[yvonne]

Cal's Football-Stadium Gamble
Amid a Costly Renovation, the School Is Short of Its Funding Goal; Tapping Campus Funds?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...41598.html

The 59er Insider partisans call this a hit piece, saying it unfairly emphasizes information from longtime football critic Brian Barsky, and does not appropriately quote the athletic director.

Interesting pieces from the article:

But three years into the fund-raising effort, a projected $270 million from the sale of seats has failed to materialize. At the end of December, the school had collected only $31 million in the first three years of the sale. Now it has become clear that the university will have to borrow the vast majority of the money.

The stadium situation comes at a time of financial anxiety on campus. After the state legislature last year slashed $650 million from the University of California system's previously $3-billion budget, tuition at UC schools rose 17% for in-state students and 5% for nonresident ones, prompting student protests and sit-ins on the Berkeley campus. With California already leading the nation in tuition increases, the UC system has said that annual tuition spikes could range from 8% to 16% over the next four years.

Also controversial is a plan to open the gates to more nonresident students—who pay higher tuition. At Berkeley, the proportion of undergraduate students who pay nonresident tuition is 16%. The school said its goal is to increase that figure to 20%.

The total bonded debt for the project, including the training center, will be $447 million. That's apparently an unprecedented amount of borrowing for a college-sports project, far above the $220 million that Minnesota borrowed to build a new stadium in 2009, the $200 million that Washington has borrowed for its stadium renovation and the $148 million that Michigan took out to add luxury seats that opened in 2010.

Last fall, I pointed out here that that a large number of ESP (seat licenses) had not sold. This article indicates that that continues to be the case. It also indicates that UCB students and California taxpayers will be on the hook for it. It also means that fewer California residents will be able to attend the state university. Many Californians are already looking to send their children to neighboring states under the Western University Exchange (http://www.wiche.edu/wue), which enables high school students to attend member institutions at rates lower than the traditional out of state rates.

[yvonne]

Cal's Football-Stadium Gamble
Amid a Costly Renovation, the School Is Short of Its Funding Goal; Tapping Campus Funds?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...41598.html

The 59er Insider partisans call this a hit piece, saying it unfairly emphasizes information from longtime football critic Brian Barsky, and does not appropriately quote the athletic director.

Interesting pieces from the article:

But three years into the fund-raising effort, a projected $270 million from the sale of seats has failed to materialize. At the end of December, the school had collected only $31 million in the first three years of the sale. Now it has become clear that the university will have to borrow the vast majority of the money.

The stadium situation comes at a time of financial anxiety on campus. After the state legislature last year slashed $650 million from the University of California system's previously $3-billion budget, tuition at UC schools rose 17% for in-state students and 5% for nonresident ones, prompting student protests and sit-ins on the Berkeley campus. With California already leading the nation in tuition increases, the UC system has said that annual tuition spikes could range from 8% to 16% over the next four years.

Also controversial is a plan to open the gates to more nonresident students—who pay higher tuition. At Berkeley, the proportion of undergraduate students who pay nonresident tuition is 16%. The school said its goal is to increase that figure to 20%.

The total bonded debt for the project, including the training center, will be $447 million. That's apparently an unprecedented amount of borrowing for a college-sports project, far above the $220 million that Minnesota borrowed to build a new stadium in 2009, the $200 million that Washington has borrowed for its stadium renovation and the $148 million that Michigan took out to add luxury seats that opened in 2010.

Last fall, I pointed out here that that a large number of ESP (seat licenses) had not sold. This article indicates that that continues to be the case. It also indicates that UCB students and California taxpayers will be on the hook for it. It also means that fewer California residents will be able to attend the state university. Many Californians are already looking to send their children to neighboring states under the Western University Exchange (http://www.wiche.edu/wue), which enables high school students to attend member institutions at rates lower than the traditional out of state rates.