College Student Numbers Growth

David W. Breneman in his commentary, “Pulling the Rug on Students” (Feb. 5), makes important points about the coming “state of emergency” in higher education in California. It would indeed be tragic if, just as the college-age population of the state is beginning to reflect the diversity of California’s citizenry, the state were to begin closing the doors on access. Undoubtedly those concerned with higher education need to become more creative in addressing this problem. Nevertheless, Breneman has neglected to pose up front some economic aspects of the problem, and some of his proposals are quite unrealistic.

The California State University (CSU) awards the majority of baccalaureate degrees in the state. Its graduate programs, almost exclusively at the master’s level, serve to train and retrain Californians for entry or re-entry into professions crucial to the state’s economy (business, computer science, engineering, teaching and administration in K-12 schools, etc.) and it would be a false economy to cut back on such programs to provide for further undergraduate enrollments. His proposal for “giving highest priority of admission to students aged 17 to 24” betrays lack of knowledge of the population the CSU serves--our average students is aged 27--and comes close to being discriminatory. Coincidentally the interview with CSU Chancellor Barry Munitz reported in the Campus and Careers Special Section (Feb. 5) emphasizes the importance of the CSU to older students.

The CSU is currently funded at about $7,000 per full-time-equivalent student (FTES), which sounds generous until you appreciate that the national average for higher education was over $15,000 per FTES in 1991-92 (the last year for which complete data are available). The CSU gives excellent value for the money that California’s taxpayers provide. It is unrealistic of Breneman not to mention that, faced with increases in student numbers of the magnitude he reports, in addition to economies and innovations, there will be a need for substantial increases in the state’s funding of higher education over the next decade if we are to continue to, in Breneman’s words, “set the standard for the nation and the world in providing high-quality, low-priced public higher education, with a place guaranteed for every eligible person.”

HAROLD GOLDWHITE, Chair

Academic Senate, CSU

Long Beach