Graduate students face new fee hikes

Graduate students face new fee hikes

Regents to vote in July on additional increase for ’95-’96

By Laryssa Kreiselmeyer

Fee increases are not just the concern of undergraduate
students.

Earlier this month, University of California Regents and
representatives of UC graduate programs met at UCLA to discuss
graduate student concerns, including fee increases and the possible
elimination of fee remission waiver programs, a form of financial
aid.

Regents already approved the phasing in of the fees for this
school year at $3,000 per year for medicine, dentistry and
veterinary programs, and $4,000 for law and business programs.

Higher costs will only affect entering students, not those
already enrolled, according to UC President Jack Peltason.
Furthermore, the regents will vote in July to approve additional
increases for the 1995-96 school year.

"The plan will be reviewed annually and changes may be proposed,
if required, based on analysis of the impact … on enrollment of
low and middle income students," stated Peltason in a March 16
proposal to the UC Committee on Finance.

The program includes plans to spend at least one-third of the
revenue generated on financial aid and "loan forgiveness"
programs.

"We collect the fee differential and break it up to return a
minimum of 33.3 percent directly to the students. All differential
money will impact students," said Edward Flores, director of
financial aid at the law school.

Other portions of the money will be used for such services as
increasing library hours, enhancing computer services and for loan
repayment assistance programs, he explained.

Flores said that he has not observed much student reaction to
the fee, but not all affected students have remained quiet.

"(The fee increase) betrays maintenance of accessible quality
education and changes the kind of work graduates will do by making
payback impossible. This cuts out the people who aren’t interested
in making a lot of money," said first-year law student Marlene
Garza.

UC students also cited the economic hardships of less financial
aid as contributing to the rising cost of education.

At the April student summit, Alan Wong, UC Davis Graduate
Student Association external chair, said that the UC system is one
of the only systems in which fee waivers are not provided for
graduate students working as teaching assistants. Wong provided
information in comparison to such universities as Stanford,
Virginia and Yale.

"The bottom line on remaining competitive means providing
financial support to graduate students," said Wong in a statement.
He added that the graduate students he represents were very
concerned about an "apparent decline in the importance of graduate
education."

Adelia Benjamin, a graduate nutrition student at Davis, wrote to
the Board of Regents in February, saying that a fee increase would
make it difficult for many graduate students to remain in
school.

"Without quality graduate students, the UC will not be able to
attract top faculty and the overall quality of teaching and
research will plummet," she wrote.

Benjamin said that fee increases, added to the elimination of
aid for graduate students such as fee remission programs, would
make it impossible for her not to seek other employment.

"I would be forced to leave school since it is very difficult to
find other jobs in Davis and the surrounding areas," she wrote.

Peltason said that the increase in prices were directly due to
the economic state of California.

"The university historically has been committed to low uniform
fees for all students. However, the university’s ability to provide
a quality professional education program currently is at risk
because of the state’s fiscal problems," he said.

Flores agreed that the increase is "contingent on the economy of
the state."

Tony Mayorkas, a University of Chicago graduate, said that he is
considering attending UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management
and that the additional cost will definitely play a role in his
decision because it "changes the whole financial picture."

Other students also expressed their opposition to the fee
increases.

Bill Fink, a first-year MBA student, said that he’s glad he is
already enrolled and will not be charged an additional amount next
year.

Marco Firebaugh, first-year law student, said that he felt the
increase is "a serious hit," and that a public institution such as
UCLA should be able to extract enough money from taxes to cover the
needs of the schools.

"(An increase) is going to hurt the kind of people the
institution was created for," he said.

A possible 10 percent increase in registration and educational
fees for law students is also under Board of Regents consideration
for the upcoming school year.