Regents vote to raise nonresident tuition

By Christina Jenkins
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
cjenkins@media.ucla.edu

 

SAN FRANCISCO “”mdash; Burdening out-of-state students
with part of the state budget shortfall, the University
of California Board of Regents voted Thursday to increase
nonresident tuition for the 2002-2003 academic year.

Tuition will increase by 10 percent in the fall for nonresident
undergraduates, followed by an additional 6 percent increase in the
spring. The total hike means a $1,305 increase from $10,704 this
year to $12,009 next year.

Nonresident graduate students will incur a one-time $428
increase in the fall. Tuition is currently $10,704 and will rise to
$11,132.

Approved by a 14-1 vote, the fee hike will give the UC $12
million to rescue outreach programs slated for cuts in Gov. Gray
Davis’ May budget revision. The programs are aimed at
encouraging K-12 students to apply to the UC. A portion of the
revenue will also fund employee health benefits.

During the 2002-2003 fiscal year, the students who never
benefited from outreach programs will nonetheless be paying for
them.

“The legislature strongly favored nonresident tuition
increases,” said UC Budget Vice President Larry Hershman.

Several regents said they were reluctant to approve the hike
since the decision might decrease the number of out-of-state
applicants. Approximately 6 percent of all UC students are
nonresidents.

“We are very committed to diversity,” said Regent
Peter Preuss. If the decision means the UC will lose its
out-of-state students, he said, “We are losing a large part
of what the university is supposed to be.”

However, one UCLA undergraduate from Maryland said she
wouldn’t have cared about how high tuition was when she
applied “”mdash; she’s just upset that it’s going up
again.

“I would have applied to UCLA no matter how much the
tuition was,” said Ami Sri, a fourth-year cognitive science
student.

She said she doesn’t care that the money generated
from her increased student fees will save the state’s
outreach programs.

“I still have to pay more. It doesn’t matter why, I
couldn’t care less.”

Though fees for in-state students remain unchanged for the
eighth straight year, Hershman warned next year’s budget
might see financial woes serious enough to warrant in-state student
fee increases.

“We’re going to have to get state money or
we’re going to have to consider (raising) student
fees,” he said.

Besides warning that the fee hike would decrease diversity, some
regents questioned the UC fee policy altogether. By a vote of the
board in January, undocumented immigrant students are allowed to
pay in-state tuition if they have lived in the state for three
years, while legal citizens from other states do not qualify.

“We have the most incoherent fee policy on the planet. It
makes no sense,” said Regent Ward Connerly.

Some regents also called for an evaluation of the power the
state legislature has over the University’s future.
Historically, student fees fluctuate in relation to the
state’s fiscal situation, with legislators raising or
maintaining student fees depending on the size of budget gaps. The
California Postsecondary Education Commission is attempting to
develop a more consistent fee policy.

“We aren’t masters of our own fate anymore,”
Connerly said. “We need to reexamine the political influence
on this university.”

Student Regent Dexter Ligot-Gordon said nonresident student fees
are like a pot from which legislators draw whenever they need
money, and that there is no incentive to protect nonresident
students when they have no capacity to vote California legislators
out of office.

“When we need money, we should not use this pot,”
Ligot-Gordon said. “We should say to the legislature, to
ourselves, that we’re not going to take advantage of these
students.”

While calling himself a an “advocate for outreach,”
Ligot-Gordon cast the only dissenting vote.

Nonresident tuition usually increases by 4 to 5 percent per
year, but the cost of a UC education for out-of-state students
still falls short of what it costs the state to provide it.

UC officials said the cost of a partially state-subsidized
education for these students is lower than in comparative
institutions “”mdash; including the University of Illinois, the
University of Michigan and the University of Virginia.

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