The UC Board of Regents approved its 2008-09 budget plan
last week, which could potentially open the door for a significant hike in
student fees over a multiyear period.
Beginning on July 1, 2008, the proposed budget would see a
total increase of $378.2 million, or 7.2 percent above the funds of the last
fiscal year, placing the state-funded budget for the UC system at $3.46
billion. This could mean a 7-percent increase in student fees, unless state
funds can supply an additional $70.5 million.
The university’s budget proposal has been criticized by
students, faculty and UC executives, as it comes at a time when the state
deficit is an estimated $10 billion. California’s fiscal limitations continue
to threaten statewide plans for university expansion and its pledge to meet the
growing educational demands of Californians.
“The state is facing significant fiscal constraints, which
may limit its ability to meet all of the university’s current budgetary needs,”
UC Executive Vice President Katherine N. Lapp said in a press release.
“Therefore, UC has a responsibility to fund other critical needs and
investments through cost-saving reforms identified as part of an ambitious and
sweeping multiyear restructuring initiative.”
Lt. Gov. and Regent John Garamendi told the Associated Press
he was skeptical of the budget’s reliance on students as a backup plan.
“I think we’re making a very serious mistake,” he said.
Concerned about widespread student opposition and deficient
state resources, Garamendi wanted the budget proposal to exclude any reference
to a fee increase.
However, the majority of regents rejected his
recommendation, opting to include the provision in the event that the governor’s
state budget proposal in January would fail to meet the university’s fiscal
needs.
Despite the criticism, UC President Robert C. Dynes said the
budget proposal is a necessary step to increase the university’s capacity for
quality education.
“This budget is a roadmap for turning vision into action,”
Dynes said in a press release. “The vision is to meet the growing and changing
needs of California. With adequate funding support, we can turn that into
action by building and maintaining the quality of UC’s teaching and research
core; bringing UC’s research and educational capacities to bear in health care,
research and K-12 education; and restructuring the way UC does business.”
While its proponents argue that the budget would accommodate
the growth of the state’s college-aged population and the developing needs of
Californians through its provisions for research and education, it would also
result in $3 million in wage raises for 245 top university executives: a
5-percent salary boost on average.
The Board of Regents’ compensation committee also considered
increasing chancellors’ salaries by one-third, though the decision was not
finalized within the budget proposal.
Before the proposal vote, students voiced their alarm to the
board about potential fee hikes. Several students protested outside the
regents’ conference room, advocating a push to stop tuition increases through
the legislative process.
Students and Families for Tuition Relief Now, an advocacy
group for California college students, filed a ballot initiative with
California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown, Jr. to freeze tuition fees for UC
and California State University tuition for the next five years. The
legislation would also limit future fee increases from exceeding the inflation
index.
“Students are taking the brunt of state lack of funding, so
the administration continually puts funding on the backs of students when they
can’t even afford that,” SFTRN Lead Organizer Valeria Fike-Rosales said.
“They’re pushing students out of the higher education system.”
In order to fulfill its high-priority needs, the university
has heavily relied on continuous state funding, which in the early 1990s
underwent a significant reduction due to strained state resources. The UC
system has yet to receive reparation for the cuts, and faces the continual
challenge of satisfying the ever-growing demands of the state’s economy.
As a result, student fees have risen significantly over the
years. Fees for UC undergraduates now average $7,400 annually.
Fike-Rosales said proponents of the budget proposal are
placing too much faith in its ability to improve higher education through
higher student fees.
“There is this argument that they need to maintain the
quality of higher education, which is why they continue to raise student fees,”
she said. “But as they are raising fees, they are cutting classes, and students
are not receiving a high quality of education. That is eventually going to
impact the economy, because we’re not getting the workforce we need. Our
economy depends on higher education.”
While the regents have not officially voted on a student fee
hike, the university will require a long-term commitment of the state to
execute its budget plan. Adjustments to the plan will be made following the
governor’s January budget proposal.
