SAN FRANCISCO “”mdash; The UC Board of Regents voted Thursday to
raise fees thousands of dollars for professional school students,
which the regents say is to compensate for the state budget crisis
and to make up for anticipated losses in lawsuits filed regarding
previous fee increases.
The increases were approved by a 12-6 vote. Coupled with the 3
percent increase approved in November, the fees for most programs
will go up by about ten percent compared to last year’s fees.
"In that last couple of years we’ve had enormous cuts in state
support in regards to our professional schools," said UC Vice
President of Budget Larry Herschman. Herschman said that due to the
budget circumstances, fee increases for students are necessary for
the UC to be able to continue to provide a quality education.
Some regents took the position of the many students who
protested the fee increases during the public comment period
““ that the increases in fees will make it more difficult to
attend UC professional schools and make those who are accepted
likely to go somewhere else due to the rising cost.
"I think it’s short-sighted and a tremendous mistake to put this
on the backs of (professional) students," said Regent Norman J.
Pattiz.
Regent Monica Lozano said while she does understand that fees do
need to be raised at times and favors the creation of a long-term
predictable fee policy, she could not support increases that
students can’t plan ahead for.
In addition, a temporary educational fee of $700, which will be
raised to $1,050 for 2006-2007, will be assessed to make up for the
UC’s estimated $20 million loss due to a class-action suit filed in
2003 against the university.
The lawsuit was filed by professional school students who say
the UC raised their fees despite a promise made in application
materials and outlined in the UC’s budget to keep incoming
students’ fees constant until graduation.
The UC estimates their losses could increase to $55 million if
the court orders them to issue refunds of raised fees that were
collected. A second class-action suit, representing a different
entering class of UC professional students, was filed July 12 in
San Francisco Superior Court.
Miguel Casillas, president of the Boalt Hall Student Association
at UC Berkeley’s law school, called the temporary educational fee
"a miscarriage of justice."
"We weren’t part of (the lawsuit), and now we’re victims of
circumstance," Casillas said.
Prior of the vote, UC Student Association President Jennifer
Lilla urged the regents to "choose to make higher education
affordable again" and reverse the trend towards "privatization" of
UC professional schools.
"These fee hikes are not fair, they come late in the year …
there has to be a better solution to what may be a temporary
shortfall than permanently punishing professional students," Lilla
said.
While fee increases are always unfortunate, the losses from the
lawsuit threaten to "directly impact the quality of UC professional
schools," said Regent Judith L. Hopkinson. "In weighing the
challenge that the university faces, with the shortfall … I don’t
think the university has a choice."
Many expressed their difficulty in making their decision on the
matter.
"On one side I really think the professional schools need the
support to be able to compete … on the other hand, personally, I
can see that the UC does not have the money," said Regent David S.
Lee.
Another matter on which the UC took action was approving an
extension of the contract for the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory until 2007, at which point the Department of Energy will
open the contract for competition.
The DOE has been criticized in the past for the manner in which
it allocates indirect costs at the Livermore lab to the UC.
President Robert Dynes said despite criticisms, the UC is not
making a profit on any of its national lab contracts, and that any
compensation received is put directly into funding research.
"We’re doing this for the advancement of science, for national
security, and as a contribution to our nation," Dynes said. "The
moment we start walking away with money, many of those things go
way."
The UC also submitted its bid early this week to the DOE to
continue its management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in
New Mexico, a nuclear facility the UC has controlled since World
War II.
The UC, which has teamed with engineering firm Bechtel National,
is in competition with a joint bid from the University of Texas and
Lockheed Martin.
A third bid was filed by two non-profit watchdog groups, Nuclear
Watch of New Mexico and Tri-Valley Communities Against a
Radioactive Environment, a Livermore-based organization. Supporters
of their bid were present at the meeting, urging the UC to make
their bid public.
Details of the UC’s plans for the future of Los Alamos, should
their bid be accepted by the National Nuclear Security
Administration, have not been released.
"The Los Alamos management contract is a competition, and as a
consequence, we will not be speaking publicly about the contents of
the proposal," said S. Robert Foley, UC vice president of
laboratory administration.