Finances are running dry for third-year transfer student Maureen
Brackey. Family-related medical problems, a traffic collision and a
terminated scholarship have deteriorated her financial stability
““ and now she worries summer school fees will break the
bank.
Earlier this year, summer session fees rose from $76 to $85 per
unit.
The University of California Board of Regents had planned to
meet this week to discuss increasing fees to $103 per unit, but a
more recent UC statement said the vote has been postponed until
July.
If approved, fee increases would not only apply to summer
session fees but will affect student fees for the academic year as
well.
“If the fees increase, I don’t know what I am going
to do,” said Brackey, a third-year communications
student.
For Brackey, the financial difficulties began earlier this
school year when members on both sides of her family began to
suffer from chronic medical problems. Brackey said the medical
costs are reducing her parents’ ability to support her.
During the winter quarter, things got worse when her academic
scholarship ran out. Brackey had a savings account to help support
her if her scholarship expired but an unexpected car accident
drained her account.
Brackey said she is already planning to move from Westwood to
Palms to save money, and possible fee increases are spurring her to
find a job that will cover her tuition.
“It doesn’t look like that is going to
happen,” she said.
Students with less severe financial situations are also worried
about the burden of unexpected summer school expenses.
“This increase is going to kill me,” said
second-year undeclared student Carlos Lopez.
If fee increases are approved, students taking a four-unit class
during summer school will pay $108 more than they would have in
2002. For students like Lopez, who is taking 13 units over summer,
the increased expense will be significant.
Fee increases could dissuade some students from taking summer
school, said summer sessions director David Unruh.
Unruh said he understands some students may “opt
out” of taking summer courses if fees rise but believes even
with the increase, summer fees will be feasible for students.
Financial aid students like Lopez are not an anomaly among
summer session students. A large portion of summer sessions
students are financial aid students, Unruh said.
More than 40 percent of the students currently enrolled in
summer sessions have applied for financial aid, said student loan
coordinator Ina Kaniowska.
The financial aid office is already preparing for fee increases
““ adjusting student financial packages before the regents
vote.
“Our packages are going to be based on the $103 fee. If
there are any further increases, we will try our best to respond to
those,” Kaniowska said.
She said financial aid packages will cover student financial
costs for the summer, but the type of aid varies from student to
student.
Awarded students will receive a combination of assistance from
grants, loans and work study programs, Kaniowska added.
But unless additional financial aid is in the form of a grant,
it may not ease their burden.
“If they improve my financial aid, it will probably end up
being a loan, which I don’t want either,” Lopez
said.
Lopez added that as a part of the additional aid, he may need to
increase his work study hours from 15 to 20 per week.
Despite the proposed increase, summer fees are still
significantly cheaper for UC students than they were before the
state began to fund summer courses in 2001.
Before 2001, UCLA did not treat UC students differently than it
did non-UC students. Instead of UC students getting fee breaks, all
summer session students paid the same rate.
In addition to higher per-unit fees, UC students previously paid
a non-refundable, one-time registration fee of $260 or more,
regardless of the number of summer sessions units they took.
Non-UC students still pay that registration fee.
Some students are upset they cannot get out of their summer
sessions contract without incurring a $100 fee for dropping their
classes.
“If you already signed up, you didn’t know about the
fee increase, said second-year biology student Louis May.
May does not receive financial aid and said the fee increase
will require him to work more. He said students like himself should
be able to breach their summer enrollment without penalty.
“If you can’t afford it, you should be able to drop
your class and not be charged the $100 fee,” May said.
But Unruh said, as of now, UCLA does not plan to waive the
summer session drop fee.
“That policy is still in place … we don’t expect
to change that,” he said.