January 8, 2010

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
California Legislature
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814

To Legislators and the Governor:

How much will it cost us to restore public higher education in California? Raising revenue has become such a taboo subject in California politics that nobody has gone to the trouble of actually answering that question — until now.

For the median California tax return, restoring the entire system while rolling back student fees to what they were a decade ago would cost less than $32 per year.

Surprised? So were we. The attached report, “Financial Options for Restoring Quality and Access to Public Higher Education in California,” by Council of UC Faculty Association officers Stan Glantz and Eric Hays presents the analysis. We need not continue on the path of raising fees while cutting quality. The affordable alternative is reinvesting in the future of California by restoring our public higher education system based on the Master Plan values of high quality and low fees.

Sincerely,
Joe Kiskis
CUCFA Vice President for External Relations,
and Professor of Physics, UC Davis