Cal State LA Financial Challenges and Higher Education Solutions

Introduction

Higher education continues to be a significant aspect of the economy, with professions increasingly requiring individuals with advanced educational attainments. However, institutions of higher education have continued to experience several challenges, including deteriorating student enrollments, increasing student debt across the United States, and concerning student completion rates for various educational programs. The higher education sector in the United States is experiencing major challenges on multiple fronts. California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is the leading all-inclusive public university situated at the heart of Los Angeles, committed to engagement, service, and the public good. It is one of the renowned higher education institutions not only in Los Angeles but also in the state of California as a whole. The purpose of this report is to conduct extensive research to offer prospective solutions to the organizational problem of financial constraint being experienced at Cal State LA as a setting for higher education.

Vision, Mission, and Values

The mission of Cal State LA is to transform lives and cultivate flourishing communities across greater Los Angeles. The university aims to nurture and amplify students' distinctive talents, diverse life experiences, and intellect through engaged teaching, research, learning, scholarship, and public service that support their general success, well-being, and the greater good (California State University Los Angeles, 2020).

The vision statement for Cal State LA is to be internationally acknowledged as the leading comprehensive public university in greater Los Angeles. The organization is committed to delivering innovative and pioneering academic programs that prepare students to be innovative leaders in both their civic and professional lives, in addition to serving the public good through initiatives that facilitate engagement of local, regional, and international communities in mutually beneficial partnerships (California State University Los Angeles, 2020).

The values of the university include the following:

1. Students First — Cal State LA places academic achievement, career development, and student welfare at the heart of everything it does.

2. Pushing Boundaries — Cal State LA sets ambitious goals to challenge and inspire the organization, benefiting its role as the premier comprehensive public university of Los Angeles.

3. Engagement, Service, and the Public Good — Cultivating meaningful, collaborative relationships that contribute to the public good.

4. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — Nurturing diversity, anticipating cultural competence, and actively seeking perspectives and engagement from all elements of the community to develop equitable expectations.

5. Student Engagement — Encouraging students to take ownership of their campus experience and pursue opportunities that promote inclusion, leadership, and a sense of belonging.

6. Engaged Teaching and Learning — Cal State LA nurtures and amplifies students' exceptional talents, varied life experiences, and intellect through engaged education, learning, scholarship, research, and a vibrant student life.

7. Academic Distinction — Cal State LA nurtures and promotes academic distinction through innovation, academic rigor, and the pursuit of lifelong learning.

8. Community of Scholars — Cal State LA fosters a community of scholars among faculty and students who are engaged in research, creative endeavors, and scholarship.

9. A Culture of Excellence — The organization encourages and expects all members to pursue academic, professional, and personal excellence.

10. Transparent Collaborative Decision-Making — Cal State LA makes decisions that are evidence-based, data-informed, cooperative, and transparent.

11. Mutual Respect — Cal State LA is dedicated to nurturing a supportive and accommodating environment in which every individual is committed to cultivating a culture of respect.

12. Academic Freedom — Cal State LA promotes academic freedom and professional ethics (California State University Los Angeles, 2020).

Goals and Strategies

The goals and strategies of Cal State LA include the following:

1. Graduate students who are civically inclined and prepared for and dedicated to engagement, service, and the public good.

2. Cultivate an accommodating and inclusive campus where students, staff, faculty, and the broader community are respected and nurtured.

3. Generate a constructive, all-inclusive student experience with a clear and well-timed path to a high-quality degree.

4. Provide undergraduate and graduate programs of high quality and invest in faculty who are distinctively dedicated to teaching a diverse student body (California State University Los Angeles, 2020).

Organizational Problem: Financial Constraints

One of the fundamental problems being faced by California State University, Los Angeles is financial limitations and constraints in facilitating student aid and university business operations. Statistics indicate that several higher education organizations are experiencing major financial challenges, with costs increasing by 8 percent in the 2017 school year. Furthermore, declining state funding year after year for higher education universities and colleges has given rise to diminished critical services for students, placing major strain on these educational institutions (Wiley Education Services, 2020). Today, public universities and colleges in several states obtain most of their revenues from tuition rather than government funding. This shift reflects a significant wave of change within the higher education sector and is a direct response to the decline in multi-year state funding for both public institutions and colleges. While entities such as Cal State LA have taken measures to cut fiscal budgets or reduce services, decreases have reached a point where institutions no longer have the ability to address deficits through budget cuts alone. The remaining option — increasing tuition rates — further heightens the burden on students and strains available services.

Profound state cuts in funding for higher education over the past decade have been a major contributing factor to rapid, significant rises in tuition, shifting more of the cost burden to students and consequently making it more difficult for them to enroll and graduate. In general, state funding for public universities offering two-year and four-year degrees was more than $6.6 billion lower in the educational year ending in 2018 than it was in 2008, prior to the financial recession. This has significantly impacted California State University, Los Angeles in regard to providing sufficient funding for its student base (Zeleza, 2020).

In recent years, student enrollment figures have risen by 25 percent. At the start of the 2019 educational year, Cal State LA had approximately 22,649 full-time students. However, the university had sufficient funding for only 8,005 full-time equivalent students. Taking this into consideration, the university would require approximately $30 million in additional funding to meet the prevailing needs of all 28,000 students (Chavez, 2019). Due to the lack of permanent funds tied to enrollment, Cal State LA does not have sufficient resources to hire an adequate number of tenure-track faculty, academic counselors, student life specialists, and staff to support the organization's infrastructure. The adverse impact is that the university's plan was projected to prevent approximately 600 students from enrolling at Cal State LA in 2020 (Chavez, 2019).

Students have reported that these state budget cuts have adversely affected both the university and their own educational experiences. For instance, budget cuts within the system have resulted in student financial aid being slashed by half. With no additional funds available within the university system, a number of department advisors were also let go. Consequently, the university lacks student advisors and counselors who help students determine which classes to take each semester, negatively impacting students' educational progress (Unigo, 2020).

References

California State University Los Angeles. (2020). Strategic Plan. Retrieved from http://www.calstatela.edu/strategicplan

Chavez, M. (2019). Cal State LA has proposed a plan to cut enrollment for incoming freshmen beginning Fall 2020. University Times. Retrieved from https://csulauniversitytimes.com/operation-impaction/

Finney, J. E. (2014). Why the finance model for public higher education is broken and must be fixed. Public Policy Initiative, 2(6).

Fortune. (April 7, 2020). Colleges are getting slammed amid the coronavirus crisis — and the worst may still lie ahead. Retrieved from https://fortune.com/2020/04/07/coronavirus-us-colleges-universities-finances-tuition-ticket-sales-enrollment/

Hussain, S. (February 25, 2019). Cal State L.A.'s plan to raise admissions standards faces pushback from students and faculty. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-edu-cal-state-los-angeles-admissions-20190225-story.html

Lorin, J. (April 8, 2020). Colleges with empty campuses face an uncertain financial future. Bloomberg. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-08/colleges-with-empty-campuses-face-an-uncertain-financial-future

Mitchell, B. C. (February 22, 2018). America's colleges and universities have a serious revenue problem. Hechinger Report. Retrieved from https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-americas-colleges-universities-serious-revenue-problem/

Unigo. (2020). California State University – Los Angeles: What do you consider the worst thing about your school? Why? Retrieved from

Wiley Education Services. (2020). Top challenges facing U.S. higher education. Retrieved from

Zeleza, P. T. (March 12, 2020). Money matters: The financial crises facing universities. The Elephant. Retrieved from https://www.theelephant.info/ideas/2020/03/12/money-matters-the-financial-crises-facing-universities/