How the budget crisis
affects you
and how you can help fight
for the education you deserve
UC Administration says: if state
funding doesn’t increase, UC will
raise fees 16% per year for the next four years. Today’s
freshmen would pay about $21,800 in 2015.
Paying more for less
• Qualified CA students are increasingly turned away in favor
of out-of-state students. 13.6% of 2009 UCB freshman class; in 2011, 31.2%
• Increased class sizes and fewer TAs. Many TAs have 75-150 students.
• Fewer classes offered each quarter. Winter ’11 alone: 11% of classes cut.
• Departments & programs having budgets slashed or being
eliminated entirely (Community Studies, American Studies)
• UCSC library resources cut by millions
• Huge cuts to programs & resource centers such as the Chicano &
Latino Resource Center and the Equal Opportunity Programs office
• Faculty, staff and tutors being cut
The argument that California is broke:
• California’s GDP has more than doubled since
1987 (from about $803 billion to $1.9 trillion)
• Per capita income has grown steadily since 1959
• CA has the 8th largest economy in the world.
• Meanwhile, state funding for UC has declined
50% between 1970 and 2005 (before the current
recession). CA has chosen to defund the UC.
The argument that the UC is broke:
Though in fact the state cuts have been enormous....
• UC has been adding senior managers while laying off
workers & staff, cutting services and funding for
students & TAs, and leaving faculty positions unfilled
• The ratio of management to professors in 1994 was 3
to 6. By 2010, there were more senior managers
than profs.
• Regents regularly give 20-25% raises to
these execs at meetings where they also
raise your tuition.
The problem of student debt
• Average student debt: $24,000
• National student debt has doubled since 2005 to
$1 TRILLION DOLLARS this year
• Default rates have nearly doubled since 2003 and
have now reached 9%
• Up to 85% of new college grads are now moving
back in with their parents
• Economists predict that the huge debt of this
generation will be a drag on the economy for
years to come
Students take on more risk while earning outlook is looking worse
•Cost of UC has doubled since 2000; national average for postBA incomes has gone down 11%
By 2009 (after five years), the Regents had lost
$23 BILLION
of UC money through high-risk
investments benefiting several Regents
and Gov. Schwarzenegger. The UC
gambled on these despite being strongly
advised against it by the UC treasurer &
the many economists consulted.
What happens when the state fails to raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% (a
high % of whom live in CA) & refuses to close tax loopholes? Huge income gaps:
• Since the 2008 crash, income levels of the middle & working classes have
plummeted due to predatory corporate practices which caused the crash.
This isn’t the case with the income of the 1%, which includes the execs of
banks & corporations which caused the crash, profit off it, and refuse to
pay higher taxes while continuously cutting services for everyone else.
ReFund California
• Statewide coalition of students, workers and
educators for progressive tax reform
• “Make the banks pay” campaign
• Ballot initiative for 2012 that would raise
taxes on the state’s richest 1%
• An initiative for 2014 that would close tax
loopholes on corporate property
• Partnering with the Occupy movements
What you can do
NOVEMBER 9: STATEWIDE DAY OF ACTION
• Noon: Student-worker rally, Bay Tree Plaza
• 1:30: Tea-Time at the base of campus: lunch,
workshops, sign-making, games, fun!
• 3:00: March to the Clock Tower for Rally and
BANK ACTION
• 5:00: Meet-up at Occupy Santa Cruz
November 16th: Get on the bus
Free ride free and lunch. Buses will depart
Santa Cruz in the morning and return in the afternoon
and evening. Lunch provided!
Schedule:
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7:45 am: Buses leave UCSC from East Remote Pkg Lot
Morning: Bank Action with AFSCME
Noon rally at the Regents’ Meeting
March to the Financial District
Meet up with Occupy San Francisco