The buzz is out about the governor’s 2007-08 budget, and students are responding in large numbers, informing Sacramento and the UC Regents that the UC system is becoming a mechanism for debt instead of opportunity. Students are facing a 7- to 10-percent increase in student fees from a 25-percent increase in registration fees, an increase of $500 to the work-loan burden and the elimination of academic preparation program funding. Ultimately, every student, whether or not they receive financial aid, will be paying more out-of-pocket next year if the governor’s budget passes.
Since 2002, student fees have skyrocketed 79 percent for undergraduates, 84 percent for graduate students and 69 to 131 percent for professional students. Student fees are being increased every year, without a thought about whether California families can afford to pay. In fact, over the last five years, undergraduate student fees have increased as much as they did in the previous 20. What’s worse is that the provided financial aid does not reflect this sharp increase in the cost of going to college. And now the governor is proposing to increase fees over 7 percent for UC students.
Graduate students have faced even higher fee increases. Fees went up $3,000 over 20 years from 1978 to 1998, and then another $3,000 in just five years between 2002 and 2007. This is an alarming trend that will only get worse. Professional student fees are no different. Most professional students are being forced to endure steady to extreme fee increases, blurring the line between public and private universities.
Skyrocketing levels of student debt make it even harder for professional students to enter into public sector careers such as medicine, nursing or law. In addition, not all schools have loan repayment programs, and those that do are drastically underfunded. As a public university, it is the university’s duty to instruct students who can apply their education to the public sector, yet it is failing California by forcing professional students to accumulate unmanageable levels of debt.
The Education Finance Model for the 2007-08 year requires that every undergraduate student contribute at least $10,000 toward their education each year through work and loans. This is a $500 increase from the 2006-07 school year and a $1,000 increase from the 2005-06 school year. As fees continue to rise, so does the work-loan burden on students. The UC Office of the President continues to make the argument that a UC education is affordable for low-income students because of the university’s financial aid program; however, they also argue that low-income students do not see the severe effects of fee increases. Each year, regardless of fee increases, students are increasing their workloads, putting an even heavier burden on the backs of students.
In addition, students are expected to work 14-20 hours per week during the academic year and full-time during the summer. But one in every seven students are already working more than 20 hours per week to support their education. Students need more substantial financial support to meet the university’s high academic standards, but student loan repayment expectations are set based on the assumption that a UC undergraduate will make $45,000 per year upon graduation.
After three years of zero funding and endless efforts to track, demonstrate and convince various stakeholders of the worth of these programs, the governor has once again proposed to eliminate funding to academic preparation programs. This elimination includes funding for Student-Initiated Outreach programs. These programs have been cut by over $60 million in the last five years, slicing them down to a sliver of the funding they once had. The cuts to these programs — which are designed to improve access to the university — only compound the barriers students face. And as the public is fully aware, the university is facing a diversity crisis, and cutting funding to these programs will only make it worse.
The University of California Student Association is taking action to hold the governor and the state Legislature accountable to their commitment to an affordable and accessible higher education in 2007-08. Students will be demanding a fee freeze for undergraduate, graduate and professional students; restoration of the academic preparation program funding to $33 million; and the passing of AB175, which will increase the Cal Grant B award.
Hundreds of calls have already been made to the governor and legislators last week letting them know the “”Price Is Wrong”” for higher education.
In the next few weeks, students statewide will be collecting postcards that will be delivered during key hearings in the capitol. On Feb. 24 through Feb. 26, over 250 UC students statewide will gather in Sacramento for the UCSA UC Student Lobby Conference and Lobby Day, making it loud and clear that the “”Price Is Wrong”” for higher education.
For more information or to get involved go to http://www.ucsa.org.
