College fee hikes affront to students

San Bernardino Sun 3/5/07

Students in the University of California and California State University systems are facing fee hikes this fall - for the fifth time in six years. But these fees already have climbed more than 75 percent since 2001-02.

Even so, UC students could be expected to pay fees of an additional 7 percent this fall, with Cal State students paying 10 percent more under the governor's January budget plan.

Now, there is at least some hope on the horizon, with the state Legislative Analyst's Office perhaps able to inject some reason into the debate. The analyst has called for fee increases, yet substantially lower than what the governor proposed.

Since the mid-1990s, students have been asked to pay an ever increasing share of their education, which has made it difficut for students and their families to plan around the ever-rising costs. It has left students juggling school, work and an increasing load of debt.

The nonpartisan legislative analyst chastised the governor for not only expensive, but seemingly arbitrary increases, and said the rise in fees at both institutions should be about 2.4 percent this fall.

"The governor provides no rationale for the proposed fee levels," the legislative analyst's analysis said. "The UC and CSU fee increases are tied to neither an inflationary index nor a specified share of cost."

What's more, if the Legislature were to go with the governor's estimated 4 percent rise in education costs, then it should stick to that figure, and raise fees by no more than 4 percent, the analyst said.

It sounds logical to us. And a whole lot less burdensome for students and their families.

When the state keeps upping the ante for students with no attempt to correlate fee hikes with true education costs, it's unfair. And it simply does not compute.