Higher Education in the State of California - Admission/Application Essay Example

Higher Education in the of California Higher education in the of California is unique from other higher education systems in the United States of America in regard to its structure. In fact, California is considered to be the state with the best and largest higher education system in the United States of America. This can be attributed to the system adopted by the state in 1960 after research and implementation of the Master Plan of Education which was formulated by the a survey team formed by the State Board for Education and University of California. The master plan was later signed into law on 27th April, 1960 by Pat Brown who was the then governor of the state of California. The higher education structure of the state of California is designed in such a manner whereby top 1/3 students who have graduated from high school education are admitted to the one of the universities in the California University System. These students are admitted in a state government system whereby these students are offered student loans and fees at a subsidized level. The rest of the positions left in the universities are given to students who can sponsor themselves as long as they meet the minimum education requirements. This system has worked for many years thus making California one of the best states to undertake higher education. However, lately the California higher education system has been facing various setbacks that has resulted in the education system being in a crisis. One factor that has contributed that has contributed greatly to the current crisis that is facing the California Higher education system is budget cuts that have been done over the past years are catching up with the university despite the fact that many university leaders back then argued that this budget cuts from the state government would not affect the universities (Medina). Well, time has caught up with these officials proving their arguments to be strong. These budget cuts from the state government are seriously affecting the California University System in the following way. Firstly, the budget cuts have resulted in the universities incorporating the universities’ operation costs into tuition fees. This in turn results to students having to pay a lot of money which is becoming impossible considering the current economic crisis that is being experienced by most of the United States of America households. Another way that budget cuts have affected the higher education system in the state of California is that Universities are forced to cut back on programs such as summer tuition due to the fact that f are no longer available as a result of the budget cuts from the state government. The crisis in the higher education system in the state of California is already bad. Something must be done not only by the state government but also the federal government to ensure that the state of the California University system does not head for a disaster. This will be unfortunate since the system is one of the renowned university systems around the world. I am a citizen of turkey where upon completing my high school education, I decided to peruse higher education from the University of California. The University of California was my choice of university to undertake my undergraduate program since I had done some research and found that the state had to offer some of the best universities in the United States of America. For instance, according to 4 International Colleges and Universities, the University of California was the fourth best university in the United States of America (4ICU.org). While undergoing my undergraduate program, I have had the chance to experience the crisis facing the California state university system first hand for instance; fees have increased more than 30 percent since 2012. This can be attributed to the fact that the University of California’s main source of income is tuition fees rather than funds from the state government (Medina). Another problem that I have noticed is facing the California higher education system is the issue of loan payment. John who is my classmate got a chance to enroll into the university since he passed well in his high school education in California. However, his family is not well up thus he needed to access student loans from the state government in order to be able to meet the cost of his tuition. John finally got the loan from the state government after waiting almost three months. However, the amount of money he was given barely met the cost of his university education. This is a problem being faced by many students not only in the University of California, but also other universities and colleges in the state. This can be attributed to the effects the financial crisis of 2007/2008 which have resulted in many graduates being jobless thus being unable to pay their student loans. As a result, the state government has limited funds to finance a huge number of students resulting in them having to give each student small amounts, in order for everyone to get something. One cannot blame the current higher education crisis facing the state of California on the economic crisis only. Poor decision and policy making in both the state government and the university officials has contributed a lot in the current state the higher education system of California is in. for instance, university officials have been cited in the past as saying that budget cuts will not affect the universities and colleges in the state. This is poor decision making and planning since good decision makers should plan for vents in the future. This being so officials should have pressured the state government from making budget cuts to universities and colleges. California collages are among the best collages in the United States of America. For instance according to Forbes, the state of California has produced to collages in the top ten collages in the country (Forbes). However, is the current crisis the system is experiencing currently, the state of California will find its higher education program performing poorly. Works Cited 4ICU.Org. Universities in California by 2013 Web ranking: 2013. Web Available at: http://www.4icu.org/us/California.htm Forbes. America’s Top Collages: 2013. Web Available at: http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/list/ Medina Jennifer. California Cuts Weigh Heavily on Its Colleges, 2012. Web Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/09/us/09uc.html?pagewanted=all Medina Jennifer. California Cuts Threaten the Status of Universities, 2012. New York Times. Web. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/02/us/california-cuts-threaten-the-status of-universities.html?pagewanted=all Read More