Excerpt from transcript
SPENCER MICHELS (Newshour): The signs are everywhere. California's vaunted higher education system is broken. Recently regarded as one of the top systems in the nation, California's public colleges offered places for all levels of students at affordable rates.
But, today, at San Francisco State University, with nearly 30,000 students, and at all 23 of the California state university campuses, the squeeze is on.
MONICA POPESCU, college student: It's really hard to get into the classes you need.
TIFFANY TONG, college student: I took a math class last semester. It was an online math course. There are over 200 students, but we only have two to three teaching assistants to grade our homework. So it's ridiculous.
SPENCER MICHELS: Nationally, higher education funding is expected to drop $5 billion this year. In California, such cuts affect both the elite University of California, or U.C., system, with 187,000 students, and the more broad-based California State University system, or CSU, with 420,000, the largest university system in the country.
To offset declining state support in a poor economy, CSU trustees recently raised tuition 12 percent, on top of a 10 percent raise earlier, jumping tuition to about $6,000 a year. Though nearly half the students in the system receive financial aid, for the others, the raises have been serious.
COMMENT: This is the type of subject that just drives me up-the-wall. The money-centric view of conservatism.
There ARE things that are worth paying for no matter the cost, heathcare for our citizens and education for our children are just two.
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