Big fee hikes OKd for 34 UC schools

DAVIS, Calif. -- The University of California Board of Regents approved a three-year plan Thursday for major fee increases at 34 professional schools that would push the cost of some law and business schools to $40,000 a year by 2010.

The increases will take effect next year and range from about 7% at most of the schools to a high of 15% at UC Berkeley’s law and business schools. The board voted to enact similar raises in the following two years but agreed that it would ratify them separately each year.

Advocates of the plan, including Christopher Edley Jr., dean of the Boalt Hall School of Law at Berkeley, said the increased fees would help the school maintain its excellence and attract some of the best professors and students.

“I can’t overstate how critical this was for our future,” Edley said after the vote. “I agree completely with the desire for more state funding. But the political reality is that California has been reducing money for K-12 and higher education for a generation.”

But the plan drew strong opposition from some students and regents who argued that the state should contribute more and return the universities to the level of funding they once received.

“This is not an affordable education for the people we intend to serve,” said Regent Eddie Island. “We’ve got to find another way. Don’t send a message to the people we are trying to serve that we are excluding them.”

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, who is both a regent and a California State University trustee, has argued against higher fees at both institutions, saying that the public universities should remain open and accessible to the poorest Californians.

“These fee increases are no different than a tax, and this body is being asked to impose an extraordinary tax,” he said.

Under the regents’ plan, fees would go up roughly 7% each year at 24 professional schools, including UCLA’s medical and dental schools, and the UC Irvine and UC San Diego medical schools. UC Riverside’s medical school, once it opens in 2012, would have more modest increases starting at 4.3%.

At UCLA, annual fees at the law school would rise to $39,727 by 2010, an increase of 47% over this year; and the fees at the business school would increase to $39,965, a hike of 41%.

At Berkeley, fees at the business school would soar to $40,882 by 2010, an increase of 52% over this year; and the fees at the law school would be the highest of all: $40,906, also a 52% increase over the current year.

Advocates of the proposal said the increase in resources would allow them to offer larger financial aid packages and maintain a diverse student body. Some schools also would offer a loan forgiveness program for graduates who take low-paying public service jobs.

Supporters also said that adopting a three-year fee scheme would help the schools plan ahead for facilities improvements and make longer-term commitments in recruiting faculty.

But opponents argued that the fee structure is a departure from UC tradition because it sets markedly different levels for similar programs at different schools, particularly law and business. They argued that this would lead to greater stratification and a hierarchy of professional schools within the system.

The Berkeley law school, for example, would charge more than $5,000 a year more than the Davis law school by 2010. UCLA’s business school would charge $10,000 a year more than UC Riverside’s business school.

In a separate action Thursday, the board voted 14 to 4 to adopt a watered-down policy requiring UC researchers who accept funds from tobacco firms for tobacco research to get approval from the chancellor of their campus and report to the regents on the nature of their study.

Several regents, including Chairman Richard C. Blum and John Moores, have been trying for the last year to ban all tobacco-company funding of tobacco research, arguing that the industry kills millions around the world each year and had been found guilty of racketeering by a U.S. court.

But opponents countered that a ban by the regents would interfere with the “academic freedom” of university researchers and that the faculty should monitor itself through peer review of scientific work.

Researchers at seven of the 10 UC campuses are conducting research under 23 grants from Philip Morris USA that total nearly $17 million, according to the UC Office of Research.

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richard. paddock@latimes.com