This post was updated on Nov. 19 at 4:55 p.m.
SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California Regents approved an operating budget plan Thursday that will aim to increase resident enrollment in the UC by 10,000 students over the next three years.
According to the operating budget plan for 2016-2017, the University will increase resident enrollment by 5,000 in the 2016-2017 academic year and add another 5,000 students by the 2018-2019 academic year.
The plan includes a provision that allows the UC to raise nonresident tuition by up to 8 percent annually through the 2019-2020 academic year, if tuition rates for California students remain at 2011-12 levels for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 academic years.
UC President Janet Napolitano said at the meeting the plan aims to increase access and educational opportunity for Californians to the University.
Regent Eloy Ortiz Oakley said at the meeting he was in favor of the enrollment plan, in part because it could help increase diversity at the flagship UC campuses.
“This will provide us an opportunity to find talent in the neighborhoods throughout California and give those students a chance to succeed at the UC,” Oakley said.
Student Regent Avi Oved said at the meeting he thinks the plan may erode the quality of UC education because the UC doesn’t have adequate resources to match the increase in enrollment.
“We cannot look at enrollment in a vacuum,” Oved said. “We have to make sure we have resources to sustain the growth in enrollment.”
Oved added he will vote in favor of the plan, despite his concerns, to show confidence in Napolitano.
Nathan Brostrom, UC chief financial officer, added details of how the increase in enrollment will be divided across campuses have not yet been established, but no campus will be excluded from the increase.
Several regents expressed concern that the student-to-faculty ratio would increase as a result of the enrollment plan.
Debora Obley, interim associate vice president of Energy and Sustainability at University of California Office of the President, said she thinks campus officials will adjust by hiring temporary faculty and lecturers to ensure budgeted ratios are sustained.
Brostrom added about 500 additional UC faculty members will be hired to meet the increase in enrollment.
Contributing reports by Shreya Maskara, Bruin senior staff.
Can someone explain to me why students not from California have to pay more? How is that fair? Punishment for not being native? #whathappenedtoequality
California residents pay the highest income tax out of all 50 states, a good portion of which is funneled into our public universities to make them as good as they are. Residents are funding our system, and they should be able to reap the benefits by having higher in-state enrollment and somewhat lower tuition. If you want to talk about equality, add up all the extra income tax California residents pay to fund the school system, and I guarantee you that you’re not at the losing end of this deal, as a non-resident.