UC weighing tuition increase for next year

The University of California is weighing a tuition increase for incoming students beginning next year, but the proposal faced widespread student opposition and sharp questions from regents Thursday.

UC President Michael V. Drake told regents at the virtual board meeting Thursday that the plan would bring financial predictability for families, help struggling campuses maintain educational quality and make a UC education more affordable for many low-income students by raising more revenue for financial aid.

He noted that state funding has lagged enrollment growth, increasing by 11% in the last two decades compared with a 67% increase in the number of students served. Overall, per-student funding has declined by 33% during that time, he said.

“It doesn’t take much to recognize that this is just simply not sustainable,” Drake said.

Under the proposal, which regents will vote on in July, annual tuition and fees would increase once for each incoming class and stay unchanged for up to six years.

California students entering next fall, for instance, would face an increase of $642 from the current level of $12,570, while those in successive classes would see hikes tied to the rate of inflation.

But the majority of California students pay no tuition and more than 100,000 of them would end up with more help for rent, books and other educational expenses because about a third of all new tuition revenue raised would be funneled into financial aid and increase their grant awards, UC officials say.

The plan, however, faced skepticism and a barrage of sharp questions.

Aidan Arasasingham, UC Student Association president, said higher tuition would hurt students who fall through the cracks — LGBTQ students whose parents refuse to pay college costs, immigrants here without legal authorization who don’t qualify for instate tuition and low-income nonresident students hit by fluctuating exchange rates and limited financial aid access.

“In our eyes, the plan before you today only guarantees a predictability of profit for the university while maligning future students to a predictability of precarity for years to come,” he told the regents.

Regents Eloy Ortiz Oakley and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis expressed dissatisfaction with UC’s branding of the plan as a way to enhance college affordability. [Oakley said tying tuition increases to the rate of inflation, for instance, could result in steep new charges if consumer prices soar.

Some regents questioned whether this was the right time to consider a tuition increase when UC is receiving substantial federal recovery funds and also is expecting more support from the state’s unexpected surplus of $75 billion.