Fees rise above financial aid
By Ellen Kersten
June 3, 2004 9:00 p.m.
Students currently struggling to pay tuition might face further
difficulties next year.
Recent fee increases for University of California students are
expected to outpace the growth in Californian average per capita
income. Additionally, the currently proposed percentage increase in
financial aid assistance will not be as significant as in
comparable fee increases.
Similar to California’s previous economic difficulties in
the early 1980s and ’90s, UC undergraduate student fees are
comprising an increasingly large proportion of the average
Californian’s personal income.
Patricia Romero of the UC Office of the President Budget Office
said per capita personal income levels are a good measure of a
family’s or student’s ability to pay student fees. This
income level was taken into account when determining student fee
levels for the last five years but was was taken into account less
in fee figures this year.
“Change in per capita personal income is the right kind of
measure for ability to pay, but because of cuts to the university
budget, we weren’t able to use it in an effective way. …
Budget cuts were so massive that they overcame everything,”
Romero said.
In the past, student aid was significantly increased to minimize
the negative effects of fee increases, but the percentage increase
is less for 2002-2003. This pattern is expected to continue for
2003-2004.
“After the recession in 1991, a lot more emphasis was
placed on grants in order to hold the impact steady and not make
things worse,” said Jennie Woo, senior economist at EdFund
““ a service of the state-funded California Student Aid
Commission.
Woo also noted she thinks fee levels are significantly less
affordable in 2003-2004, and this trend will continue next year
according to EdFund’s estimated income levels.
EdFund recently released a report comparing California’s
higher education fees to a roller coaster, citing that they change
with the cycle of the economy.
Undergraduate student fees are increasing by 14 percent for
2004-2005. Of this new revenue, 20 percent is expected to be
returned to financial aid. In previous years, 33 percent of the fee
increases were returned to aid.
David Alcocer, a coordinator with the department of Student
Financial Support at the UCOP, said this is the first decrease in
the percent of additional fees allocated for financial aid in over
10 years.
A recent study by Tom Mortenson of “Postsecondary
Education Opportunity,” a national newsletter on access to
higher education, looked at the number of enrolled students with
Pell Grants in 2001.
Mortenson concluded that six of the UC campuses enrolled more
low-income students than any other top university in the country,
public or private.
UCLA was reported to enroll the highest percentage of low-income
students in the nation, with 35.1 percent of its students
qualifying for Pell Grants.
Hanan Eisenman, also of the UCOP, said Mortenson’s report
indicates the success of UC accessibility but noted recent budget
cuts could sacrifice this achievement.
“The success story is in jeopardy because financial aid is
being cut at the same time now,” Eisenman said.
But Alcocer anticipates the university will remain accessible to
low-income students because of new funds from fee increases and an
increase in the maximum Cal Grant award.
The overall effect of these unmatched fee increases still
remains to be seen, but student representatives in Sacramento
continue to advocate for alternative budget decisions.
“Students for the most part don’t have the ability
to pay for the budget shortfalls, but a lot of other people
do,” said April Labbe, university affairs director for the
University of California Student Association.
UCSA said they do not get involved in discussions regarding
university fees because they support the California Master Plan for
Higher Education, which Labbe said calls for free public
education.
“It is idealistic, but somebody has to be,” Labbe
said.
