In case you're reading Atrios

Not to crack on Atrios, but lots of people read him - lots. And I don't know how many are reading Pandagon.

So, here's a Pandagon "correction" of an Atrios post....

Atrios:

California Fee Hikes I really hope you liked the $90 or so you saved on your car tax.

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to propose a 10% fee increase for Californians attending college at the University of California and California State University and a fee hike of up to 40% for graduate students at the universities, sources familiar with the governor's budget said Wednesday."

The low cost/high quality of CA's higher education is one of the state's real draws, and one of the few major perks for low and moderate income people.

Pandagon:

Unfortunately, Atrios is just wrong on his read of the UC fee hikes.

I go to UC Santa Cruz, am involved with the student government here, and my family works for the UC system. We were bracing for a hit far larger than this one, we're talking 45%. What Schwarzenegger did was mandate that it wouldn't go higher than 10% a year, because we'd gotten a 30% increase last year and we had one of unknown size on the horizon. He said that tuition raises had to be predictable and, at UC, no more than 10% a year (Cal State's are very cheap which is why they're getting hit harder). It sucks and I wish we didn't have to go through it, but Arnold is actually saving students and pleasantly surprising the UC's right now.

Where this money is coming from, I don't know and I'm scared to find out. But on this issue, he's on the side of the angels.

It's all kind of silly to me. I attended UC Davis graduate school, and the PR is always that California has "free" tuition for residents. They do, but they have some very stiff "student fees". So, I'm not so sure the low cost of California's higher education is one of the state's real draws. Call it what you want - tuition or fees - it's not all that low cost, and it certainly isn't free.

But, if Pandagon is right (and I see no reason to think not - education fees are always going up - and outrageously so in many places), then holding the hike to 10% when they were talking 45% is a pretty good deal.

On the other hand, I have seen how they do these budgetary things here at the University of Missouri. They will start spreading the rumors early on that a certain expense such as tuition or health care is going to be very high, or in the alternative, budget cuts in salaries will be very deep. They'll keep those rumors circulating as loud and long as they can until the time comes to set the increase (or cut), and then it will invariably be half or more of the rumored amount, so everybody is grateful and feels like they got off good or lucky. Works every time, and incrementally, fiscal year by fiscal year, people are slowly strangled financially.

It's all smoke and mirrors.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.