UC Board of Regents to no longer vote on tuition increase at May meeting

This post was updated April 26 at 4:34 p.m.

The University of California announced Thursday it will not increase in-state tuition during its governing board’s meeting in May.

The UC Board of Regents was originally expected to vote on an in-state tuition hike at its May meeting. However, UC President Janet Napolitano and George Kieffer, the chair of the Board of Regents, said in a statement the University will instead advocate for additional funding from the California State Legislature.

“We will continue to advocate with our students, who are doing a tremendous job of educating legislators about the necessity of adequately funding the University,” Napolitano said in the statement.

The UC added it is asking for an additional $140 million in additional state funds, calling the 3 percent funding increase Gov. Jerry Brown approved in his January budget inadequate to address enrollment growth, increases in student services and deferred maintenance.

Depending on the outcome of its negotiations with the state Legislature, the University may consider a tuition increase at a later date, the UC said.

The state Legislature will announce budget revisions in May and finalize the budget for the upcoming year in June. If the UC decided to raise tuition before the state finalizes its budget, it would be less likely for the Legislature to agree to increase funding for the UC, said Student Regent Paul Monge.

“What makes most sense is we continue our effort to secure needed funding to the state before prematurely voting on our tuition proposal,” he said. “It’s unclear at this point what the Legislature will do. … We have essentially until (June) to secure more money from the state.”

Monge added he thinks raising tuition could lead to the UC receiving less funding from the state Legislature.

“(UC not raising tuition) shows the Legislature it is really serious about these ongoing conversations with them,” he said. “The governor made it very clear that by raising tuition we would be doing damage to the relationship-building efforts we’ve been trying to work on every year.”

Monge and Student Regent-designate Devon Graves said they think California State University’s announcement to not raise tuition last week also pressured the UC to not increase tuition in May.

“(CSU’s announcement) definitely put us in a different position … so (its) decision definitely did enforce the decision the UC made,” Graves said.

Graves added he hopes the state Legislature will fund the UC, because otherwise, the regents must consider voting on raising tuition at its July meeting, which is past the deadline for incoming students to submit their Statement of Intent to Register.

“For students who may turn in their (Statement of Intent to Register), they might have a different price tag in July,” he said.