The University of California system has a reputation for providing some of the world's finest educations. Perhaps it would serve the UC system's leadership well, then, to enroll in some basic courses in both accounting and public relations.
While the Golden State continues to face widespread economic hardship and out of control budgets, it's premier institutions of higher education can't be bothered to notice. UC released its annual compensation report yesterday and its revelations are startling. Far from making net cuts, the system actually saw its total payroll grow by nearly $108 million, bringing total spending on salaries to just under $10 billion.
While the Golden State continues to face widespread economic hardship and out of control budgets, it's premier institutions of higher education can't be bothered to notice. UC released its annual compensation report yesterday and its revelations are startling. Far from making net cuts, the system actually saw its total payroll grow by nearly $108 million, bringing total spending on salaries to just under $10 billion.
Of course, paying the roughly 186,000 UC employees who inhabit the system's 10 campuses is never going to be an inexpensive proposal, so the point of contention here should not be the raw dollar amounts. Rather, it's the fact that this disclosure comes after the UC Board of Regents hiked fees by 9.6 percent last month (and this after an 8 percent hike last year), handed out $140 million in raises, and refused to make employee salaries available in a public database.
Fee hikes along with austerity measures within the UC system might be understandable insofar as they would recognize the state's perilous fiscal condition and shift the costs of higher education to students instead of taxpayers (though UC schools are unnecessarily expensive because of excessive bureaucracy). But padding the bottom line for UC employees while students take on increased burdens? Indefensible.
Fee hikes along with austerity measures within the UC system might be understandable insofar as they would recognize the state's perilous fiscal condition and shift the costs of higher education to students instead of taxpayers (though UC schools are unnecessarily expensive because of excessive bureaucracy). But padding the bottom line for UC employees while students take on increased burdens? Indefensible.
Join the conversation