The UC Board of Regents discussed budget and fee increases at length during its March 17 meeting, and while no action was taken, scenarios considered included raising student fees by over 10 percent.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal has called for a 10-percent fee increase for UC undergraduates and a 40-percent fee increase for graduate students, but fear that a 40-percent hike could discourage too many students from pursuing a graduate degree at the university prompted talks of augmenting the undergraduate fee hike from 10 percent to 15 percent.

This comes despite the governor’s recommendation of capping fee increases at 10 percent per year.

Vice President for Budget Larry Hershman, who made a presentation on the budget and various fee increase scenarios, stressed the importance of linking student fees and state funds.

“We cannot agree on a student fee policy that does not take into account the support of the state,” Hershman said. “We need to make it clear to the governor that any fee policy has to link fees to the commitment they’re making to the university.”

Some expressed concern that driving away graduate students would also affect the quality of the university for both undergraduate students and faculty, since many graduate students are employed as teaching assistants and research assistants.

Matt Kaczmarek, chairman of the University of California Student Association, argued against the fee increase proposals.

“They’re designed to pit the needs of undergraduates and graduates against each other,” he said.

He went on to speak of students’ efforts to lobby against budget cuts in Sacramento and encouraged the Regents to do the same.

“When members of this board make a statement, people in Sacramento listen,” Kaczmarek said.

UC President Robert C. Dynes and various other Regents’ spoke of efforts to convince state legislators of the importance of retaining the quality of the university in a time where the budget is set to be slashed 16 percent while enrollment is increasing by 16 percent.

“A major university cannot survive budget cuts year after year,” Dynes said. “The fact is, public education has to be a priority for the state of California. The future of California really does depend on that. I hope the Regents will help carry that message to Sacramento this spring as the budget evolves.”

UC Regent Ward Connerly was not optimistic about the outcome of lobbying efforts, saying the Regents needed to recognize “the reality of our times.”

“We’re in a box, we’re in a real box,” Connerly said. “I think it begins with the fact that we’re dancing with a partner that’s listening to one kind of tune and we’re listening to another. And if we’re dancing with that partner, we better listen to what tune is being played.”

He went on to say that education would not be considered a right in this “new paradigm.”

“The point I want to stress is we just can’t tighten our belts and go to Sacramento and lobby for more money,” he said. “If we do that solely, at the end of the day, we’ll find ourselves up a creek without a paddle … Right now we’re just reacting, and we’re going to lose the fight.”

Other Regents agreed with him, but stressed that advocacy was still important in the short term.

“The public needs to understand what they’re getting,” faculty representative Lawrence Pitts said.

In a letter released online the next day, March 18, but dated March 16, Dynes personally addressed students and their families to warn of future fee increases.

He wrote that the increases would most likely start with the 2004 summer sessions, and that the final dollar amount of the fees is not yet known.

“At this point, however, given the governor’s proposals for student fee levels, it is likely that undergraduate fees will rise at least 10 percent ($489) for the 2004-05 academic year and may go higher,” the letter warned. “Fees for graduate students are proposed to rise by as much as 40 percent, although we hope to reduce this figure during the budget process.”

He also encouraged students and their families to keep financial aid in mind, but cautioned that due to concurrent decreases in financial aid, “all families can expect to contribute more to meet their expenses.”

The UC Board of Regents is expected to set student fee levels either during its April or May meeting.

Dynes’ full letter is available for download at http://www.studentlink.ucsd.edu or at http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news.