Wall Street & California's Student Debt Crisis
By Charlie Eaton and Brian Stewart
Executive Summary
This brief shows large student loan debt increases in California since the 2004-2005 school year. Further, we show that the whole public higher education sector — not just students — is paying more than ever to Wall Street. By the academic year ending in 2009-2010, California's public colleges and universities were spending more than $1 billion a year on interest alone for bonds and institutional borrowing. Meanwhile, spending on instruction declined in the California State University (CSU) and community college systems. Spending on auxiliary services, including amenities like dorms and recreation centers, however, increased rapidly. Expansion of such amenities is often financed using bonds marketed by Wall Street banks.
There is a renewal of interest across the social sciences in how social arrangements evolve to organize new social spaces and the role of actors in the creation of that space. One way to label this set of approaches has been to call them "new institutional theories." The Center has a focus on "Culture, Organizations, and Politics". These elements are at the core of understanding how new social spaces emerge, form, and are transformed. The Center supports an ongoing workshop where work in progress is presented and discussed. It also provides funds for graduate student research and sponsors conferences and other programs. Students and faculty from all social science disciplines are welcome to participate. The seminar draws mainly on students and faculty from sociology, political science, the business school, and the law school.
Neil Fligstein
Director