It doesn't take a college education to realize that the budget crisis facing California is potentially more devastating than any natural disaster this state has ever experienced.

But while this fiscal emergency now requires renewed commitment in Sacramento, the desire to make quick decisions without cautious assessment threatens to have a ruinous long-term effect on California's economy.

Among the governor's recent proposals to balance the state budget is a recommendation to eliminate the Cal Grant program.

For more than half a century, Cal Grants have enabled academically qualified, financially challenged California students to earn a college degree, providing men and women from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds access to higher education.

Having spent the past 24 years as president of the University of La Verne, I know the Cal Grant program is a fundamental reason California is recognized as a worldwide leader in business, technology and innovation. These grants are sound investments in the future.

Recent public discussion involving Cal Grants has focused on the impact they have on students attending public institutions – UC, Cal State and community colleges. Often overlooked is the role California's independent colleges and universities, including La Verne, play and the consequences dropping the program would have on these institutions.

Using La Verne as an illustration, last year 729 students within our combined enrollment received more than $6 million in Cal Grant funds. Of those, 77 percent were female and more than 61 percent identified themselves as being Hispanic, African American, Asian-Pacific Islander or Native American-Alaska Native, including 359 of Hispanic heritage. And of the freshmen and transfer students confirmed to attend La Verne next fall, 127 – nearly 30 percent of the entering class – have been awarded more than $1 million in Cal Grant funds.

Under the governor's proposal, those students will need to quickly identify and obtain alternative assistance to sustain their dream of earning a college degree.

Because students attending this state's independent colleges and universities receive higher Cal Grant amounts ($9,000-plus) than those at state institutions, some argue that limiting grants to UC-Cal State-community college students makes financial sense. But that overlooks the subsidized cost of public education.

According to the Association of Independent California Colleges & Universities, based on the latest graduation rate figures the cost to the state's general fund for each Cal Grant recipient earning a bachelor's degree at an independent institution ($62,932) is dramatically less than for those earning their degree at a UC ($159,266) or Cal State ($328,662) campus.

Because AICCU schools provide facilities and subsidize the actual cost of student education without public funding, the Cal Grant assistance each of our qualifying students receives represents the state's total financial outlay. So although students attending public institutions obtain lower amounts in annual Cal Grant aid, those dollars reflect only a portion of the true cost to taxpayers.

The importance of an educated work force has long been recognized as fundamental to California's financial success. In its 1992 report "Visions: California 2010," the California Economic Development Corporation stated: "If we do not educate all our people for tomorrow's jobs, our society could become increasingly polarized between the rich and the unskilled." It went on to assert, "No issue will be more important for sharpening our competitive advantage, spurring overall growth, and for ensuring that the benefits of that growth are shared by all Californians, than investing in ourselves."

Last April a Public Policy Institute of California report warned that by 2025 this state will face a shortage of 1 million college graduates needed for the statewide work force. Having fewer college-educated adults translates to a higher percentage of low-income households, which in turn increases demands on social services. Such conditions will allow companies to continue searching elsewhere for more fertile environments and force qualified workers to follow.

Finding practical solutions and securing a prosperous economic future in the Golden State depends on higher education, the public and private sectors working together to ensure continued accessibility and affordability for all qualified students. If we miss a generation, we will never catch up.

With the assistance Cal Grants provide, La Verne graduates and those from other colleges and universities throughout this state will help point California and the nation toward recovery.

Stephen C. Morgan is the president of the University of La Verne.