120 likes | 224 Views
How the budget crisis affects you and how you can help fight for the education you deserve. UC Administration says : if state funding doesn’t increase, UC will raise fees 16% per year for the next four years . Today’s freshmen would pay about $21,800 in 2015 . Paying more for less.
E N D
How the budget crisis affects youand how you can help fight for the education you deserve
UC Administration says: if state funding doesn’t increase, UC will raise fees 16% per year for the next four years. Today’s freshmen would pay about $21,800 in 2015.
Paying more for less • Qualified CA students are increasingly turned away in favor of out-of-state students. 13.6% of 2009 UCB freshman class; in 2011, 31.2% • Increased class sizes and fewer TAs. Many TAs have 75-150 students. • Fewer classes offered each quarter. Winter ’11 alone: 11% of classes cut. • Departments & programs having budgets slashed or being eliminated entirely (Community Studies, American Studies) • UCSC library resources cut by millions • Huge cuts to programs & resource centers such as the Chicano & Latino Resource Center and the Equal Opportunity Programs office • Faculty, staff and tutors being cut
The argument that California is broke: • California’s GDP has more than doubled since 1987 (from about $803 billion to $1.9 trillion) • Per capita income has grown steadily since 1959 • CA has the 8th largest economy in the world. • Meanwhile, state funding for UC has declined 50% between 1970 and 2005 (before the current recession). CA has chosen to defund the UC.
The argument that the UC is broke: Though in fact the state cuts have been enormous.... • UC has been adding senior managers while laying off workers & staff, cutting services and funding for students & TAs, and leaving faculty positions unfilled • The ratio of management to professors in 1994 was 3 to 6. By 2010, there weremore senior managers than profs. • Regents regularly give 20-25% raises to these execs at meetings where they also raise your tuition.
The problem of student debt • Average student debt: $24,000 • National student debt has doubled since 2005 to $1 TRILLION DOLLARS this year • Default rates have nearly doubled since 2003 and have now reached 9% • Up to 85%of new college grads are now moving back in with their parents • Economists predict that the huge debt of this generation will be a drag on the economy for years to come
Students take on more risk while earning outlook is looking worse • Cost of UC has doubled since 2000; national average for post-BA incomes has gone down 11%
By 2009 (after five years), the Regents had lost $23 BILLIONof UC money through high-risk investments benefiting several Regents and Gov. Schwarzenegger. The UC gambled on these despite being strongly advised against it by the UC treasurer & the many economists consulted.
What happens when the state fails to raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% (a high % of whom live in CA) & refuses to close tax loopholes? Huge income gaps: • Since the 2008 crash, income levels of the middle & working classes have plummeted due to predatory corporate practices which caused the crash. This isn’t the case with the income of the 1%, which includes the execs of banks & corporations which caused the crash, profit off it, and refuse to pay higher taxes while continuously cutting services for everyone else.
ReFund California • Statewide coalition of students, workers and educators for progressive tax reform • “Make the banks pay” campaign • Ballot initiative for 2012 that would raise taxes on the state’s richest 1% • An initiative for 2014 that would close tax loopholes on corporate property • Partnering with the Occupy movements
What you can do NOVEMBER 9: STATEWIDE DAY OF ACTION • Noon: Student-worker rally, Bay Tree Plaza • 1:30:Tea-Time at the base of campus: lunch, workshops, sign-making, games, fun! • 3:00:March to the Clock Tower for Rally and BANK ACTION • 5:00:Meet-up at Occupy Santa Cruz
November 16th: Get on the bus Free ride free and lunch. Buses will depart Santa Cruz in the morning and return in the afternoon and evening. Lunch provided!Schedule: • 7:45 am: Buses leave UCSC from East Remote Pkg Lot • Morning: Bank Action with AFSCME • Noon rally at the Regents’ Meeting • March to the Financial District • Meet up with Occupy San Francisco