Decreased state funding leads to soaring tuition, student fees
By Brad Greenberg
Oct. 23, 2003 9:00 p.m.
At a time when the economy is slowly coming out of a recession,
college tuition is skyrocketing, the College Board said
Tuesday.
In a report detailing national trends in the costs of higher
education, the Board said that over the past 10 years, tuition has
increased by 47 percent at public four-year colleges and
universities, and by 42 percent at private four-year colleges,
accounting for inflation.
At the University of California, student fees rose 40 percent
between December 2002 and August 2003 due to massive reductions in
state funding.
“The main driver behind tuition increase is the loss of
state appropriations because of a downturn in the economy,”
said Timothy McDonough, spokesman for the American Council on
Education.
In California, a $38 billion state budget deficit resulted in
reduced funding for higher education. The UC’s budget was cut
$410 million, lowering the UC’s state funding to about 75
percent of what the university believes it deserves per the
Partnership Agreement.
Though not legally binding, the agreement ensures the UC
adequate funding from the state if certain standards are met, such
as education quality, accessibility and competitive faculty
salaries.
But the report was not all bad news.
An all-time high of $105 billion dollars of financial aid was
distributed in 2003, the College Board report said. Average
full-time students received $9,100 in aid, with $3,600 in the form
of grants.
The UC estimates financial aid packages will completely cover
student fee increases for 40 percent of undergraduates.
“The concern we have is for students in upper-middle
income families who may not qualify for as much aid,”
McDonough said.
Worried that swelling student fees and tuition may prevent
Americans from attending college, Rep. Howard “Buck”
McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) introduced a bill last week that would
punish public colleges and universities by taking away certain
federal funding ““ including work study ““ if they rose
tuition drastically.
McKeon said he was not surprised by the College Board’s
tuition report, which depicted “a crisis in the
country.”
“The cost of tuition and fees is going up at a much more
accelerated rate than people’s pocketbooks,” McKeon
said in an interview Wednesday.
UC officials contend the reason for this is not that operational
costs have increased, but that state funding has decreased.
After controlling for inflation, the average cost of education
has declined 12 percent per student since the 1985-86 school year,
according to the UC.
The UC said student fees recently increased ““ for the
first time since 1996 ““ because the state general fund
subsidy has declined 32 percent during the same time period. In
1985-86, student fees covered 11 percent of a student’s
educational costs; now they cover 25 percent.
Many worry the situation in California is about to get worse.
Faced with a state budget deficit as little as $8 billion or as
much as $20 billion, Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger will have to
make decisions less than two months after taking office that could
catapult UC student fees out of the reach of many Californians.
If the UC does not respond with increased fees, university
officials have said individual campuses ““ UCLA included
““ would have to increase some class sizes, cut others and lay
off numerous faculty.
“There is certainly some belt tightening colleges can do
““ and we have done a lot,” said Scott Sudduth, UC
director of federal relations. “But you have to be careful.
If you cut too much, you are going to compromise the quality of
education.”
Sudduth said his office is working with the federal government
to see if it can pick up where the state has let off.
Currently, the federal government provides tax credits for
middle-class students under the Hope and Lifetime Learning Tax
Credits.
But these tax credits can only be received for tuition and
required fees, and do not include housing. A UCLA student living in
UCLA’s cheapest on-campus accommodation ““ in a
residence hall with two roommates and an 11-meal-per-week plan
““ pays $7,969 per year, almost $3,000 more than he or she
pays for classes.
In contrast, private university students could apply the tax
credit to much higher tuition costs, saving them thousands of
dollars. The College Board reported that the average private
tuition cost is $19,710 this year.
Sudduth is hoping the federal government will adjust the tax
credits so they “are more equitable at public
institutions.”
Regardless of whether or not McKeon’s Affordability in
Higher Education Act passes, Sudduth said the bill will likely
attract valuable attention to the rising cost of a college
education.
“The average cost to educate a student at the University
of California is about $12,000 a year,” he said. “Do
you think parents in this economy have the money to pay the true
costs? We don’t think so.”
With reports from Avisha Chugani, Bruin Finance
Contributor.
