Legislative Analyst’s Office report recommends increased funds for UC

The state’s analyst office recommended Friday that tuition and state funding for the University of California should each increase by 2.2 percent starting next school year to offset rising operational costs.

The UC would see an increase of $126 million in its revenue from tuition and state under this model – $66 million from the state and $60 million from tuition. This would fall below the more than $200 million in additional funding the University has said it needs to maintain its quality of education.

The recommendations are part of an annual report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office, a nonpartisan state agency that provides policy analysis to the state legislature. For the last few years, the office has made similar suggestions about the University budget, calling for a steady increase in tuition and state funding.

The extended tuition freeze the UC has had since the 2011-2012 academic year has left the University’s funding more volatile, the report said.

The University passed a proposal in November to potentially increase tuition by up to 5 percent annually for the next five years if the state does not sufficiently fund the system. In his budget proposal released in January, Gov. Jerry Brown said the UC will receive $120 million in additional state funding only if it keeps its tuition frozen at the 2014-2015 level.

The University’s proposal has been met by student protests as well as disapproval from a majority of the California residents. According to a Los Angeles Times and USC poll released Sunday, 57 percent of those polled agreed with Brown’s proposal to cap tuition, while 32 percent agreed with UC President Janet Napolitano’s proposal to potentially raise it.

Paul Golaszewski, an analyst in the Legislative Analyst’s Office, said the legislature could choose to pay for the UC’s entire cost-of-living increases and hold tuition flat. However, he said he thinks raising tuition based on the cost of living would help the state keep the UC accountable.

“There has been much more attention on the UC’s budget … because the UC adopted a tuition increase (proposal) in November,” Golaszewski said.

He said he thinks a cost-of-living adjustment would also serve as a stopgap measure before the state makes bigger decisions about the University’s budget.

In the report, the office also recommended that the UC enroll the same number of in-state students it did this academic year.

Because the state expects fewer California residents to graduate high school over the next five years, Golaszewski said the office doesn’t foresee significantly increased demand for University enrollment.

In recent years, the University has accepted about 13 percent of California public high school graduates, more than the 12.5 percent suggested by the Master Plan for Higher Education, Golaszewski said.

Dianne Klein, UC spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that the UC thinks the report supports the University’s proposal to potentially increase tuition unless the state provides more funding. She added, however, that the University thinks it should prioritize enrollment growth because doing so expands access to higher education.

The UC thinks the report implies that enrollment growth would require additional state funding, Klein said.

“The report finds that if additional state funding beyond the $126 million isn’t provided to cover enrollment growth, regular, modest tuition increases are good public policy because financial aid covers students with the greatest financial need,” Klein said in an e-mail.

Since it is profitable for the UC to enroll nonresidents who pay more for their University education, the University may have to cut its resident enrollment if the legislature places a cap on how many nonresidents UC can enroll, the report said.

The report also recommended that the legislature have the University compare its performance metrics, such as graduation rates, to public institutions serving similar students.

It also compared the University’s instructional spending to other public universities across the nation and found that cost of education at the UC has been higher than those at other public institutions. The UC must pay its employees more, due to California’s larger cost of living.

Brown will release a revised version of his budget in May, and legislators have until June 15 to pass a state budget.

Contributing reports from Ryan Leou, Bruin contributor.