Higher education should favor California students
A commentary in The Bee by the California State University chancellor correctly sounded the alarm regarding the lack of seats at our public universities for California students.
According to an Associated Press report Nov. 10, University of California enrolled 61,700 students this fall as first-time freshmen or transfers. Abut 49,000 (fewer than 75%) were from California. UC’s Janet Napolitano is asking the Board of Regents to increase this by 5,000 California students next year. This would make it 80%.
As a California taxpayer, I believe the percentage should be 95% at both the UCs and CSUs. I have voted for every higher-education bond issue on the ballot and watched the building boom going on at our public universities with pride.
What I did not know was that this building boom did not increase available seats for our California students as it does with most K-12 bond issues. In the future, I suggest that every higher-education bond issue include a requirement that construction results in significantly increased seats for California students.
Without such a provision – independently validated – I will vote no on any and all higher education bond issues in the future.
Faye Johnson, Visalia
This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 9:15 AM with the headline "Higher education should favor California students."