LETTER TO THE EDITOR I submitted today:
The hysterical protests and the media flap about increased UC student fees ignore one glaring reality — all poor and most middle class students don’t have to pay the fees!
To quote from the UC’s own website ( http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/blueandgold/ ), “UC’s Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan will cover your systemwide fees if you are a California resident whose family earns less than $60,000 a year ($70,000 beginning in 2010-11) and you qualify for financial aid.”
On another UC web page ( http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/22415 ) we find that “increases in UC grants, Cal Grants, federal Pell Grants and expanded federal tuition tax credits are expected to cover the total 2009-10 fee increases for nearly three-fourths of all undergraduates with household incomes below $180,000.”
Over and over we are told that our UC system is one of the finest academic institutions in the world. Yet apparently too many UC students are uneducated rabble — often encouraged by equally ignorant faculty. What does that say about our massive state subsidies for this taxpayer black hole?
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BTW, this letter is built around a previous blog post by U-T Opinion Editor Chris Reed — a terrific source on many subjects.
According to Chris, this crucial “no pay” factoid has been picked up by only one significant paper in CA — the SF Chronicle. I don’t think the U-T news has covered it yet.