Budget Cuts Not So Cut and Dry - Braden Buckel, New University

Brown’s proposal calls for cutting funding to the Cal Grant system. These cuts would total $131.2 million for Cal Grants according to the California Department of Finance. UCs will get an increase of $90 million for the 2013-13 year from the state. This will cover increasing operation cost and retirement programs, and not student financial aid. Cuts to financial aid force universities to put more of the financial burden of a college education on the students. Even if financial aid wasn’t cut, the cost of a college education would continue to rise to make up for budget cuts to public education. Between 1985 and 2011 inflation increased 110.06 percent, meaning that the value of the American dollar was a little more than double than it was in 2011. In the same amount of time the price for a college education rose 498.31 percent. This increase is also shown on the UC Regents website. The cost of attending the University of California increased by $1,900 between the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years. Increases in financial aid were allocated to help low-income students pay for these increases.