Students will be able to protest the proposed UC education and registration fee increases over the phone today, directly before the UC Board of Regents meet via teleconference. The regents canceled a visit to UCSD to avoid distracting campus officials from fighting the swine-flu virus outbreak.
The 20-minute student and public comment period will occur at 9:30 a.m. today in Price Center Ballroom B.
Student opposition to the systemwide $626-per-year increase in systemwide educational fees and $36 increase in registration fees is largely based on concerns that the university has not created a long-term policy for regulating student fees.
UC Students Association President Lucero Chavez, a UC Berkeley graduate student, said students need to know that fees won’t rise again when making plans for the future.
Associated Students Vice President of External Affairs Lisa Chen said she was disappointed by the regents’ decision to cancel their campus meeting.
‘It has completely changed our plans,’ Chen said. ‘We’ve been mobilizing students for this meeting and now they’re taking student speakers for only 20 minutes.’
The scratched two-day meeting budgeted time for several rounds of students and workers to address the regents.
Student fees have increased by 107 percent over the last seven years.
Campus Organizing Director for A.S. External Affairs Gracelynne West argued that middle-class students who do not receive financial aid will be the hardest hit, because ‘mdash; as fees continue to increase ‘mdash;they won’t have anything to protect them.
‘We are addressing and exposing the lies of the regents,’ West said. ‘It is definitely a problem affecting low-income and middle-class UC students. For those that don’t receive financial aid, it’s a burden. It’s becoming harder for students to pay for school.’
Speaking on behalf of A.S. External Affairs, West said the fee increase is merely a stopgap in response to California’s dire economic situation.
‘[The regents] continue to increase their fees as the number-one solution whenever there is a need for more revenue for the UC system,’ she said.
The Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan ‘mdash; which will provide qualified UC undergraduates with enough scholarship and grant assistance to cover their systemwide fees for the first four years of their college education ‘mdash; was approved in February.
Despite the plan’s promises, however, Chavez said she remains dissatisfied with the fine print.
‘The university is not painting the bigger picture, because the [financial aid] money is only seen for the upcoming year,’ Chavez said. ‘Students won’t feel problems because of the Blue and Gold plan next year, but the money is only short term and not guaranteed.’
Chen, who also serves as a member of UCSA, said the regents have failed to take into consideration what impact the fees will have on students.
‘It’s easy for us to be known as a budget item during these meetings, but by putting personal stories to the fee increases, we show that we’re not a statistic,’ she said.
Readers can contact Kelsey Wong at [email protected].