Disconnecting Equal Opportunity

Yesterday's article in the Sacramento Bee profiled the startling but clear intentions of the Board Of Regents in accepting students into the nine campus U.C. system. The article stated that out of more than 160,000 applicants, 72,000 acceptance letters were sent out, there were 4,100 more student's applying for entrance into the system compared to last years figures. The mind blowing revelation that only 500 of the 4,100 excepted applicants were IN STATE STUDENTS. This appears to be a capitol preservation strategy to hedge against future endowment depletion. In fact U.C. President Mr. Mark Yudof explained in a recent article that due to the 500 Million dollar deficit cut to the U.C. system made by the State Of California, these painful measures must be implemented to maintain programs. Out of state students pay almost 25,000 dollars a year more than in state students do. Essentially they are reshaping the student body according to affluence as opposed to ability and desire. This shows the unadulterated greed of these individuals and the lack of concern and welfare of higher education. The only answer can be new legislation developed at the political level that regulates equal access to all. And secures the ability to those individuals that wish to pursue the American dream of a higher education. If this is not done soon we could see a contraction of economically challenged students to the downside by as much as 30 to 50% in the next decade.