The California state budget cuts over the past year hit close to home for students, as cuts will affect tuition and school fees for the 2009-2010 academic year.
The University Of California Board Of Regents voted 17-4 on May 7 to increase student fees by 9.3 percent, which equates to approximately $662 per year for California resident undergraduate students.
The fee increase will be put into effect this summer and will increase the total mandatory UC system-wide fees to $7,788. The UC Board of Regents approved the rise in tuition costs in an effort to deal with the budget shortfall facing the UC as a result of the state’s budget cuts.
Students who are not residents of California will see their fees increase by 10 percent, or $2,000. Graduate and professional school students will also see their fees increase by 9.3 percent.
Maria Tsikina, a third-year business economics student, said she is disappointed about the fee increases, especially because she feels there have been a lot of fee increases in the past.
“I feel that education doesn’t seem to be a priority,” she said. “The governor has already made so many cuts, and I think he could address other fields that could get reductions.”
Mark Yudof, the University of California president, said in a statement that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s revised state budget proposal alone calls for a $322 million cut, and when combined with the state’s underfunding of student enrollments and inflationary cost increases, the UC’s total budget gap would amount to $531 million.
These cuts will add up to an approximate 20-percent reduction in state support for the UC system.
“We have worked hard in the past to protect access and affordability for students, and we will continue to do so going forward,” Yudof said in a statement. “But we fear these proposed cuts will leech into the core of our primary mission to maintain the academic excellence and learning environment that have made California and the UC world leaders in higher education.”
In a statement, Yudof said this budget reduction follows years of underfunding and would force the university to weigh a number of choices, including salary reductions, decreases in enrollment, increases in class sizes, cuts to programs and student services and higher fees.
Tsikina said she thought an increase in student fees may be necessary to keep programs and student services.
“I don’t want student fees to increase, but if that’s going to allow some really important programs to stay, then it could be worth it,” she said.
Nanci Zhang, a fourth-year African American Studies student, said she believes the increase in fees will cause summer school enrollment to drop.
“Summer school is pretty expensive so it’ll encourage students to do more during fall, winter and spring quarters,” she said. “I think it’s just a shame that students have to be more vigilant about the classes they’re taking, the books that they’re buying and really just their overall course load.”
The fee increases will make it harder for students to afford their tuition, and financial aid may also be affected, Tsikina said.
“I’ve heard Cal Grants will be cut as well and it’s just making it harder for low-income individuals to come here and get their education,” she said.
Block said in a statement that he too is concerned about recent reports that the governor is proposing to potentially eliminate Cal Grants, which he said would reduce the access of low-income families to the University of California.
“As the governor and state legislature negotiate next year’s budget, UC and UCLA will advocate for our critical needs and priorities, such as the Cal Grants program,” he said.
According to a statement by the University of California Office of the President, Cal Grants for UC students will increase by $27 million and UC grants will increase by $39 million during the 2009-2010 academic year.
This money will be allocated by the university’s policy of setting aside 33 percent of all undergraduate fees for grant money going to low-income families.
In addition, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, maximum Pell Grants will increase by $619 for the 2009-2010 academic year.
Zhang said she believes the state budget cuts will give students less room for academic and extracurricular exploration. She said she believes the budget cuts will cause a shortage of availability of classes which will force students to stick within a narrower course of study.
“I think it just takes away a lot of the broadening that could have happened in college because you need to get stuff done to get,” she said. “We’ll have less of an opportunity to go and explore other venues of academia.”