State officials claim that while higher education will see $2.8 billion in cuts, some of that, about $1.1 billion, will be made up by President Barack Obama’s federal economic stimulus program. Some still remain skeptical.
“They say that the stimulus money will help, but no one has been told how much money will be available for this fall,” says Brian Ferguson, a communications specialist with the California Faculty Association.
Students at the University of California and the California State University systems already face tuition hikes of 20 percent because of the state’s financial crisis. Student enrollment in the CSU will be reduced by 40,000 students. The University of California at Berkeley is expected to hire only 10 new faculty members this year instead of the usual 100.
Although teachers’ unions seemed resigned to the cuts and regard them as necessary, some students have taken to protests and demonstration to express their disapproval.
Last week, for instance, about 200 students staged a 48-hour-long protest at a CSU administrator’s office in Long Beach. Their chief complaint: tuition and fee hikes of 30 percent, says Ferguson of the California Faculty Association.
Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the cuts into law this week. No more cuts are expected this year.
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