I went to Berkeley and I disagree. The reason for overcrowding isn't increase in school size, it is reduced support from the state and administrative mismanagement & bloat. It's literally hunger games for pretty much all the schools except Haas and EECS when it's time to get funding.
Tuition is more than 35% of all revenue. All domestic students have to pay AT MOST of 1 year of out of state tuition, because you establish in state residency in your first year here. So you have to get more students to make more money. State support is now just 14% of the revenue (used to be a lot more before). Federal grants have reduced dramatically. The only other sources left are gifts, which btw only select schools bring in.
Meanwhile the costs are only going up. 40% of the budget goes into wages and staffing costs. And another 20% goes towards pensions. I was a TA for an undergrad course and we had 80 students per TA, mostly because of budget cuts.
So yeah letting Berkeley be the place it once was requires not only increased state and federal funding, but also increase in tuition to keep up with inflated wages that people need to be paid in Berkeley, CA.
Tuition is more than 35% of all revenue. All domestic students have to pay AT MOST of 1 year of out of state tuition, because you establish in state residency in your first year here. So you have to get more students to make more money. State support is now just 14% of the revenue (used to be a lot more before). Federal grants have reduced dramatically. The only other sources left are gifts, which btw only select schools bring in.
Meanwhile the costs are only going up. 40% of the budget goes into wages and staffing costs. And another 20% goes towards pensions. I was a TA for an undergrad course and we had 80 students per TA, mostly because of budget cuts.
So yeah letting Berkeley be the place it once was requires not only increased state and federal funding, but also increase in tuition to keep up with inflated wages that people need to be paid in Berkeley, CA.