Editorial: California universities less appealing

California keeps breaking. Example: Kids in the state aren't choosing California universities as much as in the past. According to a survey released last week by the Public Policy Institute of California, "Enrollment rates at UC and CSU have fallen by one-fifth over the past five years, from about 22 percent of all high school graduates to below 18 percent."

Among the state's "most highly prepared high school graduates," the drop is even sharper, from about 67 percent to 55 percent.

Many kids are choosing community colleges instead, increasing the burdens on that already-crowded system. However, many of these young students ? the best and the brightest ? choose to not "attend college anywhere."

Many others are going to school in other states. This is ominous because students often first look for work near where they go to school.

PPIC pointed out that a major culprit in the students' plight is the recent sharp rise in tuition at all state universities in California, a result of the state's endemic budget problems. Unfortunately, PPIC also advises, "A proposed tax initiative could lead to increased revenue for the state, with policy-makers explicitly identifying higher education as a primary beneficiary if the initiative passes."

That's a reference to Gov. Jerry Brown's $9 billion proposed tax increase, for which he submitted petitions last week to qualify it for the November ballot. Actually, the opposite is the real problem: That the state's businesses and workers already are overburdened with high taxes and too many regulations, and are going bankrupt or fleeing the state, thus crashing the tax base. More taxes only would make matters worse.

"The bad weather in other states keeps our students away only so long," Lance Izumi told us; he's an education-policy analyst for the Pacific Research Institute. "Yet a lot of California policy-makers think that people will simply respond to the good weather here. But economic factors are important in the end. Other states are less expensive, less bureaucratic ? and now maybe have better-quality schools. Policymakers need to see how they're allotting college money to give students the best bang for their bucks."

As we noted in a recent editorial, university administrative pay remains shockingly high. Cal State presidents make as much as $400,000 a year in total compensation. And not enough is going to classrooms. For example, according to the North County Times, 43 percent of the $23.8 million budget at Cal State San Marcos in 2010 went to classroom instruction.

Mr. Izumi said state schools still also fund too many pointless courses. "Colleges need to make hard decisions about what courses they prioritize," he said. He added that community colleges have been doing a better job, gearing their courses to preparing students to complete their educations at four-year universities.

Here's one course we found in Cal State Fullerton course catalog, subsidized with your tax dollars: "American Studies 346: American Culture Through Spectator Sports," described as, "Includes analysis of sports rituals, symbols and heroes." How about just watching ESPN, for the price of a basic-cable subscription?

Here's another: "Philosophy 384, Philosophy of the Body," described as, "examining how correcting philosophy's bias towards the mind informs our understanding of social hierarchy, gender identity and exclusion from public life." But don't they use the mind to read and discuss class material? Whatever.

"These are hard times that require hard decisions even though some constituencies will be upset by it," Mr. Izumi urged.

As with a family or business, in hard times, state schools need to cut waste ? pointless classes and bloated administration ? to make themselves more attractive to the rising generation.

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