniors, who complain about having to pay local taxes to fund the school system, just cause they don’t have any kids using the education system.

The Governor has a responsiblity to try and balance the budget in California, a very long arduous tax that requires a lot more help than is being currently given (California is a failed state right now fiscally, and NY (where I live) and NJ are two examples of others that aren’t far behind). However, it is also the rights of the students to protest what they view as unfair tuition and fees increases. Nobody is 100% right or wrong on this, and ideally, some middle ground compromise will be reached.

However, it is unfair to compare the UC system to a private (or as you call it “independent” university. The UC system, like CSU and Community Colleges, are there to benefit the residents of California, PARTICULARLY those who are not as financially capable as others. I’m sure there’s plenty of UCLA students whose parents can afford it whatever it costs, and doubt they were among many of the protesters. I myself am far from poor, but when I was attending college, it would have been a hardship or required a substantially larger amount of loans to attend a private university. If I had a blank check, you can be sure I would have gone to South Bend and been at Notre Dame in a heart beat. However, as I didn’t want to deal with almost $100,000 in loans (and this was over a decade ago) at the end of four years, I compromised and attended UMass (yes as a subsidized in-state student).

You correctly point out why out-of-state tuition to public universities is so much higher – cause that’s not who those schools are there to serve. UCLA or Berkeley or UCSD are great schools, but their primary purpose is to educate Californians, not someone like me from the East Coast.

I know protesters are a pain and things in Sacramento are a total mess, so everybody has to make cuts. But for a large percentage of Americans, a higher education is a huge financial hardship. The benefits offered by a public education are innumerable to so many people. Though you may not feel you receive any direct benefit from it – that’s just part of the deal being an American tax payer, no matter what state you live in.

We do not ‘owe’ an education to anyone simply because they exist. We educate as a benefit to society. This benefit is returned by students becoming thoughtful, productive citizens and paying it forward to the next generation. When there are increasing demands for more of a subsidy (handout)and no appreciation for the gift that has already been given I’m inclined to simply offer less. If only that were a choice that was mine.

In the meantime, I do and will continue to support my local government balancing budgets. Not only does this benefit me and mine, but it also benefits these same students, in the long run.

I appreciate that financing education can be difficult, I’m not denying that at all. However, it’s been my experience that we learn and appreciate that which we have worked for, to at least some degree.