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volume 131, number 69
TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2012
Students left homeless due to rising tuition, rough economic time
Groundskeepers speak out about their heritage
Resources on campus available for students with financial struggles
Sixty percent are first- or second-generation immigrants
Zach Land-Miller / Aggie
Grounds and maintenance workers at UC Davis are often firstand second-generation immigrants, according to data.
By CHELSEA MEHRA Aggie Features Writer
Madison Dunitz / Aggie
Some homeless students found refuge in the Occupy Davis encampment in the Davis Central Park.
By MICHELLE MURPHY Aggie News Writer
With rising tuition costs, students are facing tough financial decisions in order to maintain a UC education. For some students, the rising cost of tuition can even mean forgoing housing and daily meals in order to study at UC Davis. While a majority of the student population can afford to pay student fees, rent and everyday necessities with scholarships and loans, there is a minority of UC Davis students opting to struggle now without loans, in order to avoid paying back thousands of dollars after graduation. “I haven’t wanted to take out any loans, because I’ve always been against that. I feel like if I don’t have to right now, then I shouldn’t. I would rather be homeless than
taking out loans from the banks. I’d rather be struggling a little bit, than having to struggle a lot later,” said Sarena Grossjan, a sophomore art studio major and current homeless student. During her first year at UC Davis, Grossjan was able to live in the dorms with the dining commons meal plan thanks to scholarships and grants she received from the financial aid office. However, this year has been quite different. After Grossjan paid her tuition fees, she was left with only $1,000 for housing, food and books. Grossjan has been living off of the kindness of friends, with some stays at the Occupy Central Park and the Domes. She is currently couch surfing again, since even the rent at the Domes was too much. “I never really classified this as homeless, because anywhere I go
I’m home,” Grossjan said. “Like, if I have stuff I need, and if I have a place to sleep and food, I’m fine.” During the Occupy Davis movement, Grossjan was living in tents at Central Park while attending school. “I was kind of shocked when I would come and study. It would be freezing cold at night and there would be no lights, so we wouldn’t study at Central Park,” she said. Instead, Grossjan and another homeless student would wake up early and seek out open buildings on campus to study, away from the cold weather. “We were kicked out of buildings because we looked homeless,” Grossjan said. “This lady came up to us in Hunt [Hall], and she asked us if we slept in the building. We said no, we just came to study, and
See HOMELESS, page 2
A brawny mechanic in an oil-stained suit flings open the door of his boss’ trailer office. As one of the 58 UC Davis Grounds Maintenance employees, Enrique Garcia identifies himself with Dixon, Calif. rather than his home country, Mexico. Immigrants often work physical jobs such as groundskeeper or custodian. Thirty percent of the grounds laborers are first-generation immigrants, 30 percent second-generation and 40 percent a mix of generations and ethnicities. Superintendent Cary Avery said that while most of his employees are Hispanic and proud of their heritage, others do not want to be labeled as such. This disparity is probably most attributed to the greater diversity in age, Avery said. “If you went up and asked the 20-year-olds where they were from, many of them will say ‘California.’ I chuckle and say, ‘Really, are you?’ On the
other hand, the 60-year-olds would probably say ‘Mexico,’” Avery said. Though Avery guessed Garcia would say he is from Mexico because he is “a little bit older and more proud,” Avery also conceded that some of his workers, including Garcia, may be suspicious as to why someone would even ask and would therefore immediately respond, “California.” It is unlikely that UC Davis Grounds Maintenance has hired any illegal immigrants, according to both Avery and Director of Budget and Planning for Campus Planning and Community Resources Kim Rhodes. From a bureaucratic end, recruiters go through applications with a fine-toothed comb and quickly flush out any questionable candidates. To keep any job within the UC system, workers must constantly verify that they have a California driver’s license. “One thing that makes our
See WORKERS, page 4
Report shows UC, CSU Davis Joint Unified School enrollment rates decline District $5 million below operating costs due for California high to state budget school graduates State to fall one million college grads short by 2025 By EINAT GILBOA Aggie Staff Writer
The percentage of California high school graduates entering the state’s public higher education has fallen 20 percent in the last five years, shows a recent report from the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). The report examined the impact of state disinvestment in higher education on the percentage of high school graduates enrolling in University of California (UC), California State University (CSU) and community colleges. It stated that enrollment rates at UC and CSU have fallen from 22 percent of high school graduates in 2007 to 18 percent in 2010. The number of students enrolling, unaccounted for by slight increases in community college enrollment, fails to keep up with growing demands for spots in
both systems. “For the past eight years, we have had record high numbers of applicants,” said Dianne Klein, media specialist at the UC Office of the President, in an e-mail. “The demand for a UC education is enormous. But because of the state’s disinvestment, we don’t have the funds to fulfill that demand. This is yet another sad validation of the costs, in real terms, of the state disinvestment in public education.” Hans Johnson, author of the report, is a policy fellow Donald Bren Foundation, which funded the research. Johnson reiterated that because of state disinvestment, the UC has been forced to severely limit enrollment through enrollment caps and deferral, in which qualified applicants who aren’t admitted to their prime-choice UC are granted admission to UC Merced. “UC Merced is the only campus still taking students from the deferral pool, and UC knows that the large majority of students that did not choose to apply to UC Merced but were then given admission will not attend,” Johnson said. Unlike the UC’s deferral process, CSU, originally not an exclusive system, limits enrollment by declaring campuses impacted, then limiting the number of out-of-area students admitted.
See CSU, page 2
Irisa Tam / Aggie
Today’s weather Partly cloudy High 82 Low 56
Forecast It may be a bit hard to study for those midterms outside this week as your papers will likely be flying all around; but don’t worry, textbooks serve as great paperweights. Tyson Tilmont, atmospheric science major Aggie Forecasting Team
Special meeting addressed budget crisis, called for action By SARA ISLAS Aggie News Writer
While several Davis teachers turned their back on a meeting with the Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD) to show their outrage at a proposal to cut their salaries by 5 percent, other community members voted in Measure C. Others still discussed the potential of the Davis Schools Foundation launching a campaign to raise $500,000. These actions were the outcome of a special meeting the DJUSD held May 16 to discuss the impacts that the state’s slow economy are having on school districts and brainstorm possible solutions. During the meeting Yolo County Associate Superintendent Bruce Colby said the financial state of the schools was weak and identified the monetary ways in which referrals from the state have diminished the district’s fiscal position. In 2008, during Wednesday
Thursday
Mostly clear
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High 81 Low 56
High 83 Low 54
the early days of the state budget crisis, the district had $13 million in cash, but now its cash reserves are at $1.1 million, Colby said. The district needs $6 million in cash each month to operate, with most of that going to cover payroll, he added. “We are running dangerously low on cash,” Colby said. “The ‘add fuel’ light is on.” Davis is in the weakest financial position of any school district in the county because its cash reserve is so low, said Linda Legnitto, deputy superintendent with the Yolo County Office of Education. Legnitto reviews the budgets of all Yolo County school districts and insisted that the most important thing in this time of fiscal crisis is
keeping all information accurate and transparent. “The good news is that staff has articulated revenues and budgets to you every time there has been an update,” she told the audience, which consisted of teachers, parents, staff, administration and other community members. “ T h i s meeting aims to maintain such a transparency.” One of the results of the state budget cuts is augmented class sizes across the region and throughout the state, Colby said. DJUSD class Irisa Tam / Aggie sizes will increase in the 2012-2013 year because of reduced funding and reduced personnel, he added.
See BUDGET, page 4
R.I.P. Robin Hugh Gibb (December 22, 1949 - May 20, 2012) Your presence and talent was a blessing to all. Mimi Vo