Turn the University of California into a community college, problem solved.
Via Seattle PI
Gov. Jerry Brown and University of California President Janet Napolitano have agreed to try to iron out their differences on tuition increases, the state’s duty to fund higher education and the university’s responsibility to control costs by tackling them together with help from their respective staffs and outside experts.
The two leaders are asking fellow members of UC’s governing board on Wednesday to name them as the sole members of a committee that will look at making it easier for students to earn degrees more quickly, the role research plays in the university’s mission and the state economy, and whether moving classes online and increasing the hours faculty devote to teaching would save money, according to a report detailing the request.
The governor first floated the idea of establishing such a committee in November, when, over Brown’s objections, a majority of the Board of Regents approved Napolitano’s proposal to raise tuition by up to 5 percent in each of the next five years unless the state gave the university more money. Brown said at the time he did not think tuition hikes were warranted because the university had not considered new ways of doing business that would allow it to do more with its state dollars, a frequent refrain of his since he began his second stint as California’s governor in 2010.