Tuition for out-of-state students rises

  CATHERINE JUN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff UC Regents Chair
S. Sue Johnson and UC President Richard
Atkinson, at a May 16 meeting in San Francisco.

By Robert Salonga
Daily Bruin Staff

Out-of-state students attending the University of California
will have to pay an extra $460 for tuition beginning Fall 2001.

Fees for nonresident students at the UC will rise for the sixth
straight year, as the UC Board of Regents passed the item by a 15-2
vote at their meeting Thursday.

Nonresident students will pay $10,702 for tuition ““ a 4.5
percent increase from last year. This figure does not include
educational, registration, student and university fees, which vary
at each campus.

“Nonresident tuition pays closer to the cost of education
because (nonresident students) are not paying taxes that support
this cost,” said Anita Cotter, associate registrar for
student and faculty services.

California residents do not pay tuition ““ the state funds
that part of students’ education expenses. However, in-state
students must still pay educational, university and campus-based
fees, which have not increased since 1994.

For the 2001-2002 academic year, UCLA resident undergraduate
students will pay $4,185 in total fees, while resident graduate
students will pay $4,497.

According to the UC Office of the President, the out-of-state
tuition increase will generate $6 million in revenue, with $2
million going toward subsidizing fees for teaching assistants and
$4 million toward financing debt for deferred maintenance of
buildings throughout the UC.

One of the two dissenting voters, Regent Peter Preuss, said that
revenue generated by the increase in nonresident tuition is
deceiving.

“A lot of out-of-state students’ tuitions are being
covered by university funds, so we’re taking money from the
left pocket and putting it into the right pocket,” Preuss
said, adding that more detailed study should be performed before
approving any tuition increase.

Hardest hit by the increase are graduate students, who make up a
majority of nonresident students in the UC. In fact, university
officials said since 1998 the number of graduate students UC-wide
rose by 2,500, a greater increase than what had been observed in
the previous 25 years.

At UCLA, about 6,000 students are nonresidents of California;
more than 4,300 of those are graduate students.

Cotter explained that the university often recruits these
students, in many cases offering them grants and fellowships that
cover tuition. However, 93 percent of the undergraduate population
is comprised of in-state residents.

“There are not many undergraduates who are nonresidents
because there’s so much competition within the state,”
Cotter said.

Manny Malpezakis, a New York native and 1999 UCLA alumnus with a
degree in political science, said he faced economic hardships while
attending the university because of nonresident tuition.

“I had to spend my first two years at school and working
full-time to pay for my tuition,” Malpezakis said, adding
that he thought his grades suffered as a result of the increased
workload.

“I don’t think it’s particularly fair.
In-state students have a decided advantage to begin with,” he
said. “It’s not only a disadvantage but a prohibitive
cost, and could be a deciding factor for many families.”

UCLA received a record 40,500 undergraduate applications this
year, more than any other university in the nation, with 1,699
applications from international students.

System-wide, 10 percent of the UC’s nearly 180,000
students come from out of state.

Regent David S. Lee, who also opposed the tuition increase, said
the increasingly higher fees for nonresident students could drive
away potential students who could make a lasting contribution to
the university.

“One of the great strengths of this university is having
students from other states and foreign countries, because when they
go back they are ambassadors for the United States and the
UC,” Lee said.