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Corporations and business associations spent some $545 million over the past decade trying to influence policy decisions in Sacramento.

From New York’s perspective, California politics hum along like a “relatively” well-tuned engine.

New York Times: Students, professors and union workers alike say the state’s 20 percent cutback in financing imperils the system’s ability to provide a top-quality education to all qualified California students, particularly those from low-income families, who make up almost a third of the university’s student body.

Sacramento Bee: UC Regents impose another tuition fee hike.

San Francisco Chronicle: The Chronicle’s Nanette Asimov writes that the UC Regents are getting ready to jack up tuition in a big way, including “an extraordinary $31,355 at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law.”

Perhaps there is a message for California politicians in the findings of the latest poll by Public Policy Institute of California. Gov. Schwarzenegger’s approval rating is 28%. Californians place much more importance on college than do adults nationwide, have a favorable view toward colleges, and worry a lot about university budget cuts.