UCSC students fear fee hikes under governor's budget
Santa Cruz Sentinel 1/12/07
The budget proposal did not contain the funding that students had hoped for, which would have offset the UC Regents' proposed fee hike. Schwarzenegger supplied the additional funding in past budgets.
Current fees at UC campuses, including UC Santa Cruz, are about $6,140 annually for state residents and would jump about $430 a year.
With fees having nearly doubled since 2002, student reacted angrily to the prospect of even greater bills.
"It's a complete outrage while we're in the middle of an affordability and diversity crisis," said Foaad Khosmood, vice president of the Graduate Student Alliance. "Students are already coming out of school with tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Rising fees hurt the underprivileged"
A handful of UCSC students made phone calls to their legislators on Thursday to protest the hikes, and students at other UC campuses called the governor's office, part of the "Price is Wrong" call-in campaign.
Undergraduate fees have increased more than 50 percent over the past three years, from $4,385 to $6,949 per year. The hikes were initiated by the Legislature in the wake of growing state budget problems and the costs associated with expanding the UC system.
Fees were boosted for university professional school students by more than 50 percent in 2003, and again in 2004. Professional school students enrolled were protected from the 2004 increase by a temporary injunction.
University officials said things could change over the next few months in regard to fees.
"This is not the final point in the process, because the governor could issue a revised budget in May and it could also be changed by what the governor and Legislature agree on later on," said UCSC spokesman Jim Burns.
The UC Board of Regents must authorize any proposed fee hike, which they could do as soon as March.