California’s taxes keep going up, their spending keeps going up and their tuition keeps going up. It’s almost like these things are related.

Kate Pickert of Time writes.

What California’s College Tuition Hike Says About the Future of Higher Education

When does a public university system become one in name only? That’s the question facing California as officials in charge of the state’s prestigious, but financially-struggling university system clash over how to keep it afloat.
More
University of California System Approves Steep Tuition HikeAmerica’s Best College TownsPresident Obama Announces Executive Action on Immigration NBC NewsFSU Gunman Was Paranoid of Government, Police Say NBC NewsCould Republicans ‘Defund’ Obama’s Immigration Order? NBC News

On Nov. 20, the regents that control the University of California system will vote on a proposal to increase tuition at its 10 campuses by as much as 5% a year for the next five years. This year’s tuition and fees for in-state students is $12,192, which could rise to $15,564 by the 2019-20 school year under the proposal. The plan was conceived and put forward by Janet Napolitano, who took over the UC system in 2013.

The fight over the tuition increase pits Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona and federal homeland security chief, against Governor Jerry Brown, a popular figure in the state who was just re-elected with a sizable mandate. Brown has said he opposes increasing tuition, and would restore some state funding cut during the recession only if it stays flat. Brown is a regent and is among a handful of those on the board who have already indicated they will reject Napolitano’s proposal.

“There is a game of chicken,” says Hans Johnson, a higher education expert at the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California. “It’s not clear to me at all how it’s going to turn out.”