No tuition hikes: UC and CSU systems deliver welcome news to students

The University of California won’t raise tuition next year, and neither will California State University.

Thursday’s announcement that the UC regents have abandoned plans to vote on a nearly 3 percent price hike in May came a week after CSU officials made a similar decision.

The happy news for students comes as healthy state revenues have soared at least $3.3 billion beyond what was projected in January — and the cash from April’s tax influx hasn’t even been counted yet, said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the state Department of Finance.

UC and CSU officials had expected to raise tuition because, they said, Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed 3 percent funding increase was too low for their needs.

Now there appears to be a growing enthusiasm among state lawmakers for allocating more money to the universities as the Legislature hashes out the state budget for the 2018-19 fiscal year beginning July 1.

“I am happy with their decision,” Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, said Thursday of the universities’ announcements. Medina, who chairs the Assembly’s Higher Education Committee, said he hopes lawmakers will not simply buy out the tuition increases, but “fully fund” the UC and CSU.

For UC, that would be $140 million above Brown’s proposal in January, and $171 million more for CSU, according to a letter sent by Medina last month to state budget leaders and signed by 30 lawmakers.

Students have joined lawmakers in advocating loudly — at press conferences and on lobbying field trips to Sacramento — for more state funding and no tuition hikes.

“We are cautiously optimistic that our continued advocacy with the Legislature will build the support necessary to fully fund the UC and CSU systems this budget year,” said UC student regent Paul Monge.

If the budget allocation for UC remains too low, however, the university says it may still consider “a modest tuition increase” for next year.

This year, California residents pay $13,887 in tuition and mandatory fees at UC.

At CSU, annual tuition and fees are roughly $7,000, depending on the campus.

“California’s economic picture is particularly strong, so we feel that the resources are available to adequately fund the CSU,” said Mike Uhlenkamp, CSU’s spokesman.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a UC regent, also praised UC’s decision to cancel the tuition vote.

“This is another step in the right direction,” Newsom said in a statement. “But I hope that this is not the end of the discussion. Both the CSU and the UC must work with the legislature on a multi-year funding agreement with structural reforms so that this impasse isn’t repeated again and again, year after year.”