UC Regents Vote to Hold Line on In-State Student Fees

Bucking a national trend of rising college costs, the University of California Board of Regents voted Friday to maintain in-state student fees at their current level of $1,324 for the coming academic year.

In-state fees for undergraduates at the nine campuses of the UC system are now running about 20% below the national average. The relatively low cost of a UC education is partly the result of the board’s decision last year to reduce student charges by $70 per student. That decision came in response to an improved performance in the state’s economy that allowed the Legislature to increase financing for the UC system.

For the fifth consecutive year, however, the regents voted at a regular meeting held on the UCLA campus this week to increase non-resident undergraduate tuition, which is already running about 12% above the national average.

The 1985-86 increase of 7% would raise the charge for students from outside California from $3,564 to $3,816, thus bringing the university system an additional $2.7 million in revenue. In addition to tuition, out-of-state students are charged the same fees that in-state students pay.

Non-Resident Fees to Hit $5,140

Currently that amounts to $722 per student in education fees, $523 in registration fees and some miscellaneous campus charges. The average $1,324 in regular student charges, along with out-of-state tuition, will bring the total bill for non-resident undergraduates to about $5,140 in 1985-86.

Graduate students who are California residents will also continue to pay the same fees next year as they are paying now--about $1,385. Graduate students who are not residents will pay approximately $5,185, compared to an average of $4,933 this year.

The decision on student fees is subject to final determinations on UC’s budget by the Legislature and the governor.

Despite the decision to hold down in-state costs, UC officials warned that many state residents, as well as out-of-state students, could have a harder time this year than last paying for their educations. The reason, the officials said, is that the Reagan Administration has proposed drastic cuts in federal student-aid programs for the coming academic year.

25% Less Federal Aid

According to the university’s own calculations, UC students under the President’s plan would receive 25% less in federally based financial aid in 1986-87 than they are now receiving.

“Given the federal deficit, and the manifest desire of the President and the Congress to reduce it, we cannot expect to be wholly unaffected by the spending reductions which will occur,” UC President David P. Gardner said.

William Baker, UC vice president for budget and university relations, warned that middle-income students could be especially hurt by the proposed spending restrictions and that many of the rest of the 67,000 UC students who receive some type of aid or scholarship could be affected.

For example, Baker said, stiffer eligibility requirements alone would eliminate about 8,400 of the 30,000 UC students who now receive federally backed education loans. About 2,700 UC undergraduates would be cut off from the Pell Grant program, the major federal plan for students in lower middle-income groups. And any UC student whose family income exceeds $25,000 a year would no longer be eligible for the popular campus-administered federal programs, including low-interest education loans and subsidized “work-study” projects.

Because of proposed loan limits, at least 4,400 UC graduate students, many of them in lower-income groups, would fall $2,000 short of the estimated $6,000 in financial aid needed to attend the university.