Will the $10 Billion Deficit in Pension Obligations Affect the Quality of UC Education?

The perfect storm:  increasing numbers of qualified high school graduates for UC admissions, baby boomers maturing to retirement, who were promised generous pensions–which UC administrators did not fund for 20 years starting in the early 1990’s–and current reductions in state funding for higher education–all put pressure to increase tuition–while at the same time real wages…

Continue Reading

“College is too expensive” or Is It?

Multiple kids maturing to college age, shrinking retirement funds, loss of home equity, loss of personal wealth, plus annually rising college tuition and costs…no wonder middle class families are concerned about financial aid.    When families assume all children will graduate from college, the question is, “What is the family’s collective (this includes all siblings, not…

Continue Reading

Winds of Change Blow in California’s Higher Education Systems

Look for changes to the California Community Colleges (CCC) and California State University (CSU) system as the chancellors of both organizations, Jack Scott & Charles B. Reed, respectfully, retire in 2012.    Also, UC Berkeley’s Chancellor, Robert Birgeneau, will retire on Dec 31. Change may be what’s needed, as California again faces shrinking state funding and…

Continue Reading

Future Success + Financial Constraints = College?

More families, and younger, are asking Creative Marbles about financial aid and paying for college.   Parents are facing difficult choices between supporting multiple kids through 4 years of higher education and saving for retirement, while confronting the challenge of encouraging their children to dream big, yet understanding the realities of financing that educational dream.

Are College Going Attitudes Changing?

Are students’ and their families’ attitudes changing about college?  375 colleges, an increase of 96 institutions from 2011, report still having space available for freshmen and/or transfer students for Fall 2012.     Has the economic uncertainty caught up with families’ choices?  Is the $1 Trillion total student debt and consequences for individual borrowers causing families to…

Continue Reading