When thousands of incoming undergraduate students rushed letters
of intent to the admissions office before the May 1 deadline,
attending UCLA cost about $1,000 less than it will when those
students step on campus for the first time in the fall.
Though incoming freshmen and transfer students decided to attend
UCLA before another fee hike was approved by the University of
California Board of Regents last week, many students said the
increase would not have made a difference in their decision.
In fact, many said they had anticipated fee increases in the
fall.
“I was expecting it because the situation is bad. “¦
I was expecting it to keep going up,” said Alyssa Galloway,
first-year political science student.
Parents, on whom a large portion of the financial burden
typically falls, also said they expected the UC to be affected by
the state’s budget crisis.
“Everybody is experiencing hardships in the economy. It
would have been hard for the school to tell us exactly what was
going to happen; what we could’ve assumed “¦ is that
(the crisis) would hit the schools as well,” said Pamela
Cedar, mother of first-year art student Jaqueline Cedar.
Many students said they would have chosen UCLA even if the Board
of Regents had made the decision prior to May 1.
Jenna Pinkham, a first-year undeclared student, said it probably
would not have changed her decision because she said she
understands the UC has to react to the state’s troubles.
Christina Fan, a first-year English student, said the UC was
still less expensive than the private schools to which she had also
been accepted.
Though expected, fee increases will still place additional
burdens on students throughout their stay at the UC.
“It requires me to get more scholarships and means that
I’ll have to work in addition to going to school to
compensate,” Pinkham said.
Some students like Pinkham also said they would have liked to
have had a clearer understanding about the fee situation before
they made their final college choice.
“(A notification) would have been a good thing to
do,” Pinkham said.
Though some students and parents said they did not recall
receiving notification about possible fee increases before letters
of intent were due, they said they still had some idea of the fee
situation.
Fan said she heard rumors at the freshmen orientation that fees
would be increased but did not receive a definite word.
Hanan Eisenman, a UC Office of the President spokesman, said he
hoped students would have gained a clear understanding through the
resources available to them.
UCOP has been in constant communication with the students,
Eisenman said, citing numerous press releases and briefings about
the fee increases that are available on the UCOP Web site. The Web
site also includes a section on how to deal with cuts.
Letters written by UC President Richard Atkinson and UCLA
Chancellor Albert Carnesale to inform students and parents about
the fee situation are also included on the UCLA Web site.