Outreach, retention at issue in budget

UC BUDGET PROPOSAL Highlights from the
2001-2002 UC Budget Proposal, approved by the Board of Regents Nov.
16.

• Sufficient funding to keep student fees at their current level,
  although nonresident tuition would increase by 4.5 percent.
• An increase of $6 million for student retention programs.
• A $4 million increase in finds to help improve community
  college transfer rates. At least one UC counselor for every three
  California community colleges is proposed, as well as an expansion
  of a Web-based information system for prospective transfers.
• $53 million to increase enrollment by 5,700 students.
• $235 million from state general fund for capital improvements
  ““ partly to help the university accommodate enrollment
  growth. Combined with a $200 million bond disbursement, the money
  will also go to seismic improvements and replacement of obsolete
  structures. UC Merced, the system’s planned 10th campus, will
  receive $160 million of the funds.
• A $24 million request to bring staff salaries closer to
  marketplace levels.

By Benjamin Parke
Daily Bruin Contributor

Although the UC Board of Regents approved next year’s
proposed UC budget, it remains to be seen what direction Gov. Gray
Davis and the state legislature will take in crafting a final plan
.

One of the most formidable issues, however, already seems to be
evident. That is UC’s success ““ or failure ““ in
enrolling students from underrepresented groups after the end of
affirmative action.

The UC budget addresses the issue by expanding on outreach
efforts where the university works to motivate and prepare
underprivileged students for college.

“You have to keep in mind that this is a very significant
program now,” said UC spokesman Brad Hayward.

The budget calls for extra money for K-12 outreach in rural
areas of the San Joaquin Valley. There will also be more funds for
graduate and professional outreach, to get undergraduates to
consider graduate school.

Community college transfer programs will expand also ““
with at least one counselor proposed for every three California
community colleges.

In the ’90s, the UC entered into a compact with the
governor called the Partnership Agreement, by which the university
would be guaranteed funding if it meets certain commitments.

The university has been unable to increase community college
transfers by 5 percent a year ““ a benchmark recently raised
to 6 percent ““ as stated in the partnership the UC has with
the state.

But Regent Odessa Johnson recently received a report from the
chancellor of California’s community college system, which
showed the most recent transfer rate to UC at 6.6 percent, which
would mean the university is beginning to fulfill that
commitment.

Johnson said the $6 million increase in student retention
programs pleased her. As dean of education at Modesto Junior
College, she said her background with student services makes her
familiar with its importance.

“I hope the regents will continue to strive for more money
for student services,” Johnson said. “That is very dear
to my heart.”

UC President Richard Atkinson announced a plan to enroll 11,000
additional graduate students in the science and engineering fields
over the next decade.

“The UC Student Association is very happy about the
funding for graduate education and student retention,” said
Blinker Punsalan-Wood, field director for the organization.
“We’re confident that the California Legislature will
go above and beyond the funding the UC proposed for those two
specific items.”

UCSA is calling for a $30 million increase in student retention
programs, rather than just the $6 million increase that the UC has
proposed. UCSA would also like graduate funding beyond science and
engineering ““ to all disciplines, Punsalan-Wood said.

“We’re trying to take it one step at a time,”
said UC spokesman Hayward, regarding the proposal for student
retention.

If the first installment is successful, he said, funding for
retention might be increased in coming years.

Also, a commission chaired by Regent S. Sue Johnson and UC
Provost C. Judson King could recommend the inclusion of other
fields, Hayward said.

Melinda Melendez, education advisor to Regent Robert Hertzberg,
said she was concerned other fields of graduate study might be
missing out.

She talked recently with students and faculty in UCLA’s
Native American Studies who said more support was needed for
graduate enrollment.

“I don’t think that discussion is over at
all,” Melendez said.

As for the success of UC’s outreach programs, Melendez
said diversity at the UC has been declining and is “a very
serious problem.”

“It’s so difficult to say whether the programs work
when those huge augmentations, which were put in the budget in the
last two or three years, are just being implemented,” she
added.

Assemblyman Tony Cardenas, D-Panorama City, who will take reins
of the Assembly budget committee as its new chair next session,
also sees a problem with diversity in the UC system.

“The diversity of women and minorities is vastly
underserved and declining,” Cardenas said, adding that
despite huge investments over past years to address the problem, he
is not satisfied.

Without going into specifics, he said he would hold the UC to a
high standard.

“I’m going to be all over them when it comes to
diversity,” Cardenas said.

The $6 million increase in student retention programs, he said,
is “very likely not enough with the system as vast as it is,
and the needs as great as they are.”

After the Department of Finance scrutinizes the UC proposal in
the coming weeks, the governor will present his budget proposal
Jan. 10.

Davis, who has been known for being tight-lipped on whether
bills sent to him would be signed or vetoed, is also keeping mum on
how his proposal might differ from the UC’s.

“The governor typically doesn’t comment on the
budget,” said Steve Maviglio, the governor’s chief
spokesman.

But Melendez said the UC proposal carries weight.

“In the end, when the budget is finalized, the university
has historically been very successful in influencing the governor
to their liking,” Melendez said. “It’s in the
legislative process where the UC could get into some
trouble.”