Increase in tuition approved by Regents
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 20, 1997 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, January 21, 1997
FEES:
Non-resident students will pay $590 more; students new to
professional schools, $1,000 moreBy Tiffany Lauter
Daily Bruin Contributor
SAN FRANCISCO — While the bulk of University of California
students will not be hit with an increase in tuition next fall,
non-residents and selected professional programs will.
The UC Board of Regents approved a $590 fee increase for
non-resident student tuition Friday.
The revised average total fees for nonresident undergraduates
will jump to $13,150 and non-resident graduate students to $13,651
for the 1997-98 school year.
Each total includes the nonresident tuition, educational and
registration fees and miscellaneous campus fees. These rates will
affect approximately 12,000 of the 160,000-student UC system.
In addition, the regents approved a $1,000 increase for new
students entering into UC schools of optometry, pharmacy, dentistry
and medicine. Students at campus nursing schools will incur a $300
raise.
In light of criticism from Student Regent Jess Bravin, other
members of the board contend that they are within the parameter’s
state policy in raising the fees. Increases in UC tuition, they
contend, keep fee levels on par with comparable institutions.
Bravin, who voted against the fee hikes, said that "comparable"
universities cost far less than the UC system. He added that law
programs at University of Texas, University of Wisconsin,
University of Illinois range from $5,000 to $7,000, with University
of North Carolina as low as $2,717.
"It is just not true to say that our institutions are charging
lower or the same as other comparable universities," Bravin
said.
Numerous students voiced their opinions at Thursday’s meeting,
just prior to the board’s final decision. Catherine Blue, a student
from UC Riverside, urged the board to reconsider the implementation
of the new fee increases.
"Do not tax students for desiring to open their minds," she
said.
Administrators contended that due to unpredictable fee increases
to "catch up" to other comparable universities, UC President
Richard C. Atkinson said that a long-term fee policy needs to be
adopted in order for parents and students to plan to pay for a UC
college education.
In response to the current plan of increasing fees as deemed
necessary, Lt. Gov. Gray Davis proposed that fee increases should
be linked to a family’s "ability to pay."
"Why do we need to keep up with the Joneses and look at what
other universities are doing, when we should be looking at what is
happening at home?" Davis said.
UC President Richard Atkinson responded that university
officials will be working closely with the governor’s office to
"thrash around ideas" in order to establish a policy of
"predictability and stability and the promise that there will be no
drastic fee increases in any one year," Atkinson added.
Other regents expressed concern that student fees should be a
prominent concern among board members.
"I feel strongly about the issue of student fees, it should be
our (regents’) highest priority," said Regent Gerald Parsky. "While
we are in Gov. Wilson’s buy-out period, this is the time to be
working on a new fee policy program."
