A September 18th editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle chastised University of California students and faculty who staged loud and angry protests over a proposed 44 percent student fee increase and faculty/staff furloughs as ways to offset state budget cuts. The editorial said “the shouting didn't change anything. We need new thinking, not outbursts.” The editorial proposed several ways of generating more revenue for the UC system. The first suggestion urged UC to implement a three tier tuition system in which students would pay the most money to attend UC’s most prestigious and most popular campuses (Berkeley, UCLA), less to attend the next most popular campuses, (Davis, San Diego Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz) and the least expensive fees would be paid by students attending the Merced, Riverside and Irvine campuses. Such a plan could mean only the rich and well connected can attend the state’s best public universities.

The California Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960 says that any California student meeting the academic qualifications should be admitted to any of the nine UC undergraduate schools. The UC campuses were created to meet the regional needs of California students, with Berkeley serving Northern California and UCLA as the Southern California campus. As the state grew, UC campuses were created in the early 1900s in the then rural regions of Davis and Riverside to provide research facilities for the state’s agriculture industry. UC established campuses in Santa Barbara, San Diego, Santa Cruz and Irvine between 1945 and 1965 in response to the state’s tremendous population growth. UC’s latest campus in Merced opened four years ago to provide higher education to the Central Valley, the fastest growing region of California. While various UC campuses specialize in certain areas (UCSF is strictly a medical sciences campus) it’s current UC policy for every campus to recruit statewide. An undergrad student accepted to one UC campus has equal standing with any other UC undergrad, and a student attending Berkeley or UCLA shouldn’t have to pay any more or less than a student at any other UC campus.

A three tier pay system could also reduce the already low number of Black and Latin students at the top UC schools. The elimination of most financial aid programs and the recession has made it much harder for lower income African Americans and Hispanics to qualify for college loans. Many Black and Latin students who can’t afford the proposed fee increase could wind up at private institutions like Harvard or Stanford, or out of state public schools like North Carolina, Oregon and Clemson that actively recruit African American and Hispanic students with lucrative financial aid packages.

The Chronicle editorial also suggested that UC make more of an effort to recruit foreign students. On the surface this sounds like a great idea but is fraught with unintended consequences. Admitting more foreign and out of state students means that California students who otherwise qualify for UC admission could be rejected in favor of a student from Nebraska, Toronto or London ready and willing to pay double or triple fees paid by California residents. Black and Latin California students would also be hurt by such a policy. Since the passage of the anti-affirmative Prop 209 measure in 1996, UC officials have been prohibited from directly recruiting Black and Latin students from California or other states. UC and many other schools where affirmative action recruitment is banned have increased their Black and Hispanic enrollment by recruiting students from outside the United States. UC would receive a double benefit by recruiting Black or Latin students from countries like Jamaica, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico because these students pay much higher tuition than what Black and Latin California students would pay. UC officials could openly recruit for Black and Latin students in these countries without being in violation of Prop 209 because nearly all the students in these countries are Black or Latin.

The Chronicle editorial mentioned the need for creative ways to generate revenue for UC. Here are a few ideas:

Increase royalty fees for UC related sports products. The Cal Bears are hot right now (as of September 20th the Bears are ranked #6 in the Associated Press poll) and a surcharge on Cal, UCLA and other UC sports related gear and tickets could help generate revenue. And speaking of sports teams, all 12 of California professional football, baseball and basketball teams have benefited greatly from drafting UC athletes like Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Jason Kidd, Kevin Johnson, Nnamdi Asomugha, Troy Aikman and Chase Utley. An annual gala fundraiser featuring current and former UC sports stars, along with contribution from the Lakers, 49ers, Giants and other California pro teams could help make a dent in UC’s deficit.

Seek more corporate donations: UC President Mark Yudof should solicit donations from the many corporations and industries that have benefited from the UC system. Entire industries, including California’s wine, biotech and entertainment business owe much of their success to research done at UC campuses. Most people associate Stanford with the Silicon Valley boom, but many hi tech innovations have come from UC research and many Silicon Valley movers and shakers are UC graduates, including the founders or current CEOs of Intel, National Semiconductor, Adobe, Apple, Google and Sun. It shouldn’t take much to persuade these movers and shakers to host a benefit or two in their related industries on behalf of UC.

A direct appeal to UC alumni:. There are thousands of wealthy UC graduates around the country and around the world. A direct appeal asking UC alumni like Carol Burnett, Jimmy Connors, Francis Ford Coppola, Reggie Miller, Tim Mondavi, Rob Reiner, Eric Schmidt and Steve Wozniak for donations and to lend their name to fundraising efforts for the ol’ alma mater couldn’t hurt, and could generate millions for UC.

The University of California was founded to educate the best and brightest Californians and over the years the UC system has earned a reputation as one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education, attracting students, faculty and researchers from around the country and around the world while remaining an institution for California residents. It’s important that UC continue to give California residents first priority in admission, including Black and Hispanic California students who have been historically underrepresented at UC schools. If UC student fees have to be increased nearly 50 percent and UC faculty/staff cuts implemented, so be it, but these drastic measures should only occur only after UC has exhausted all other means of generating revenue.