I've been trying to understand the
tejemeneje at the University of Puerto Rico, where a student strike, now nearly one-month old, led Tuesday to an island-wide general strike against the proposed cutbacks.
Folks in Puerto Rico and here in the states have been aghast—aghast!—that the student strike that has shut down the 11-campus, 62,000-student university system has not grabbed national headlines. My own view is, there's nothing new there. Since when does the national media pay attention to Puerto Rico?
Worse still, you cannot figure out what's going on by reading Puerto Rico papers. Island coverage is maddeningly superficial. Hey, maybe that's why the mainstream media aren't paying attention. (Please don't write me nasty comments; I worked as a reporter and editor on the island and have an insider's view of this.)
Not to make light of the situation, but the University of Puerto Rico has a long history of student strikes and student unrest. It's been reported that the parents of current strikers—known as the
¡Basta Ya! generation—have been very supportive. Well, no wonder. Very likely the parents were once student strikers, too!
But public support may also be attributed to the pride Puerto Ricans have in the more than 100-year old institution. The island's best and brightest minds have passed through the university's gates. As important, UPR historically has had the
lowest tuition and fees of any island university, making it accessible to a broad range of students. More about this later.
However, the island has been in the economic doldrums for several years, with the Commonwealth reporting a $2 billion deficit. That translates to a reduction of about $300 million in university funding since 2008—nearly $200 million of which will take effect when the new fiscal year starts July 1.
To make up for the deficit, the university has:
• Tried to reduce energy costs
• Frozen non-instructional job openings
• Disposed of one-third of university vehicles and cut equipment and other purchases
• Reduced copying costs by 25 percent
• Reduced overtime by 90 percent
• Cut travel costs by 50 percent
• Required all teaching staff to return to the classroom (and away from administrative duties)
It's unclear how much money UPR has saved with these measures. Now there's a question reporters should be asking. It's now proposing to cut employee salaries, both teaching and non teaching staff.
A little background is necessary: UPR has reported
operating losses for years. In 2007, the height of the most recent economic boom, UPR reported an
operating loss of $980 million, up 7 percent from the year before. Only Commonwealth appropriations of nearly $800-900 million a year—about 10 percent of the island General Fund as required by island law—pushes UPR into the black. Tuition and fees make up only $49 million a year.
The
Puerto Rico Daily Sun reported that Gov. Luis Fortuño allocated $105 million in federal stimulus funds to UPR this fiscal year as a stop-gap measure, and he expects to toss UPR another $25 million in stimulus money next fiscal year.
Note, however, that when stimulus money dries up, the university is going to be hard-pressed to generate additional funding and it won't be able to squeeze more funds out of the General Fund. In fact, the university has already forecast a $169 million cut in Commonwealth funding in the coming fiscal year.
More cutbacks are the only likely alternative.
Students, meanwhile, are asking for tuition to remain at current rates, which is pretty low.
According to the UPR, the
cost of attending UPR for students entering in 2010 is expected to be $51 a credit under an earlier tuition schedule; the class entering in 2011 would pay $53 per credit; and the class entering in 2012 would pay $55. Rates were
guaranteed for up to 6 years of undergraduate study.
For students who entered UPR this academic year (half of which has been wasted), total tuition was $3,884 per year—about
25 percent less than tuition/fees charged at the
University of Florida, one of the lowest-cost state universities in the U.S. Some private island universities charge as much as $140 per credit.
But on an island where poverty is still rampant, even $3,884 a year in tuition is too much and scholarships are lifesavers. Nearly two-thirds of UPR students qualify for federal Pell grants, according to the university.
I can't verify if UPR is pushing for a tuition increase, although it appears to be trying to do away with some scholarships and stipends. UPR hands out more than $100 million a year in scholarships and stipends.
So there you have it—or as much as I'm able to figure out from a tortured reading of island press accounts and my own copious digging.
For a good, if one-sided, account of the UPR student strike visit
Democracy Now. You can also catch the latest news on the student strike at
El Nuevo Día and the
Puerto Rico Daily Sun.
But I warn you, you'll go mad trying to make heads or tails of it.
