SAN FRANCISCO “”mdash; On a decision that could mean an increase
of over $1,000 per year for some University of California
professional school students, the UC Board of Regents was
stuck.
The regents were presented with a proposal to raise fees for
graduate students in order to generate $3.2 million for UC
professional schools, but could not reach a consensus at their
meeting in San Francisco on Thursday and pushed the issue to be
discussed sometime in the future.
With four regents absent and the meeting an hour behind
schedule, the board opted to postpone the decision until a time
when the full board was present and the topic could be given
sufficient time and attention.
The increase would be a significant increase for individual
students but would translate to only a relatively miniscule amount
for the university as a whole.
“It’s … a $3.2-million problem within a $4-billion
budget,” said Regent Norman Pattiz.
The proposed fees were determined on a case-by-case basis, as
fees vary between campuses and schools. Some professional students
would see no increases at all, while others would pay an additional
$1,076 for the 2005-2006 academic year.
This fee comes on top of a 10 percent increase in fees for
graduate students that was already approved by the regents in their
November meeting at UCLA.
“It means so much more to the students,” said
Jennifer Lilla, president of UC Students Association.
University officials in support of the increase emphasized how
badly the professional schools needed additional funds to maintain
quality.
But others said the issue was not whether the university needed
the additional money, but how that money would be acquired.
“It’s a question of where does this money come
from,” Pattiz said. “We’re talking about a very
small amount of money here. I’m hard-pressed to believe that
the only place these funds can come from is on the backs of
students.”
But given the huge cuts the university has experienced in the
last few years, even $3.2 million may be hard to come by.
“We’ve just been through $500 million of base-budget
cuts,” said Larry Hershman, UC vice president of budget.
After those cuts, officials said there isn’t anywhere in
the budget to get more money for the professional schools, even a
relatively small amount like $3.2 million.
“It’s not like we have $3.2 million that we are
sitting around on,” said UCLA Chancellor Albert
Carnesale.
Other regents said the additional funds may not even translate
into substantial improvements in quality.
“It’s $3.2 million … and it isn’t going to
change anything,” said Regent George Marcus. “If we
think that quality (problems) are going to be reversed because of
this, we’re kidding ourselves.”
Another concern with the increase was the timing ““ after
new students have already made their decisions and returning ones
have budgeted their money for next year.
A major factor in how many students decide which professional
school to attend is the cost. With a price increase so late in the
game, some students will get a higher price than what they signed
up for.
“It pains me greatly after the pain and suffering that
these students have been asked to go through … to hit them in the
middle of the process for something they have not planned
for,” Pattiz said.
Pattiz added that he thought the regents should exhaust all
other possibilities before charging the students.
The big question is what other possibilities there might be.
With no more money to be had from the legislature and a tight UC
budget, Carnesale could only think of one alternative.
“There is another option,” he said.
“Don’t spend it. Don’t get it (and) don’t
spend it.”
The regents also voted to postpone a decision on increasing the
Educational Fee ““ a second proposed fee increase which
stemmed from a 2002 lawsuit.
In order to offset losses incurred in a lawsuit brought against
the university in 2002, the second fee proposal would impose a
one-time $1,050 fee on professional students over two years. The
university was sued for increasing fees, which some professional
students say violated an agreement the regents made to not increase
fees during the time those particular students were enrolled.
For now, professional students enrolled at or entering the UC
next year will just have to wait ““ the special meeting to
vote on the fee increases is not yet scheduled.