The Californian Compromise

The University of California has reached a financial impasse that cannot be overcome without painful measures. Its Board of Regents recognizes this inconvenient truth and has resorted to increasing tuition costs by an additional $2,500 for the next academic year, a proportional increase of about a third for in-state students. This is an unsavory solution to an unavoidable problem—the Golden State faces empty coffers and a projected deficit in the tens of billions and must make cuts across the board to stay afloat. However, while some tuition increases might be necessary, the in-state students of the University of California system should be the last to suffer. They are members of tax-paying households in California and should have prioritized access to its public- education offerings.

There is no easy solution to the massive problem the UC system and the State of California faces, but some options are more desirable than others. If the Board of Regents must hike tuition, the main part of this financial burden should be placed on out-of-state students, whose parents are not taxpaying California citizens and who still have the benefit of access to cheap public education in their own states. It may seem unfair for out-of-state students to be penalized for the mistakes of California, but the UC system should primarily serve residents of California, many of whom do not have access to out-of-state educational opportunities and whose tax dollars fund the University of California campuses.

Tuition hikes focused on out-of-state students may deter some potential applicants and prospective students, but placing the financial burden on in-state students is especially harmful to low-income Californians, for whom the UC system is essential for receiving a college education. This would have the unfortunate result of increasing socioeconomic and ethic homogeneity in a university system that already suffers from a lack of racial diversity. Granted, geographical diversity would suffer from tuition hikes aimed at out-of-state students, but there is no good solution to the University of California’s dilemma—only less bad ones.

From a broader perspective, this entire lamentable situation was not unforeseeable. California’s dysfunctional political system, which leads to constantly rising spending that is rarely accompanied by tax increases, is the primary culprit. Issues like the tuition hikes in the UC system are the symptoms of poor fiscal practices that must be corrected if the welfare of California residents is to be preserved. The inability to implement taxation that keeps pace with spending is crippling California. If Californians are sincere about avoiding problems like the tuition debacle in the UC system, they must address the root cause of their budgetary woes. In the meantime, students will have to pick up the tab for the Golden’s State’s financial irresponsibility.