UC Board of Regents Approves Steep Tuition Hike

http://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/article/111909_uc_board_of_regents_approves_steep_tuition_hike/

By Giana Magnoli, Noozhawk Staff Writer

The first hit, a 15 percent increase, could come as soon as winter term in January

Despite campus outcry, University of California students will see a 32 percent increase in tuition during the next year.

Facing a state funding gap of $1.2 billion next year, the UC Board of Regents on Thursday approved a fee increase, which will raise undergraduate and professional school graduate fees by $2,500 next year on all 10 of the system’s campuses.

Graduate academic student fees will increase 2.6 percent, or $111, according to UC.

The first hit, an increase of about 15 percent, or $585, may come as soon as the winter 2010 term, which begins in January for quarter-system schools such as UCSB.

In summer 2010, an additional 15 percent increase will be tacked on, raising the undergraduate fees to about $10,300 for in-state tuition during the 2010-11 school year.

The UC system expects the fee increase to generate $505 million, of which $175 million will go toward financial aid.

As the Board of Regents met on the UCLA campus this week, hundreds of people protested and several were arrested for unlawful assembly, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Many campuses, including UCSB, have held days of action and hosted the newly formed UC Commission on the Future. The commission is meant to visit each campus and carry out work groups to get input from the system’s stakeholders.

During its first visit, to UCSB, the meeting was overwhelmed by public comment. Students, faculty and staff expressed concern that the university system is moving toward a more private, less diverse model that concentrates on money, not students.

Some students said they felt like dollar signs instead of people, and their mounting debt brought their academic future into question.

Santa Barbara City Councilman Das Williams, a graduate from UC Berkeley and UCSB, released a statement Thursday calling the decision to increase fees “short-sighted” and “a disregard for the hardships this will create.”

“These fee increases will put the dream of a college education out of reach for thousands,” he said. “Our higher education system is California’s economic engine. To make an economic recovery and compete in the global economy, California is going to need more college graduates, not less.”

— Noozhawk staff writer Giana Magnoli can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

 

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