UC Board of Regents Angers Students With Tuition Hikes
Robyn Gee/Chris McCoy on Friday, Jul. 15th
Students at University of California institutions will face steep tuition increases this fall. The UC Board of Regents just approved a 9.6 percent tuition increase on top of an existing 8 percent increase, bringing total costs up to $12,192 per year.
According to a UC Regents press release, these increases only make up for one quarter of the deficit that plagues the UC system, partially due to the $650 million cut from the state and other cost increases. The chancellors said the tuition increases were necessary in order to maintain the high quality of education at the UCs, four of which rank within the top ten best public universities in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Students aren’t thrilled by the cuts, especially since they coincided with pay raises for administrators. A release from the University of California Student Association said, “Students were very disappointed to see the UC Regents vote for a salary pay increase of $27,500 for Patrick Lenz, Vice President of Budget and Capital Resources on the same day that they approved such an extensive tuition increase which brings his salary up to $300,000. Students do not believe that such an increase is appropriate in light of the sacrifices being asked of students and their families.”
The Sacramento Bee reports that tuition has increased by 242 percent over the past ten years.
Students were successful in getting the Board of Regents to remove an additional 5.9 percent “trigger” increase in tuition — which would have gone into effect if Governor Jerry Brown decided to cut $100 million extra from the UC budget if tax revenues came up short, according to the UCLA Daily Bruin.
Since it is summer, many students aren’t around to protest the cuts on campus — which takes a little bit of the pressure off the Board of Regents.
Turnstyle has been following the data released about the amount of money it takes to get certain college majors versus that major’s median starting salary. Will these tuition increases impact the choices students make? Will more of them choose biomedical engineering over psychology?
