Students at UC Santa Cruz on Thursday expressed disappointment
with the Board of Regents’ decision to raise tuition 9.6 percent,
and frustration that the move was made while most of their fellow
students are away for the summer.
Tovin Lapan and Matt Krupnick, Santa Cruz Sentinel
Students at UC Santa Cruz on Thursday expressed disappointment with the Board of Regents’ decision to raise tuition 9.6 percent, and frustration that the move was made while most of their fellow students are away for the summer.
The increase, which will take effect in the fall term, is on top of an 8 percent increase approved in November.
The Board of Regents on Thursday approved the fee increase for both undergraduate and graduate students, following the recommendation of both the UC Office of the President and the UC Academic Senate. The two increases combined will raise in-state tuition from $10,302 in fall 2010 to $12,192 for fall 2011.
“It’s frustrating, especially because a lot of students aren’t around right now to speak up,” UCSC senior Unique Battle said. “I think it’s real shady that they did this in the summer.”
With additional systemwide and campus-specific fees, the total price of attending a UC campus will be more than $13,000 per year for in-state undergraduates.
Thursday’s vote came just two days after California State University trustees raised tuition 12 percent for the 23-campus system, on top of an earlier 10 percent increase. Those increases will take annual CSU undergraduate tuition to $5,472.
It’s the seventh time in five years UC students will see their tuition rise. College students and their families will pay about twice as much to attend school as they did in 2006, leading some advocates to question whether the state is pricing students out of higher education.
Still, most UC students – 55 percent – will not pay more. The university plans to cover the full cost of the combined tuition increases for students whose families make $120,000 or less annually.
Despite pleas from Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a regent, and student Trustee Alfredo Mireles, UC leaders said they have no choice but to place more of a financial burden on students after state lawmakers cut the 10-campus university budget by $650 million last month. The cut left UC with a $1 billion budget shortfall, administrators said.
“Clearly that is not being covered by student fees in its entirety,” UC Vice President Patrick Lenz told regents, noting the tuition increases will make up for about 26 percent of the shortfall.
Students could be on the hook for an additional tuition increase of 5.9 percent later this year, if state revenues do not pick up. Regents stopped short of pre-emptively approving that increase Thursday after students pleaded with them to delay the vote.
UCSC senior Massimo DeMaria said he pays for school with financial aid, and without his job at the True Olive Connection in downtown Santa Cruz, he might have had to leave school this summer. Since starting at UCSC, his tuition has jumped annually, while course offerings have diminished and his major, American Studies, was suspended.
“Student debt is out of control,” DeMaria said, “You can’t plan ahead if they raise tuition twice a year. I think those who come after me will pay off college debt for the rest of their lives.”
Several regents voiced frustration with their inability to find alternatives. University officials have long expressed exasperation with the state government, but solutions have been hard to come by.
Regent Bonnie Reiss said she would vote for the increase “with sadness and disgust,” while Newsom urged regents to send a message to the Legislature by voting against the increase. He made the same plea, unsuccessfully, to Cal State trustees earlier this week.
