The 2018-19 state budget proposed by Governor Jerry Brown emphasizes higher education. The proposal is set to grant colleges and universities millions of dollars’ worth of funding and to establish an online community college.
According to the proposal, the California Community College system will receive “rewards” if they are able to meet certain criteria including the number of students graduating, graduating students within three years and the amount of students graduatig with associate’s degrees. The main objective is to have students graduate. In order to graduate one must first attend college which can be a challenge for some students and their families. The proposal states that the budget maintain the Cal Grant award at $9,084 for attending nonprofit institutions such as community colleges.
Audrey Dow, senior vice President of the Los Angeles branch of College Campaign, said that the enrollment of community colleges is tied with the economy. Campaign for College Opportunity is an organization that advocates for Californians have access to higher education as their website states. The better the economy does, the more students will enroll in community colleges. The proposal states that community colleges will receive additional funding for low-income students. Dow continued to say that it is wrong for students to take too long to graduate. Packed classrooms where students have to sit on the floor are a side effect of a school that cannot graduate students fast enough.
“I think it is a pretty great proposal. There are pros and cons as there are with many laws,” said former Bakersfield College student Ethan Jannine. One con that Jannine sees with the proposal is that the student becomes just a number for the school for that additional funding. Degrees are pretty, but useless if one does not have the experience and knowledge to show that they earned it.
The University of California (UC) system and the California State University (CSU) system will both receive an increase to their base resources by $92.1 million as said in the proposal.
California will have its first online community college through the proposal. The new endeavor will be funded with $120 million, and $46 million to waive the cost of tuition for first-time and full-time residential students. The college will be funded through the state’s general fund and state income tax. At this time no new taxes are scheduled to help fund.
Jannine, a libertarian, likes the inclusion of the online community college. He sees it as a way for people to go to work and go to school. “During break knockout some work,” he said. While Jannine is out training as a pararescue he will definitely take advantage of the online community college.
Bowen Sanders, a democratic socialist, is also in favor of the online school. “Online college is cheaper,” said Sanders because it does not “have the overhead of a physical college.” A college on the internet does need to pay electricity, food, and the physical grounds. Sanders also know that students have a “staggering amount of student debt.”  To reiterate there is $46 million to help waive off fees.
.,What Sanders said, “Hold their feet to the fire for a second time would be irresponsible of us as the most prosperous state in the union and we should feel responsible to do better for the citizens of California,” captures the spirit of the proposal helping out students in any form.
Since this is just a proposal the amount of funding is subject to change. The budget’s funding is based off of taxes done in April with a new proposal in May to be signed in June. It is also currently unknown if the revenue from legalized cannabis sales will contribute to funding the proposal.