Analysis of American private colleges and universities: Many advantages are not affordable for everyone, 065438+1reported on October 30th. Beijing 65438+1October 30th According to the report of the Overseas Chinese News, due to the economic crisis in recent years, the California government has drastically cut the funds of public colleges and universities, and public colleges and universities in California have substantially increased their tuition fees in order to save themselves. The result is bound to narrow the tuition gap between public and private universities. Some people even think that California's public colleges and universities are gradually moving towards private colleges and universities. In this case, it becomes a topic whether it is more cost-effective for students to attend public colleges or private colleges. But for some children from low-income families, unless they get scholarships, they will never enter the threshold of private colleges and universities.

Private colleges and universities have thoughtful service and strong human feelings.

Two years ago, Kevin, a new immigrant of Chinese descent, registered as a nursing undergraduate in a state university in Los Angeles, but he temporarily changed his mind, gave up the registration fee and part of the tuition, and transferred to a private university ranked 170 in the United States to study the same major. The second interview cost him 1000 yuan, and the tuition fee of private colleges is eight times that of public colleges, but he feels very good after studying in private schools, and even thinks it is more cost-effective than studying in public schools.

Before transferring to a private college, Kevin calculated an account: when studying in a public college, he often couldn't choose the courses he wanted, which would extend the time for him to get a bachelor's degree to three or four years. Kevin already has an associate degree, and it took him only two years to get his bachelor's degree. Kevin has worked for 6 years and is currently a registered nurse with an annual salary of more than 80,000 yuan. For him, it is much more cost-effective to finish reading and go to work early than to stay in public schools for a long time to save tuition.

Online teaching seems to be a trend and a new means of education in many public schools lacking funds in California, but Kevin's short online class experience makes him unable to adapt. While studying in a public school, Kevin and his classmates attended classes through MSN, but they were faced with a cold computer screen and could not see the professors and classmates. Moreover, when they need computer technical support, all the people who answer the phone are computer students from Kevin's same school. They deal with problems simply, and often overestimate Kevin's computer operation level, which leads to many of his problems not being solved in time. Kevin's experience in private colleges is very different. First of all, there is no problem of not choosing courses. The computer technical problems he encountered when using the online library to consult materials were all solved by professionals. The school will send someone to buy the textbooks he and his classmates need for class and send them to them. If they can't buy it for a while, the school will copy it for free and send it to them for class. In the class of private university, the professor taught face to face, which made Kevin find the feeling of class. There are only a dozen students in Kevin's class, and everyone gets along well. Every night in class, students will take turns to buy dinner. Besides attending classes, teachers and students also cultivate a friendship. Kevin will graduate in April this year, and studying in a private college has saved him at least one or two years. In order to go to a private university, Kevin has a bank loan, but he still thinks it is cost-effective to go to a private school.

Small classes are the advantage of private schools.

California Institute of Technology is an excellent private university, but it gives little intuitive impression. But this smallness is the same feature and advantage of many private colleges and universities. California Institute of Technology has only 300 professors and about 2,000 students, but this private university has trained 3 1 Nobel Prize-winning scholars. China scientists Zhou Peiyuan, Qian Xuesen, Tan and Qian Weichang all graduated from this small private university. Grubis, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry and a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of California Institute of Technology, believes that for undergraduates, the small school size means that students have more opportunities to communicate with professors and even participate in their scientific research activities.

Wei Ruiqin, a language professor at Pasadena Community College, said, "I am a professor in a public school. Public schools are certainly good, but private schools have the advantages of private schools. " When Wei Ruiqin came to study in the United States in his early years, he attended a private university. After graduation, she taught in the same private university until 2009, during which she was also a full-time professor in a public university. "If economic conditions permit, I am willing to send my children to private schools," Wei Ruiqin said. "The ratio of professors to students in some private universities is 1 ratio 10 or 1 ratio 15, which is impossible in most public schools. There are fewer students in the classroom, and there are more opportunities for students to interact with professors. "

