Natalie Hoffmann says she's having trouble getting into classes she needs to take.

Students feel pinch of dwindling state support

UC Berkeley student Natalie Hoffmann won't be spending the summer at home in Wisconsin this year. Instead she'll be hitting the books in summer school.
 
"It's been really hard to get into my classes," she said. "The biology class I wanted to take didn't have room in the labs for everyone who wanted to take it. I have to come back for summer school, which I wasn't planning, so that's an extra expense."

UC faces significant cuts in the governor's proposed 2008-09 budget: The proposed cut would leave the university $417 million short of the amount UC Regents have requested. Students like Hoffman could see even bigger impacts on class size and availability as campuses brace for cuts. But even before the current state budget crisis hits UC campuses, students have been feeling the cumulative effects of dwindling state support. In 1970, UC received roughly 7 percent of the state's general fund budget. Today it's 3 percent.

In 1990, the state's average expenditure per UC student was $15,830. In 2007 the inflation-adjusted average dropped to $10,370. In that time period, the student's share of costs has almost doubled from $2,540 to $5,070.

"Although the Cal Grant program and the university's own need-based grant program generally insulate low-income and many middle-income students from the effect of the fee increases caused by state budget cuts, the burden for other undergraduates and their families has been increasing," said David Alcocer, an analyst in the UC Office of the President's Student Financial Support Department.

Last year, 63 percent of UC undergraduates received financial assistance including loans, grants, scholarships and work-study support totaling $1.3 billion. But the university recognizes more has to done to address affordability for all students. The Workgroup on Undergraduate Affordability, chaired by UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, recommends expanding the Cal Grant program and raising a $2 billion endowment over the next 10 years for financial aid for low- and middle-income students.

"Our fees are relatively low," said Jesse Bernal, a UC Santa Barbara student in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education who serves on the board of the UCSB Graduate Students Association. "But we live in some of the highest cost-of-living areas in the state."

When he first moved to Santa Barbara from Texas, Bernal said he was shocked to find he had to pay more rent for an apartment than his mother paid for their place back home. Midway through his first quarter, Bernal dropped out of his political science doctoral program because he couldn't afford it. Bernal returned to UC Santa Barbara in a doctoral program in education that allows him more flexibility to hold down a full-time job on campus. He earns a fee reduction and enough money to help his family in Texas. Working full time means he won't finish his studies as soon as he'd like, and he still has $90,000 in student loans to pay.

"Especially for first-generation students, who don't know anything about college, it's a scary thing to think of going into thousands and thousands of dollars of debt," said Michalle Ramirez, who is set to begin a family nurse practitioner program at UC San Francisco in June.

"I always wanted to go to college,"said Ramirez, a 2007 UC Berkeley grad. "This is above and beyond anything I thought for myself."

Ramirez currently works at the American Cancer Society as a resource specialist for patients. She is applying for scholarships and hopes to receive financial aid when she begins her master's program. She's worried about the rising fees and expects that in spite of saving every dime she can, she'll end up taking out loans. The dwindling state support for higher education is undermining its importance, she said: "I'm afraid it's sending a bad message to people. It's like if our government isn't valuing our education, why should we?"