Incoming UC Santa Barbara students could face up to a 5% increase in the cost of tuition compared with previous incoming classes after the University of California Board of Regents voted to renew the Tuition Stability Plan.
Once enrolled, students will have consistent tuition costs for up to six years, but the plan does allow universities to increase tuition and fees up to 5% each year for first-year and transfer students.
The Regents approved renewing the plan in a 13-3 vote in November and faced significant backlash from students.
At the November meeting, UC Los Angeles student Carl Maier spoke out against the increase, arguing that students shouldn’t face the consequences of the UC system’s financial challenges.
“Just because in the past some have accepted astronomical debt as a rite of passage in higher education, or have been wealthy enough to lack concern, this does not mean that current and future students will allow it to happen,” Maier said.
UC Regent chair Janet Reilly said the Tuition Stability Plan has provided students and families with more predictability and confidence in financial planning.
“We recognize that addressing any tuition issues, we are making decisions that profoundly affect our students and our future students,” Reilly said. “That’s why we take any such decision very seriously and devote significant amount of time and effort to evaluating all possible courses of action.”
Additionally, Reilly claimed that since its implementation in 2022, 54% of undergraduates received enough aid to offset the tuition increases.
“We’re proud of the contribution this plan has made to advancing the university’s mission and improving the experience of our students,” Reilly said.
Under the plan, each cohort of incoming students pays the same amount in tuition for six years, but they are paying more than the previous year’s cohort and less than the following year’s cohort.
However, graduate students will see fees rise with inflation, capping at a 5% increase, according to the Regents report.
Also under the plan, the Regents lowered how much money from tuition goes back to financial aid from 45% to 40%. UC officials argued that by raising tuition costs, it provides more aid for low- and moderate-income students.
The Regents first adopted the model in 2021 and implemented it in 2022 and will review the plan again in seven years.
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis strongly opposed the increase at the Regents meeting, saying the plan would lead to massive increases over time.
“When we are talking about tuition, there is just nothing more that impacts the ability of students to attend,” Kounalakis said. “Our students sleep in their cars. Our students go to food banks in order to be able to eat.”
She added that tuition increases should be discussed annually rather than once every few years.
“I think that any time we raise tuition we should be going back and understanding whether or not we’ve done every other possible thing to avoid raising tuition, and putting it on this automated increase and hiding through these numbers that this is anything other than what it is, which is a massive increase overtime in the tuition, and what we’re putting on the backs of students, I think it is extremely troubling,” Kounalakis said.
The tuition increase comes as the UC system faces budgetary issues related to rising operating costs, state fiscal constraints and a lack of federal funding for research, according to UC President James Milliken.