Never before has obtaining a college education been so critical to the future of our young people and California. With a college degree, students will see their lifetime earnings increase by more than 75 percent over the earnings of their classmates who stop with a high school education. Yet, today, for too many students, the dream of attending college seems out of reach. One in five California children lives in poverty. One in four is an English-language learner. Two in five have parents who did not attend college, parents who want their children to go to college but who might not be able to help them prepare and apply.
To compete in the 21st century economy, our state needs the best-trained teachers, engineers, scientists and businesspeople. California should be opening the college door wider to more students, but we are moving in the wrong direction. The state budget that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed through this year includes enrollment cuts, reductions in course offerings and financial aid, and steep fee hikes for students in the University of California, California State University and community college systems. Because higher education is one of the few major areas of the budget not protected by constitutional guarantees or federal law, our colleges and universities are unprotected from attack and vulnerable to further cuts.
We must reverse this trend and make a college education a reality for more, not fewer, young Californians.
That is why I have proposed the creation of a new California Hope Endowment to renew the promise and secure the dream of a college education for every young Californian. The California Hope Endowment would turn neglected and mismanaged public assets — state-owned real estate — into an endowment that could provide up to $2 billion over the next decade for initiatives like outreach, college preparation and counseling, or scholarships that expand college opportunity. Endowed initially with $5 billion in state-owned property, the California Hope Endowment would be the seventh-largest university endowment in the country.
Used as financial aid, for example, the endowment’s annual revenues would be enough to provide a full-fee scholarship to 385,000 California community college students, or pay full fees and other costs for 19,000 CSU students each year.
This is far from a brand-new concept. In 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln and Congress wanted to expand access to higher education for workers and farmers, they passed the Morrill Act, which granted public lands to the states to support the creation of the University of California and other “land grant” colleges across the nation.
Today, I am proposing a land grant for the 21st century. The California Hope Endowment would renew the commitment made more than 140 years ago, again directing a portion of our public assets to a great public purpose: the education of our young people.
In addition to providing much-needed funds to help provide more opportunities for California students to prepare for and attend college, I hope my proposal will spark a renewed debate about how our state should meet the daunting challenge of opening the college door wider to more of our young people.
It is critical that you, as college students, be engaged in this debate, as this matter affects you directly. California’s economic strength in the decades ahead — when you will be in the workforce — depends in large part on the investments in education we make now to ensure California’s competitive position in the global marketplace of the future.
Legislation to enact my California Hope Endowment proposal will be introduced in the Legislature this fall. I hope you will take the time to read the complete proposal (http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/calhope) and contact Schwarzenegger and your representatives in the California Legislature to help steer this debate in the right direction — so that more young Californians will see their dreams of college realized.
Visit http://www.leginfo.ca.gov to locate your representatives in the state legislature.
