If I can advocate for higher education and students, especially from the ease of my computer keyboard, then I am all for it. How many of us got emails from the UCOP last spring asking us to help by sending a quick email to our California Representatives? I know many of us did, and I believe many of us sent emails. When I attended the WACAC Legislative Conference, I realized that legislators pay attention to counselors and educators that work with students on a daily basis. One meeting or one email may not make a big difference in the overall scheme of things. However, when you add together all of the emails from each Admission Officer, each School Counselor, and many others who work with students transitioning from high school to college, we have the potential to have a strong voice. I am glad that our voices were heard and I am pleased to learn and share the good news that the 2013-14 California budget will include a 5 percent funding increase to UC’s budget, and there will not be a tuition hike in the 2013-14 school year!
For more information about this and other effects on the University of California as a result of Governor Brown’s budget approval, please click here.
By Esther Lopez
*Photograph from Berkeley Science Review.