The University of California’s central administration has overcharged campuses to fund its operations, spent excessively on employee compensation and hidden $175 million in secret reserves in recent years.
Those were the conclusions of a blistering state audit released Tuesday that slammed UC’s Office of the President for misleading budgeting practices – and for interfering in auditors’ efforts to determine whether its wide range of duties and nearly 17,0000 employees could be slimmed down.
State Auditor Elaine Howle said in an interview that her report calls into question the university’s recent decision to raise tuition this fall for the first time in six years when it has additional financial resources available, more than half of which is sitting in a discretionary fund.
“Why did we need to increase tuition if the Office of the President has $175 million in reserve that nobody knew about?” she said.
She added that UC “inhibited” her office from completing a key component of the audit: to assess what functions are completed by the Office of the President and whether campuses find value in them.
SacBee story here.
And what did her ladyship say when a tuition hike was imperative last month?
“We’re now hitting the point where we’re going to miss that sweet spot on quality – on really high graduation rates, on the kind of academic reputation that UC has,” Napolitano said. “There’s only so many years you can go without a rate increase or a small tuition increase that doesn’t sacrifice a lot by way of quality. As much I’d like to say we can sustain this forever, we cannot.”SacBee story here.
Side note for those not remembering. Yes, THAT Janet Napalitono.
And in case anyone questions my judgement compare the old UC logo with the new:
19 comments:
If it cost more it's better, right?
What's wrong with everybody?
Do poor people do that, LBD?
Poor people have their own code to rational petty theft from others like employers.
Oh? Specify
Fraud? Jail? For N?
Taking materials, inventory, cheating time sheets, pocketing money for side work using company shop, These are some of what we dealt with. Most of the time we had strong suspicions but couldn't tag the individuals. Small people small crime, big people big crime.
Glad everyone is stopping by. You may have noticed an uptick in posts. The issues seem sorted and as it stands I could be gone two weeks before anyone noticed based on the filled que.
The Cassini "Grand Finale" begins tonight, it seems...
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/cassini-completes-final-and-fateful-titan-flyby
Reading the SacBee articles sadly doesn't surprise me much. It's encouraging that the legislators who asked for the audit are getting out in public and supporting the auditor.
Hiring Napolitano was probably a mistake, but I'll bet the slush funds and the off-budget projects have been going on since before she even got there.
> Napolitano said most of the $175 million identified is already committed to university initiatives, ranging from improving its cybersecurity and addressing global hunger to research grants and an academic program for students in Washington, D.C.
Gee, ya think an "office" in D.C. is a front for any number of backroom projects?
Agree
Global hunger is not its job. Keeping tuition from going up is
Therr is plenty of academic programs in D C
Liz. I know I am shouting against the tide but the California Constitution is not in any way subject to interpretation. Charging tuition is not allowed. Calling what is tuition, "fees" is not even a thin veil of defense.
I have paid large taxes and expected the "return" would be no tuition. I was stupid.
Liz. The D.C. presence is shrouded in mystery. Without divulging sources it is my understanding that the "office" is a PAC in all but name.
Some folks I know have hinted that Big Ed at the level of major universities is all about collecting grant money from WashDC. I have heard about elaborate and wasteful restructuring and cross-billing arrangements withing these institutions to optimize for grant recipient status.
Thus having a lobbyist team sited in WashDC is unsurprising....
Also note that they're dumping California kids in UC Merced so they can sell the places at the real UCs to higher-tuition out-of-staters and foreigners.
> Also note that they're dumping California kids in UC Merced so they can sell the places at the real UCs to higher-tuition out-of-staters and foreigners.
Hell yes and it is a real scam. They get to claim they offer positions to qualified applicants.
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