The effects of fewer college graduates on California's economy will be far reaching and disastrous. For the past two decades, California's economy has increasingly changed from a "manufacturing economy" to a "service economy." The result has been a steady decrease in unskilled-labor jobs in exchange for an increase in the professional and skilled-job markets.This year, the California State University (CSU) was forced to cut 40,000 student spots of its normal starting freshman class. This means that, in about four years, there will be half as many professionals introduced into the job market by the CSU as are normally graduated and the same for each year thereafter.
Vis-à-vis, there will larger numbers of unskilled workers in California and fewer jobs for them.
Legislative perception is that higher education is an expense; but the CSU has proved, over and over, that for every dollar invested, the state receives a return of $4.41 -- that's a return-on-investment of more than 85 percent in four years! Cuts to higher education are cuts to one of the state's leading profit centers.
Peter J. Hayes
CFA Chapter President California Maritime Academy
Associate Professor Marine Transportation
Vallejo