“For too long we have turned our backs on higher education and placed more of the funding burden on the very students we depend on to enter our workforce,” Torrico said. “This bill will recommit the state to supporting a strong higher education system. It will also put California in line with more than 20 other oil-producing states who levy this tax. When oil companies are reaping record profits and we are not capturing a penny from a tax other states have used for generations, we should use this source to prevent cuts to our colleges and universities.”
ExxonMobil had record profits the past four years including $45.2 billion in 2008, the most ever by a publicly-traded U.S. company. Chevron made $23.9 billion last year. Between 2001 and 2007 the top five oil companies made $556 billion in profits.
The share of the state’s budget going to higher education has steadily eroded and will be cut again under proposals from the governor and the Legislature. The Legislature rejected the governor’s call to eliminate Cal-Grants.
For the seventh time in eight years, student fees have climbed to make up for the declining state support. In May, the UC raised fees on undergraduates 9.3 percent, an increase of $662. The CSU followed with a 10 percent increase, forcing students to pay an additional $306. Additional fee increases are considered likely. Community college fees are also expected to increase.
“The budget deficit forces us to make choices about what type of state we want California to be,” Torrico said. “Are we going to be one that takes options off the table just because they don’t fit in some ideological holes, or are we going to have real shared sacrifice to ensure our students have the opportunities to pursue a higher education. Our state relies on these institutions to supply our teachers, engineers, nurses and other professionals and we get a terrific return on these investments.”
A recent study by the Public Policy Institute of California states that California’s need for college-educated workers is rapidly outpacing the state’s ability to produce them, and that gap is expected to widen as our state universities cut back under the current funding scheme. |
