McCarthy, Hart Ask Windfall to Be Used to Slash College Fees

SACRAMENTO —  Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy and Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) on Monday proposed using $180 million from a state antitrust settlement to lower student fees University of California and California State University campuses and to restore budget cuts in the state’s elementary and secondary schools.

McCarthy and Hart urged at a news conference that $76 million of the onetime windfall be used to roll back student fee increases from 40% to 10% at UC and from 20% to 10% at CSU. The other $104 million would go to elementary and secondary school districts on a per-pupil basis to pay for new computers and lab equipment for math and science classes and to rehire teachers who have been laid off as a result of this year’s drastic state budget cutbacks.

Cynthia Katz, assistant director of the Finance Department, said the Wilson Administration will oppose this effort and “all new spending bills” until it is clear whether the state is emerging from the recession.

The $180 million comes from a recent legal settlement in which four major oil companies, without conceding wrongdoing, agreed to pay the state and the city of Long Beach. The case involved an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of oil pumped at Long Beach.

UC undergraduate tuition and fees will average $2,470 this year. The Cal State fee will be $936.

Hart said: “The state has many pressing demands but it seems to me our No. 1 priority should remain public education.” California’s per-pupil spending is “significantly below the national average,” Hart said.

McCarthy said student fee increases that were approved last spring will mean that 62,000 “middle-income” students will not be able to afford higher education--43,000 at Cal State and 19,000 at UC.

However, officials of both university systems said those figures are much too high. They said increased financial aid to needy students should mean that relatively few students are deprived of a college education because they cannot afford it.