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The foremost public college in the nation, UC Berkeley, continues its struggle to maintain high academic standards in the face of severe losses in state funding.

And UC Berkeley is not the only public college struggling to adapt to a streamlined budget.

Other public colleges in the U.S. find themselves in the same boat.

According to Washington Post reporter, Daniel De Vise, in his December 2011 article, “UC Berkeley and other ‘public Ivies’ in fiscal peril”:

“. . . a historic collapse in state funding for higher education threatens to diminish the stature of premier public universities and erode their mission as engines of upward social mobility.”

De Vise reports the following drops in state revenue over the past two decades:

• UC Berkeley, from 47% down to 11%,
• University of Virginia, from 26% down to 7%
• University of Michigan, from 48% down to 17%

In order to cope with less money, some public colleges and universities have resorted to a few unpopular remedies — raising tuition, offering fewer campus classes, increasing class sizes, accepting fewer applicants, and enrolling a higher ratio of out-of-state students (who pay as much as triple the resident tuition costs).

Although students at UC Berkeley have rebelled against rising tuition costs, the additional tuition revenue has replaced a portion of state monies that once paid for salaries, research, the expansion of academic programs, building and grounds maintenance, utilities, and more.

Still, in order to remain competitive with elite private universities, UC Berkeley offers generous scholarship and grant programs to lower and middle income students. Yet it is still difficult for students to find space in all of the classes they need in order to graduate in 4 years.

UC Berkeley also offers a new online master’s degree in public health, which opens up new options for students at a lower cost of implementation than traditional degree programs.

The decrease in state funding for public universities will continue to challenge higher education officials, as well as students.

But hopefully, the future will carve out creative solutions, like online education, that insure the survival and positive transformation of America’s public colleges.

public college, state funding, online education, online masters degree, public health, higher education, colleges, universities, uc berkeley, college students

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