How much more budget wizardry will we demand of UC?

By the Editorial Board

It’s unclear in the short term where the University of California is magically going to put 5,000 more in-state undergraduates and 2,000 more graduate students. Nonetheless, we applaud the latest plan to expand enrollment and hope it works out.

After a budget year in which UC President Janet Napolitano had to fight Gov. Jerry Brown for an increase in state funding, the UC Board of Regents on Thursday approved a proposal to dramatically ramp up California enrollment next year, a condition of a $25 million incentive that was dangled in June by state lawmakers.

At the time, the offer seemed a parting dig in a long, ugly funding battle. Brown and Napolitano already had reached a tentative agreement to cover UC operations at its existing head count, but state legislators wanted more California kids – particularly more black and brown kids – to get a shot at a UC diploma. And Napolitano’s negotiating tactics had made them mad.

So they told her that if she starved spending enough to enroll an extra 5,000 freshmen and transfers in 2016, she’d get a $25 million bump, enough to reimburse UC for about half of the expansion.

Given the wringer UC had already been through, the stretch seemed unlikely. But this is the season when the governor’s finance people draft next year’s budget proposals.

For the full article, click on the link below.
[Source]: Sacramento Bee