This article was submitted by Ricardo Miranda, third year and current UC Student Association – University Affairs Chair.

In 2021, the University of California’s Board of Regents voted to implement the Cohort Tuition Model, a controversial policy to control tuition hikes. Ahead of the model’s 2026-27 expiration date, the regents are now proposing updated tuition policies that will negatively impact all students. The proposed changes, which would come into effect in the 2027-28 school year, would increase tuition faster and return less financial aid to students — impacting hundreds of thousands of current and future students in the UC system. If we don’t act now, it could be sealed for years to come. 

We, as students, need to show the UC Board of Regents, UC President James Milliken, and the California Legislature that they are not the only people in control of the university system. We must urge them to vote against the adoption of the new Cohort Tuition Model and protect future generations of UC students. Together, we can show them that students can and will band together to protect their education.

The original Cohort Tuition Model was presented as a compromise in the face of inflationary prices and an effort to decrease the number of students who graduate with debt. This model ensured that while tuition costs matched rising inflation at 5%, students would pay a stable fee for all four years of their university experience. This compromise still costs students, however, as it promised that only 45% of tuition revenue would be returned to students in the form of scholarships, grants, and other forms of aid — far less than the 60% proposed by student leaders in the UC Student Association at the time of passing.

But now, the UC Regents want to make a difficult situation even worse. Their updates to the 2021 model extract more money from students’ pockets while dropping scholarship funding to an all-time low.

This new version of the cohort model would raise annual tuition by 7% for every incoming class — an increase from the current 5%. Even worse, it would slash the return to aid portion of tuition from 45% down to just 35%. Students will pay more but receive less back in grants, scholarships, and aid.

Under this proposed version, low- and middle-income students will suffer the most. We already know what this means in practice: more students taking out loans, skipping meals, working multiple jobs, and dropping out — not because they’re unmotivated but because the UC system is becoming unlivable for too many of them.

At UC San Diego, we already have the highest rate of food insecurity in the entire UC system and the second-highest rate of housing insecurity. This tuition hike will only make life more demanding for Tritons and students across the system. It will force even more of us to make the impossible choice between education and survival.

The UC Regents will vote on this new plan at their meeting from Nov. 18 to Nov. 20; if approved, it will codify a more aggressive, less equitable version of a tuition system students were already skeptical about. Let’s be clear: The current tuition model is nowhere near perfect, but UCOP’s proposed changes would severely worsen it. 

Here’s the kicker: the UC Office of the President claims it needs this plan to cover budget shortfalls, even though the state has deferred these cuts to future years. UCOP, James Milliken, and the regents just want to prove to the state government that they can be self-sufficient and still bring in a profit even in times of high inflation. All they will do is scare the state away from funding the institution.

As the state continues to see the regents raise tuition and take money from the budget, it will steer away from funding other projects made to help students. For many of our students, especially those with a CalGrant, tuition is free because the state foots the bill. This policy will only drive the state away from supporting programs like CalGrant — this is not just dangerous for students, it’s bad policy for the UC in general. That’s why this is not about survival. It’s about choosing to place the burden of more financial insecurity on students, instead of restructuring from within. 

But this plan is not final. And every time the regents have tried to raise tuition, it has been student power that forced them to back down. It has been our testimony, our organizing, our protests, and our presence that have held them accountable. We’ve forced the UC system’s hands before, and we will do it again.

Students are paying attention. The UCSA is organizing students against these price hikes, and students refuse to be silent. But to achieve real change, we need you. We need your words to be spoken and echoed; we need you to stand your ground at our campuses; and we need to band together now more than ever.

I implore you to join me in advocacy: 

• Protect the current Cohort Tuition Model and demand no increases in tuition or cuts to aid.
• Flood the November regents meeting with public comment and student turnout.
• Organize on our campuses to raise awareness and demand transparency.
• Speak out and share our stories, showing the model’s actual consequences for real students.

The time to act is now. Let’s fight for a UC system that puts students first.