But the high tuition fees in private schools will keep many middle-class children out. For example, undergraduates in private universities such as the University of Southern California pay an annual tuition fee of 55,000 yuan, while students in public universities such as UCLA pay an annual tuition fee of only 25,000 yuan. Wei Ruiqin said that the annual tuition fee difference between private colleges and public colleges is 30,000 yuan, and the high tuition fee of private colleges is beyond the affordability of many families. "Although students can apply for loans when they are studying, it is very hard for students to repay loans after graduation. Unless they study law or medicine, the' return rate' of these majors is very high. Before entering the society, students have been burdened with 200,000 to 300,000 loans, which is very stressful. Whether it is worthwhile to study in private colleges under such heavy pressure is worth considering. "

At present, in addition to colleges and universities, public primary and secondary schools in California are also converting small classes into large classes due to financial constraints. There used to be more than 20 students in a class, but now there are 40.

Private colleges and universities are very attractive, and not everyone can afford them.

Sophie immigrated to the United States from China with her family a few years ago, and now she is old enough to go to college. Sophie chose nursing major because studying nursing can get quick results and she doesn't need to invest too much in her studies. Even in the current economic downturn, the profession of nurses has not been greatly affected, and the income of some experienced professional certified nurses is still higher than that of wage earners in many industries.

A year ago, Sophie, like many immigrant students from China, studied in a community college in Los Angeles. However, because there are too many elective courses, and there are many nursing students in Chinese-inhabited areas, and the competition is fierce, she and several classmates ran to Las Vegas, Nevada, where they were going to finish all the courses needed for the nurse's license exam, and then returned to California to take the nurse's license exam. Sophie's mother is an ordinary staff member in a university laboratory, and her salary is very low. She often has to worry about what to do next when her boss's application for research funding is not available. Sophie's mother can't send her daughter to private universities.

In order to save tuition, Sophie is in Las Vegas, but has not applied for admission. She has to live there for a year before she can register for classes, so that she can enjoy the tuition fees of students in the state and save a lot of money. Sophie knows that it is not easy for her mother to make money, so she works in a high-end fashion shop while waiting for school. Sophie's income from working is not low, which makes her mother happy and worried: the child can finally stand on his own feet, but this kind of "quick money" has been taken for a long time. Is the child still in the mood to go back to school?

Chinese professors in public universities call for reform.

Liu Xuanqing, a Chinese-American elected official who was the chairman of the Higher Education Committee of the California House of Representatives and is now a California senator, pointed out that in 20 10, for the first time in history, the amount of financial aid from the California government to public colleges and universities was lower than the amount of tuition fees paid by students, and it was the state government's obligation to fund public colleges and universities. In 20 1 1 year, the California government's funding for public universities decreased by 20%.

Timothy White, president of the University of California, Riverside, said in an interview that due to the reduction of state funding, universities have to ask students to pay more tuition fees to ensure that the school will not be greatly affected today because of the shortage of funds.

This practice of making up for the lack of funds in public schools from students' tuition fees makes the tuition fees of public universities in California gradually approach those of some private universities with similar standards. According to the latest published tuition level of public universities in California by Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, the tuition fees of top universities in California have exceeded 50,000 yuan per year. For example, in Berkeley, the tuition fee for in-state students is 29,027 yuan per year, while that for out-of-state or foreign students is 5 1.905 yuan per year. In Los Angeles, the tuition fee for in-state students is 28 174 yuan per year, while the tuition fee for out-of-state or foreign students is 5 1052 yuan per year. Some professors in public universities believe that the high tuition fees in public schools have made California's public universities exist in name only.

Last June, 5438+065438+ 10, the strike movement of faculty and staff of California State University, which had been brewing for several weeks, broke out in several campuses, including Domingos Mountain State University. Song Yongyi, an associate professor at the University of Los Angeles Library, believes that the California public school system is a pot of rice and should be reformed. He said that the primary task of private university presidents is to win sponsorship, while public university presidents do not have such responsibilities. But the latter's salary is very high, and they all take taxpayers' money.

Professors and students who took part in the strike demonstration expressed their dissatisfaction with Reid, president of the state university. Professors who participated in the demonstration generally believed that the salary gap between school management and teaching staff was too large. Lillian Taiz, president of the California Staff Association, said: "Students in public colleges and universities are now paying more and more tuition fees, but getting less and less education. There are more and more students, but fewer and fewer courses. "