Californians and Higher Education
Poll data released Wednesday night suggest that most Californians do not see the budget crises facing their higher education systems as endangering their quality. The poll, conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California found that while strong majorities believe state budget cuts (70 percent) and overall affordability (57 percent) are big problems, far fewer (21 percent) characterize the quality of California public colleges and universities the same way. At least six in 10 Californians give good to excellent marks to the California Community College (13 percent excellent, 52 percent good), California State University (9 percent excellent, 52 percent good) and University of California (13 percent excellent, 49 percent good) systems. These grades are nearly as high as they were in 2007 and 2008, prior to numerous, deep cuts.
