CALIFORNIA WEIGHS END OF FREE COLLEGE EDUCATION By Robert Lindsey, Special To the New York Times Dec. 28, 1982

Lookit what Governors Reagan (R) and Dukjemanian (R) done 40 years ago, chickens coming home to roost, foreiners own our colleges, california has been producing idiots



...California's public system of higher education, long the envy of many other states, is edging toward acceptance of something even Ronald Reagan, as Governor, could not force upon it: tuition.

The California Postsecondary Education Commission recommended earlier this month that the state abandon one of the cornerstones of its college and university system, a pledge that the state will pay instructional expenses for all residents.

The recommendation was the latest evidence of deep stresses bedeviling the long-admired California system of higher education. In hindsight, many educators say, the system was allowed to grow too large in the 1960's and is now having difficulty adapting to the falling birth rate, a state fiscal crisis and changing demands from students.

The no-tuition concept was embodied in the state's 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education, which established a three-tier system of free public higher education and led to vast expansion.

The system grew to include nine campuses of the University of California, which accepts the highest achievers among high school graduates; 19 campuses of the California State University system, whose admission standards are less restrictive, and 106 two-year community colleges.

The new recommendation, by an advisory body to the Legislature and Governor, to a large extent addresses a semantic paradox left over from Mr. Reagan's eight years as Governor, ending in 1975.

Mr. Reagan fought hard in the Legislature to impose tuition at four-year colleges. He lost the battle to lobbyists for the university, who have long been among the most powerful in Sacramento.

Since Mr. Reagan left Sacramento, the fees have grown substantially. For residents attending the University of California system this year, the annual fees total $1,194; at the larger state university system, $441. This year some community colleges started charging for instructional materials. Free Education Is No More

less than 50%