News
By Cavalier Daily Staff
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January 16, 2004
The $99.1 million budget proposal introduced by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last Friday could force enrollment into the University of California system to be reduced by as much as 10 percent.
The proposal, with over $4 billion in reductions toward eliminating an estimated $10 billion shortfall in the state budget, would eliminate $372 million in funding for the state's flagship public university system, which includes top-ranked campuses at Berkeley, San Diego and Los Angeles.
In order to facilitate the cuts and maintain the state's Master Plan, which guarantees admission into public colleges for high school students in the top 12.5 percent of each graduating class, the budget would set aside $500 per student for those who choose to enroll in community college.
Under the governor's proposal, students qualifying for the Master Plan but not accepted to a state university could attend two years of community college for free before receiving guaranteed admittance into the University of California system at a specific campus.
The change is expected to effect 8,200 students out of the estimated 37,000 high school seniors who will qualify for participation in the Master Plan this year.
Other reductions in the governor's proposed budget would cause a 10 percent increase in undergraduate student fees for the University of California system raising average tuition to $6,028 per year.
