Princeton, Harvard and Yale have done an admirable job in the past decade offering financial aid to attract top talent. Part of the driving force has been a way to attract more diversity in a meaningful way rather than simply grabbing a few non-whites from upper middle class backgrounds with money and good test scores. Princeton and its competitors have done a good job making their schools more affordable for a certain group of qualified students.
Meanwhile, the voters of California have shown a very clear preference for lower taxes as opposed to funding education. The state budget crisis is the biggest driving force in the rising cost of higher education. Increased demand isn’t helping either; as more Californians seek to improve their education existing resources are being stretched thin.
The only issue I would take with AB 1655 would be the shortening of the statute of limitations for fraud. Most of the other clauses seem reasonable to me, although some would require clarification. As I’ve noted before, most public institutions function on slimmer budgets with far less waste than most private companies.
California spends more on Prisons than Education. So yes, we do need to get our priorities straight.
