Bay Area Colleges Losing Out To Private Schools As Professors Jump Ship

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – This week's passage of the state budget dealt another $150 million blow to the University of California system, which will likely be made up via higher students' fees. However, that's not the only looming problem that may require students to dig deeper into their wallets. UC is starting to see its top faculty lured to other schools.
KCBS' Holly Quan Reports:

Salary bumps of up to 40 percent, better lab facilities and a more stable budgetary situation have become too much to resist for many professors.

A recent report to the Regents showed tenured professors leaving to places like Stanford, NYU and Harvard, private schools that are often competing with UC for students.

"It really goes beyond, I think, actually salary being offered to people," said UC Davis law professor Daniel Simmons, who is chair of the Academic Senate. "It's more about the morale issue and the nature of the work environment, along with a fear that budgetary problems of the university will not be resolved, that the institution is on a downward trajectory."

The only way to reverse that, he said, is to find more revenue to offer competitive packages. But with the state taking money away, the only place to go is the students.

Already, Davis watched its retention rate drop from 90 percent to 72 percent from last year alone, losing professors to Brown, Penn State and Rice.

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