Hike in UC fees ok'd

SAN FRANCISCO ““”“ With a minimum of fuss, the regents
of the University of California approved student fee increases at
their meeting Thursday.

Fees will increase to the levels described in the
governor’s budget compact with the UC: 20 percent for
graduate students, 10 percent for professional students and 14
percent for undergraduates, all in 2004-2005.

According to the compact, undergraduate fees will increase 8
percent each year over the next two years as well.

These fee increases are one of the primary ways the UC will
compensate for the $372 million reduction in state funding the
university accepted as part of its agreement with the governor. In
return, the governor stated his intention to increase funding for
the UC by 3 percent in 2005-2006, and continue to increase it
gradually through 2010.

UC President Robert Dynes said the agreement is “a lot
better than not having a six-year plan,” and emphasized that
it puts the university back on track for 1999 enrollment growth
projections.

The student fee increases passed 14-2, with Student Regent Matt
Murray and Regent George Marcus opposing it.

Two regents who had voted “no” in a finance
committee meeting on Wednesday, Tom Sayles and Ward Connerly,
changed their votes to approve fee increases.

Connerly, a traditional opponent of fee increases, said he
changed his vote because he felt it would be unproductive to
contradict the deal that Dynes had struck with the governor.

“I think voting against that would radically undermine the
president’s ability to negotiate with the Legislature,”
Connerly said.

Some regents, like Velma Montoya, were less critical than
Connerly. Montoya said university administrators did a good job in
securing a minimum funding level, and she said she did not believe
the compact would prevent the Legislature from securing more money
for the university.

But some were still not convinced.

“I’m disappointed because I think the university had
a opportunity to send a message to the Legislature that the funding
in the compact was not enough, and instead this was a vote for the
compact as a ceiling,” said Matt Kaczmarek, president of the
UC Student Association.

Murray said it was important to have a voice of dissent to bring
attention to what he said was the larger issue: that by raising
fees the governor is indirectly raising taxes on students and their
families instead of raising state taxes.

The regents were slated to vote on fees Wednesday, but some
regents were reluctant to raise fees without final information
about the state budget. Some were also uncomfortable with the
compact the university forged with the governor without their
approval.

And though university officials have maintained that the compact
represents a minimum for state funding levels, State Assembly
Speaker Fabian Nuñez, D-Los Angeles, a regent by virtue of his
position, said Wednesday that a vote for the fee increase would
undercut the Legislature’s leverage to push for more funding
for the UC.

The regents’ finance committee vote ended in a 5-5 tie
Wednesday that automatically sent the issue to the full board
Thursday.

On Thursday the issue went to the board with almost no
discussion as most regents silently concurred with regents chairman
John Moores’ opinion that Wednesday’s lengthy
discussion had covered all the necessary ground.

The vote to increase fees comes as no surprise as fees are among
the university’s only viable options to compensate for the
sharp drop in state funds.

UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale said the fee increases are not
enough to get UCLA out of the woods.

“We will actually once again have reduced funding for
instruction at UCLA,” Carnesale said, adding that
student-faculty ratios will increase and that there will be less
funding available for student resources such as libraries.

“I remain concerned about maintaining and indeed improving
the quality of education at UCLA,” he said.

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