Students unhappy with UC fee increases

Jeff Benson

University of California regents voted Thursday to raise the minimum

annual cost of enrollment for UC students to more than $6,000,

beginning next year, a hike that riled local students.

The Board of Regents voted 13-1 in favor of an 8% increase in

undergraduate student educational fees, which cover the cost of

enrolling in a school, and a 10% increase in graduate student

educational fees. Both increases coincide with the governor’s Higher

Education Compact with the University of California and California

State University systems.

The compact was designed as a long-term resource plan for the

universities. In exchange for stability, universities will use the

additional fees to address future accountability goals for

enrollment, student fees, financial aid and program quality.

“Fee increases are, safe to say, never a good thing,” said UC

Regents spokeswoman Ravi Poorsina. “No one wants student fees to go

up. It’s unfortunate that we’re in the position where they’re

happening. In the moment, we’re trying to make things work and to

better our financial situation.”

Educational fees for resident undergraduates will be $435 higher

per academic year, while nonresident undergraduates’ fees will jump

$471. Regents increased undergraduate and graduate educational fees

last year by 14% and 20%.

Graduate students will pay 10% more, a boost of $606 for resident

graduate students and $628 for nonresident graduate students.

UC Irvine Vice Chancellor of student affairs Manuel N. Gomez

didn’t take kindly to the UC budget increases but said he understands

its necessity to help stabilize the state economy.

“Students will resist the fee increase as a matter of regularity,”

Gomez said. “I’m not happy, and I don’t know anyone in the university

who is happy with the fee increases. But it allows the university to

begin to slowly move toward recovering lost ground that occurred in

the state’s economic downturn.”

Sociology major and senior Antoinette Saenz of Costa Mesa said she

plans to enter a graduate program in social work after she graduates.

She said she’d feel better about the increases if she was shown, step

by step, how her money will be used.

“Personally, since I come from a minority background, and I’m

involved in advocacy for higher education, people are always asking

me, ‘How can I pay for this?’” Saenz said. “Then we have this fee

increase, and now we’re supposed to get our bachelor’s and be able to

pursue a master’s? A lot of people I know can’t come up with the

money.”

Another nonresident student, Shawn Augsburger, 22, of Irvine, said

he isn’t surprised by the budget hikes, because last year Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger promised the fee increase when the compact was

released.

Augsburger, a senior and history major planning to return to UC

Irvine for his teaching credential in the fall, thought the 10%

increase in graduate student education costs was too steep.

“To really solve this problem, we need a fee policy, where instead

of the regents voting every year, it should be more like private

universities, where the students pay a certain percentage of their

education each year,” Augsburger said. “The fees should go up

steadily to keep up the pace, so the students aren’t shot by this.

Students can change their habits to deal with a 3% increase. But all

of a sudden, they’re hit with 10%, and they can’t adjust.”

The regents also approved a 5% increase in the nonresident tuition

fee, beginning next year, which will raise the cost of nonresident

undergraduate tuition from $16,476 to $17,304. Nonresident tuition

will remain the same for graduate academic students and for

professional students.

Professional student fees increased least, an average of only 3%

higher. The UC Board of Regents attributed the rise to cost increases

in programs funded from professional-fee revenue.

* JEFF BENSON covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at jeff.benson@latimes.com.