Funding for Cal Grants

As board chairs and presidents of the six Claremont Colleges, we salute the policy recommended in your comprehensive editorial. We endorse the editorial’s message: Full funding for Cal Grants is surely in the best interests of both the taxpayers and California students.

We would like to make two additional points to augment the editorial’s persuasive arguments. First, the cost savings associated with using Cal Grants to encourage students to attend the 68 accredited private colleges and universities in the state is understated in the editorial. Providing spaces in public institutions takes both current General Fund support plus capital expenditures. Providing those same spaces through independent colleges costs only the General Fund support (the campuses are already built), and that at a lower level. If you compare the net expenditures between the options, using Cal Grants to enable students to attend private colleges costs about half what it would cost for providing those same spaces in UC. While the number of spaces available is estimated by the Postsecondary Education Commission at 6,000 (we believe there are nearer to 15,000, when all factors are taken into account) then the savings to the state could approximate $2 billion over the life of a new campus.

Second, lest anyone think that state funds directed to Cal Grant scholarships for students in private institutions will simply benefit wealthy families, we would point out that the average family income of students in UC is higher (by about 5%) than the median family income of students at the state’s private institutions. (The difference is $53,100 per family at the UC vs. $50,300 at California private colleges.)

When the Cal Grant program was authorized, it was argued that the independents could fill a need for the expected growth which would come in the 1960s. Unfortunately, over the last decade the value of the Cal Grant has deteriorated to a point where it no longer offers the choice to students that it once did. By coming up--even in this tight budget year--with $25 million to fully fund the Cal Grant, California will actually be saving millions more in higher education costs.

NANCY BEKAVAC

President, Scripps College

ROBERT A. DAY

Chair, Claremont McKenna College

MARTHA W. HAMMER

Chair, Scripps College

JOHN D. MAGUIRE

President, Claremont University

Center and Graduate School

CLIFFORD A. MILLER

Chair, Harvey Mudd College

RONALD L. OLSON

Chair, Claremont University Center

PAUL B. RANSLOW

Acting President, Pitzer College

HENRY E. RIGGS

President, Harvey Mudd College

CHADWICK F. SMITH

Chair, Pitzer College

PETER W. STANLEY

President, Pomona College

JACK L. STARK

President, Claremont McKenna College

ROBERT E. TRANQUADA

Chair, Pomona College