Cheshire Cat Photo Blog(...said the Cat: 'we're all mad here....')

Now THERE’$ a $hocker! 😉

According to figures released today by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, the percentage of high school graduates who attend University of California or California State University campuses fell by 20 percent from 2007 to 2010. The trend developed along with California’s budget problems that dramatically increased university tuition and caused schools to turn away qualified applicants.

“Fewer than 18 percent of California high school graduates ended up at a Cal State or UC campus in 2010, down from 22 percent in 2007. And 55 percent of the most highly prepared students enroll there, down from 67 percent.“

Other private and public universities in California and throughout the U.S. have seen significant increases in the numbers of applicants from California, since the UC and Cal State tuitions have risen spectacularly in recent years! The report’s author, Hans Johnson, reports that one in 10 applicants who REJECT offers from the state schools choose not to go to college at all!

“It seems pretty clear that if you go to college somewhere else, you’re likely to end up somewhere outside of California (after college),” Johnson said. “It’s bad to increasingly lose students to other states.“

Now THAT has got to help California’s long-term economic outlook! 😉

The Santa Cruz Sentinel continues:

Each university system was hit with a $750 million budget cut last year. Both the 23-campus Cal State system and UC’s nine undergraduate campuses have tried to slash their student bodies by turning away applicants from their campus of choice, even if they meet minimum systemwide requirements.

The article states that “college choices have increasingly come down to money.” Well, so did mine, for both undergraduate and graduate school. Kids today face unprecedented challenges financially though with regard to higher education, and I worry a lot about the 10% who choose not to attend college at all after rejecting offers. “Dumbing down” the populace is NOT in America’s best interest.

The article also speaks to “California’s public universities, which once were higher-education models admired by other states and countries.” I remember that time, myself. I would like to see continued unbiased financial analyses of how that status ERODED into the situation we have today.

-Bill at

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