Housing Pushes Up Costs at UCI
Is it really more expensive for a student to go to UC Irvine than UCLA?
If the national college cost figures recently released by the New York-based College Board are any indication, the answer is yes. UC Irvine was the sixth most expensive public university in the nation, and UCLA wasn’t even in the top 10.
The College Board survey also said that among public universities in California, UCI is second only to UC Berkeley. The survey covered tuition and fees, books, housing, personal expenses and transportation.
According to the College Board, the school-year cost for a California resident who’s an undergraduate at UCI will be $7,236 in 1985-86. The same student, says the College Board, would pay only $5,950 at UCLA, $1,286 less.
‘Right From Handbook’
“The figures the College Board quoted are right from our handbook,” said UCI spokeswoman Linda Granell. Still, she wondered aloud how UCLA, in the midst of expensive Westwood housing, is cheaper than UCI.
The answer, as it turns out, is that the College Board survey considered only on-campus housing in its comparisons. By that comparison, UCLA is cheaper because its dorms are cheaper than Irvine’s.
Off-campus housing is another matter. Irvine is no low-rent district, but it is considerably more affordable than Westwood, one of the most expensive rental-housing areas in Southern California.
University of California officials at the mother campus in Berkeley said Tuesday that the differences in costs among the eight undergraduate UC campuses are almost entirely a function of housing. The officials said that fees are virtually the same at each UC campus and that the cost of books and transportation vary only slightly.
“UCLA’s dorms are a bargain because the state managed to get them built cheaply years ago and now they can pass that on,” said Lilia Villanueva of the public information office of the UC system.
UCLA housing officials said Tuesday that the cost of a double-occupancy dorm room on the Westwood campus will be $2,740.50 for the 1985-86 school year. A double-occupancy dorm room on the UCI campus this school year will cost $3,760. At both campuses, the dorm costs include 19 meals a week.
But while UCI can house about 3,000 of its 11,000 students on campus, UCLA, with 30,000 enrolled, can only house about 6,000 on campus.
“We have a lottery for dormitory spaces,” said Bernice Mayer, on-campus housing manager at UCLA. “A computer randomly assigns numbers to applicants.” She said that there is currently a waiting list of about 4,000 UCLA students seeking on-campus housing.
Lottery to Start
At UCI, housing director Jim Craig said the Irvine campus has always assigned dorm rooms on a first-come, first-served basis. “But that will end next year,” he said. “Rooms will be assigned by lottery starting next year.”
Craig said UCI has a waiting list of about 1,300 students seeking on-campus housing for the coming school year.
Villanueva, of the UC system, said that university figures show that UC San Diego is slightly more expensive than UCI, although the San Diego campus was not named in the College Board’s top 10.
According to Villanueva, the annual cost for a year at the eight UC undergraduate campuses (the figures are for a California resident, undergraduate student in 1985-86, and cover tuition, fees, books, on-campus housing, personal expenses and transportation) is:
Berkeley, $7,344; San Diego, $7,300; Irvine, $7,235; Santa Cruz, $7,023; Santa Barbara, $6,684; Riverside, $6,746; Davis, $6,227, and UCLA $5,950.
UC officials noted that the system’s San Francisco campus is for graduate work only and thus it is not comparable with the undergraduate costs of the other campuses. Graduate students pay higher fees.
HOW UCI COSTS COMPARE
Berkeley $7,344 San Diego $7,300 Irvine $7,235 Santa Cruz $7,023 Santa Barbara $6,684 Riverside $6,746 Davis $6,227 UCLA $5,950
Costs are for the 1985-86 school year and cover tuition, fees, books, on-campus housing, personal expenses and transportation for a California resident, undergraduate student.
