Raising UC Tuition

Re “End the Garage Sale at University of California,” Commentary, April 20: It seems that we have too many of those rotten wealthy people cluttering up the UC system and we must get rid of at least some of them. (We will keep some to pay the bills.) The objective, of course, is to increase the minority enrollment in our UC schools. Gary Byrne’s and Richard McKenzie’s solution is to raise tuition so that it is equal to the “top-tier” private schools and, presto, the appropriate number (I’m sure our two geniuses will tell us exactly how many) of wealthy students will opt for a private school.

By the way, what is a wealthy student (other than Asian/white)? Suppose too many (all) of those wealthies decide on private schools. Who pays the bills? Not the poor Asians/whites--those who aren’t wealthy won’t be able to afford the UC system after the increases. Well, not to worry, those rotten wealthy people will be glad to pay more taxes to educate someone’s children while they pay more to educate their own.

I voted against an end to affirmative action, but with clowns like those two in favor of it I believe I will change that position.

PAUL J. BEGTZOS

Signal Hill

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Professor McKenzie and his co-author say that sharply raising UC fees will increase enrollment of minorities and the poor. It’s a fascinating proposal and the readers would love to hear how this has worked out in other systems. Unfortunately the authors didn’t get around to such messy details. What they have done is confirm my long-held suspicion that rich people are sharp shoppers. Rather than paying for a “top-tier” private university like USC or Pepperdine, they buy the cheap UC ticket.

My kids have attended UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and UC Davis. While visiting I’ve been threatened by a swarm of bicycles, never realizing that I was surrounded by an even greater menace--rich kids.

Taking this essay as an advertisement for McKenzie’s management classes, I note that he prefers simple declarations to detailed reasoning. He also appears to believe that facts and numbers don’t count. On the other hand, I give him a big plus for his sense of humor, for proposing that the state probe the net worth of each student’s family before assessing the tuition--excuse me, fee.

BOB RAND

Newport Beach

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The commentary is highly discriminatory in its proposal to raise fees on the wealthiest families. First, it overlooks the return-on-investment that state taxpayers receive by educating the best and brightest. The relationship of the university to our economy seems self-evident.

Driving the wealthy to private universities denies the good-looking middle-class female the opportunity to meet wealthy males and possibly marry them. Therefore the diversity of having wealthy students is needed.

BOB KERBER

Oceanside