Earlier this month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hosted a conference of border governors in Universal City and brought up the issue of California's budget crisis with his fellow governors.
He also passed around a hat and encouraged everyone to donate money for him to take back to Sacramento, the Los Angeles Times reported.
This mildly insulting action doubles as ironic, as many students find themselves struggling even harder to make ends meet in the harsh economic climate held stagnant by a lack of policy reform.
The number of students in California requesting financial aid during the first six months of this year has increased almost 20 percent from the same time last year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The state's number of applications is above the national average increase for the same period, which lies just above 16 percent.
Although some students desperately need the aid, many won't receive it.
California's budget still hasn't been finalized, but Schwarzenegger is proposing to cut funds for higher education by $312 million. Lawmakers are working with a budget that reduces the cut to $215 million, according to Inside Higher Ed, a news Web site for higher education resources.
Admittedly, California's spending surplus means severe cuts are inevitable, but higher education is unable to sustain much more damage.
The dramatic cut in funding would make California's community colleges unable to accommodate classes for more than 50,000 students - and 18,500 would not receive financial aid, said Diane Woodruff, chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Several thousand California State University and University of California students will be affected, too.
Also, under federal law, adults are not considered independent until they are 24 years old - unless they are married, come from a foster home, have a dependent of their own or are a veteran. So, filing for federal student aid still depends on their parents' income, piling even more odds against them.
With fewer high school graduates able to go to college, California's workforce will flounder. And if cuts to higher education continue, the workforce will shrink by an estimated 3 million by 2025, said CSU Chancellor Charles Reed. This would make the California job market even less competitive.
The financial aid deficiency is a direct lack of investment in California's future. The state boasts the eighth largest economy in the world, but is still burdened by the burst of the credit market and housing bubble. Households with one or two unemployed parents force some students to pay tuition on their own.
Maybe if we all start passing around hats for donations, we won't need government assistance to go to school.
If you would like to contact government officials and ask them to change current policies regarding budget cuts, their contact information is provided.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger State Capitol Building Sacramento, CA 95814 916-445-2841
Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa 2865 Churn Creek Road, Suite B Redding, CA 96002 530-223-6300
Assemblyman Rick Keene 1550 Humboldt Road, Suite 4 Chico, CA 95928 530-895-4217
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