SAN FRANCISCO — Despite calls from students to hold the line on tuition, the University of California on Thursday passed a $336 increase in basic tuition and fees — the first such hike in six years.
While the university President Janet Napolitano described the 2.7 percent bump as “modest,” critics counter that soaring housing costs and other expenses make any increase a hardship for middle-class students who do not have their basic tuition covered by need-based grants. Making matters worse, they noted, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed phasing out the state’s Middle Class Scholarship — aid for state university students with family incomes and assets up to $156,000.
In-state students this fall will pay $12,630 in UC-wide tuition and fees, a total that does not include campus fees, housing or other costs.
“The reality is that these hikes will not be a modest increase for us,” said Alex Lee, president of the UC Davis student government. “Too many students already skip meals or don’t buy textbooks to be able to afford tuition.”
Both UC and CSU have been under a 5-year tuition freeze as a condition of receiving state funding, but it is thawing this year, and both systems have responded with tuition-hike proposals, saying increased state funding since 2013 has not been enough to cover rising costs and expanded enrollment.
UC has 7,500 more undergraduates from California this year than last, and plans to add 2,500 more this year and again next year.
The student-faculty ratio “may have reached an all-time high,” said UC’s CFO Nathan Brostrom.
CSU is considering a proposal to raise student tuition and fees by up to $270 — roughly a 4.9 percent hike — with a vote possibly taken in March.
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a front-runner in the 2018 governor’s race, said that increasing student fees before the state has settled on a budget for the university was a “strategic blunder.” He also said the university should show a greater commitment to the middle class, particularly given the uncertain future of the Middle Class Scholarship.
“It’s in peril and that’s real and that’s consequential,” said Newsom, an ex-officio member of the board.
Regent Charlene Zettel said voting for an increase was “very painful for all of us.”
Newsom and others lamented the absence of boisterous student demonstrations that typically accompany fee-hike votes.
Student Regent-Designate Paul Monge said it was clear why there were so many empty seats: “We know that today’s tuition vote is a foregone conclusion.”
