[Online exclusive]: UC professional school student fees to increase over next three years

The University of California Board of Regents voted today to increase fees for professional school students every year for the next three years.

Law and business students will be hit especially hard, with 18.6 percent and 14.3 percent increases at UCLA respectively for the next school year ““ and similar increases for the two years after that. That equates to a projected $16,000 increase in yearly in-state tuition at the UCLA School of Law after three years.

All other professional schools at UCLA will take 7 percent increases for the next three years.

Regents in favor said the fee increases would ensure quality at the university system’s professional schools in the face of historically low state support.

“We are at a crossroads. The state support that we have had in decades previous ““ we don’t have it anymore,” said Regent Judith Hopkinson.

Regents opposed said fee increases would make the UC’s 34 professional schools less accessible to minorities ““ an area the regents had committed to improve upon earlier this week.

“We ought not try to address quality concerns on the backs of students,” said Regent Eddie Island, drawing a burst of applause from audience members.

Increases vary according to professional school type and ““ in most cases ““ campus prestige, with high-ranked schools taking higher tuition increases.

Island said differentiating fee increases based on campus prestige clashed with the public university system’s values, allowing “schools that are ahead to get further ahead.”

Student Regent Ben Allen said the increases would cause “sticker shock,” discouraging poorer students from applying.

Allen ““ a law student at UC Berkeley, himself ““ supported increased loan forgiveness for students who opt to take lower-paying public service jobs after graduating from professional schools.

In other news Thursday, the regents approved a measure that increases scrutiny on university researchers accepting grant money from tobacco companies.

The policy is a far gentler reproach on the tobacco industries than some had hoped for. The regents were originally facing a proposal that would have banned funding from tobacco companies for tobacco-related studies completely.

That proposal was stifled by faculty and regents opposed to a policy change that would limit their academic freedom.

Banning tobacco funding would be a slippery slope, they said, that could lead to bans on funding from other groups deemed unsavory.

The new policy will require all tobacco company grants to be approved at the chancellor level.

Some regents seemed disappointed with the softened language.

“This industry killed millions and millions of people,” said Regent Chairman Richard Blum. “If al-Qaida were to come here tomorrow and give you a grant to study other religions, would you take the money from them?”

Receiving nearly $8 million of research funding from Philip Morris USA, UCLA currently leads all other UC campuses in tobacco grants. The UC system, as a whole, currently has 23 tobacco company grants totaling nearly $17 million.

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