A Joke? Just Ask the Students : Higher-education budget hurts as Wilson fights for immigration funds

From fall of 1992 to fall of 1993, enrollment in California public higher education dropped by a whopping 159,000 students, including a decline of 137,000 in the Community College system alone.

California’s decline is not unique. The American Council on Education recently surveyed enrollment in 17 states and found an overall enrollment drop in 13; 10 had experienced a decline at the community college level. But California’s decline was unique in its severity: “No state reported losses close to California’s,” according to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Is this loss the result of high California tuition? In fact, California’s tuition is on the low end in all three systems, particularly if the comparison is confined to states that offer education of comparable quality. But higher-tuition states always have barred many on the path to educational and economic advancement; California used to keep the path open to all. Now state budget cutbacks are pushing tuition up and obstructing some. Even if tuition is not high in absolute terms, the increase is pushing students out of school.

Scholarship assistance is available for the lowest-income students. Hit hardest are the children of the working poor and the lower middle class, students with a family income of $20,000 to $35,000, reports Santa Monica College President Richard Moore. And not all of those who are hurt are 18-year-olds just out of high school. Tuition in the Community College system has risen most sharply for degree holders back in school for retraining, an estimated 54,000 students, or half the overall loss.

Who can help them? Even if Washington begins meeting its obligation to the state for services to illegal immigrants, the difference won’t be felt in California next year; however, the downward trend surely could be slowed.

Gov. Pete Wilson’s decision to build $2.6 billion in federal immigration money into his budget has been laughed at in Washington. But as Florida’s proposed lawsuit proves, the states that are seeking immigration funding are not joking. Talk to an involuntary college dropout or two, and you’ll know why.