With a sense of grim necessity, the University of California
Board of Regents voted July 17 to raise student fees by 25 percent
to help mitigate state cuts of at least $360 million to the
university’s budget.
The decision translates to an annual increase of $960 for
resident undergraduates and $1,005 for resident graduates. All
told, resident undergraduates will pay a total of $4,794 and
resident graduates $5,019 in annual fees.
In addition, the regents voted to give the UC president
authority to raise fees another 5 percent if necessary.
UC President Richard Atkinson, who is retiring in October, said
if the state legislature soon passes a budget that cuts UC funding
further, he will raise fees an additional 5 percent within the next
couple of weeks.
Besides hiking student fees, the university will also borrow $40
million to $50 million to help supplement its funding. The loan
will be paid off over five years via an increase of non-resident
annual fees.
The regents also may cap student enrollment for the 2004-2005
academic year if the budget crisis worsens ““ an unprecedented
move that would break the UC pact with the state to guarantee
access to all eligible students.
The regents most likely would decide on an enrollment cap at
their fall meetings.
Many regents expressed reluctance in passing the fee increase
but said they felt boxed in by the state budget crisis, which could
cut an additional $80.5 million to $400 million from the UC by the
time it is passed.
Atkinson said he felt Gov. Gray Davis’ base cuts of $360
million were bad enough without the threat of even more cuts.
“Now, to think that might be the tip of the iceberg is
hard to believe,” he said.
UC Budget Vice President Larry Hershman cautioned that, given
the financial quagmire in which the state finds itself, more budget
cuts may be coming.
“We’re going to have a problem next year and the
year after,” he said.
Hershman also advised the regents that they should anticipate
budget cuts beyond the projected $360 million for next year.
The regents’ vote followed a heated debate Wednesday, when
the nine-member financial committee approved the fee increase by a
narrow vote of 5-4.
The motion then was ratified by the rest of the board by the
overwhelming vote of 13-3 Thursday.
Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who sits on the board by virtue of his
position, was one of the strongest opponents of the fee increase
and called those who said the increase would not severely limit
access to the university “liars.”
“This increase lacks vision and is short-sighted,
especially in a down economy,” said Bustamante. “In
tough economic times, college should be more affordable, not
less.”
Regent Ward Connerly, who conceded that he felt the regents had
“no other choice” but to raise fees, nevertheless
criticized those regents who said fees needed to be increased to
preserve the educational quality of the institution.
“What good is the quality if we’re closing people
out?” he asked.
Only a handful of students appeared at the meeting to speak
during a public comment period, but all of them expressed concern
and anger over the increase.
“I’m here today because I’m not sure if
I’ll be here next semester,” Mo Kashmiri, a law student
from UC Berkeley said sarcastically.
Kashmiri estimated that because of the combination of student
loans and the fee increase, he will have accumulated over $100,000
in debt by the time he graduates.
Anu Joshi, a senator for the UC Student Association, said the
fee increase was “a slap in the face” to an
underrepresented student body.
“The saddest thing about this is that the stakeholders in
this situation have been totally left out of the process,”
she said.
Some regents felt uncomfortable giving the 5 percent
discretionary power to the president and made it clear their vote
would not set a precedent for future fee increases.
“This is not something we should be delegating,”
Regent Gerald Parsky said.
UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl urged Atkinson to make a
decision on the 5 percent increase soon, as the fee statements for
schools on the semester system are set to go out in the next couple
weeks.
Despite the perceived necessity of the fee increase, none of the
regents attempted to downplay its effects on the university or the
magnitude of the cuts.
“There is a lot of pain in this university ““ on
every campus,” Hershman said.