GSA opposes tuition increases, urges UC to find alternate funding

The graduate student government voted unanimously to pass a resolution calling for the University of California to create an alternative way to meet its budget requirements without depending on increases to student tuition and fees.

The “Resolution Opposing the Proposed UC Tuition Increase Plan” also criticizes the UC Board of Regents’ plan to increase tuition if it does not receive sufficient state funding and claims it is partially the state’s responsibility to fund public higher education.

At the meeting, Graduate Students Association members said they think the tuition increase plan is unfair because they think the cost of graduate and professional programs in the University have placed an unfair burden on students in recent years. Some GSA members said they think the state and the University, instead of students, should bear the responsibility for further funding.

The regents’ plan would increase tuition by up to 5 percent annually over the next five years. Some graduate programs also shoulder supplemental fee increases independent of the University’s mandatory tuition.

This academic year, the UCLA nursing school faced an additional 20 percent fee increase in supplemental tuition.

Kathy Myers, a neuroscience graduate student and GSA member, said she thinks the UC system is “grossly mismanaged” because she believes the University spends too much on administrative costs.

GSA Vice President of External Affairs Andrés Schneider said he thinks a tuition increase could create a larger discrepancy between tuition and wages, which he thinks could result in more student debt.

Some GSA members also said they think the tuition increase could decrease diversity in the pool of prospective UC students by making the University less affordable for students from low-income backgrounds.

“The tuition rise could exclude students who are already underrepresented,” said Nathaniel Ross, a math and physical sciences graduate student and GSA member.

UCLA’s undergraduate student government passed a similar resolution in December condemning the possible tuition increases and encouraging the University to seek other methods of finding stable funding.