Fees boosted again for UC, CSU students
Sacramento Bee 3/15/07
For 2007-08, California State University fees for in-state residents will jump 10 percent, bringing total fees to $3,451, not including housing and books. University of California fees will rise 7 percent, bringing total fees to $7,347.
CSU trustees and UC regents approved the fee plan Wednesday.
After several years of state budget cutbacks, lawmakers have started bumping up funding for the public university systems. But university leaders say they need to raise student fees at a faster clip to make up for lost ground.
UC President Robert Dynes said the fee increase is in part needed to help faculty salaries catch up to industry standards. UC salaries lag 10 percent behind those at peer institutions.
Professors at CSU will have to wait for a raise. Instead, the fee hike adds more tension to a two-year standoff between CSU faculty members and administrators over a new salary contract. Professors, whose salaries lag 18 percent behind peer institutions, are threatening to strike later this semester.
"This is a $4 billion budget with plenty of money for pet projects, elaborate management computer systems, building projects and big handouts for the executives," John Travis, CSU faculty union president, said in a statement.
"There is the money to pay the teachers and staff who deliver the education. This is a question of will, not capacity."
Student fees in California still remain among the lowest in the country compared with CSU and UC peer schools, not counting housing, books and transportation.
The fee structure is part of a multiyear plan that university administrators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger devised to help the state recover from a budget crunch. Fees are slated to go up a maximum 10 percent a year through 2010-11 under the agreement.
Fees for UC medical, law and business administration students continue to climb higher -- around $25,000 next year.
"With every fee increase, the door is being closed on low- income students," said UCLA student Anilee Astilla, 19, addressing the UC regents.
Students also bemoaned the state's abandonment of the 1960 promise to provide cheap tuition to its students.
"It seems that a generational tax has been levied on younger people," said Benjamin Allen, a student regent from UC Berkeley.
"Public education is becoming a mechanism for debt, not opportunity," added Bill Shiebler, president of the UC student association.
UC regents, who pledged to pump more money into financial aid, expressed concern about continuing to shift costs to students and parents -- but accepted the reality of the budget process under the governor's compact.
"We are in a box we can't get out of," said Gerald Parsky, a member of the UC Board of Regents.
Last year, the Legislature kicked in extra money to CSU and UC to avoid a fee increase for 2006-07. UC officials don't expect that to happen again.
UC Vice President Larry Hershman said the message coming from the Capitol is:
"There isn't going to be any more money."
State Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, who heads the Education Committee, was also doubtful about the Legislature stepping in with more money.
The legislative budget process lasts into the summer, but college officials say they need to determine fee levels earlier to give enough notice to parents and families.
Scott said a best-case scenario to minimize the fee hike is for the Legislature to provide enough funding to keep the fee increase at an inflationary or cost-of-living rate.
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office has suggested a 2.4 percent fee increase for CSU and UC.
"Last year, we were fortunate to have a good budget," Scott said.
"The revenues were up, so that led us to be more generous and the belief that we could buy out the fees. The revenue forecasts are not as optimistic this year."