Editorial: Students have to pay the price of budget cuts
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 15, 2009 9:04 p.m.
The University of California intends to raise student fees another 9.3 percent beginning July 1. This will be the fourth year in a row that fees have increased.
Students now pay $1,647 more in fees than they did less than half a decade ago.
In a press release, UC Regent and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi decried it as “a $662 tax increase on every student at the University of California.”
The 9.3 percent figure is actually a composite of two increases: The student Education Fee will go up 10 percent, and the Registration Fee will increase by 4.2 percent. “Professional fees” will go from 5 to 24 percent.
Overall, resident undergraduates will pay $7,788 next year, as opposed to the $7,126 they paid this year.
With these fee increases, the UC system hopes to net more than $100 million during the 2009-2010 school year.
The UC Board of Regents is officially voting on this fee increase at its May meeting. We grudgingly believe the increase should pass because with the state slashing our budget, the money has to come from somewhere.
To maintain some semblance of a quality education, students are forced to pick up the slack left by the glaring budget deficit.
