California Higher Education's Hollow Core

Peter Berkowitz:

Some reflect the failure to manage effectively forces that have been inflating the nationwide higher education bubble. The cost of attending college, greatly outpacing the rate of inflation almost everywhere, has skyrocketed in California: Whereas nationwide tuition and fees at public universities over the last five years have risen on average by 28 percent, the average increase at UC campuses is an astounding 73.1 percent and, at Cal State campuses a still more astounding 83.8 percent. While turning away students and seeking billions for new buildings, California institutions are significantly under-using classroom and laboratory space. And, absent drastic reform, in little more than a decade the Cal State and UC systems are unlikely to be able to meet their obligations to faculty retirement programs.

More menacing to higher education in California is educators' adoption of curricula, classroom pedagogy, and limitations on free speech that fly in the face of liberal education's fundamental requirements. These practices also fly in the face of public opinion.

Read the complete PDF report, here.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at September 6, 2012 2:40 AM
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