UC to Boost Out-of-State Tuition 10%

The University of California will hike tuition for out-of-state residents by an additional 10% to ease the effects of a state budget that UC President David P. Gardner on Thursday called “a formula for disaster.”

Tuition for out-of-state students will rise to $1,502 a quarter beginning this winter at eight UC campuses and to $2,553 a semester at UC Berkeley, which is on a two-term calendar. The increase is in addition to a 5% rise approved last year, which goes into effect this fall.

The extra tuition, approved by a UC Board of Regents committee Thursday and expected to gain full board approval today, will generate about $4 million. However, Gardner said the new state budget will require $64 million in cuts in UC spending--about the amount of state funds for the entire UC Santa Cruz campus.

Unless the Legislature restores some funds, UC may have to cut back enrollment in 1989 to the level of 1987, Gardner told the committee, which was meeting at UCLA. That would trim enrollment, now about 157,000, by 3,500 students, officials said.

‘Formula for Disaster’

UC must enroll increasing numbers of students while suffering a significant erosion in its budget, Gardner said. “This is a formula for disaster that, in my opinion, should be as unacceptable to the people of California and their elected representatives in Sacramento as it is to the University of California,” he said.

The state budget signed last week by Gov. George Deukmejian provides $1.954 billion for UC, a 3% growth compared to the 7% Gardner said is needed.

Nadine Bent-Russell, president of the UC Student Assn., criticized the tuition hike, calling it “an attempt to balance the budget on the backs of students.” About 12,000 students will be affected, she said.

However, Regent Glenn Campbell said UC should raise tuition for out-of-state students to the $15,000 their education costs California. Other regents dismissed that idea, saying that it is important to have a diverse student body.

Basic fees for California residents will average $1,492 a year this fall, which represents a 4% increase approved last year.

Also Thursday, detailed plans were approved for construction of a 120-bed hospital on the La Jolla campus of UCSD.

Two committees of the Board of Regents voted for the $74-million facility, which is supposed to attract patients from the growing and affluent San Diego north city and North County areas.

The existing UCSD medical Center, 12 miles away at Hillcrest, has had financial troubles because so many of its patients are from inner-city areas and have no private medical insurance. The Hillcrest hospital will remain open, although its capacity will be cut.

Near Interstate 5

The new hospital, formally called the Satellite Medical Facility, will be located on a bluff on the east side of Interstate 5, across the freeway from the medical school. Construction is supposed to be finished by the end of 1991, officials said.

Changes in design and expansion in plans raised the price from the original estimate of $62 million last year to $74 million, officials said. Nevertheless, approval by the full Board of Regents is expected today. The project is to be financed with loans from private sources, to be repaid with revenues from the hospital.

The Regents on Thursday also heard a report from John Nuckolls, director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, about a drug probe at the nuclear weapons research center. The university operates the lab under a federal contract.

During recent Congressional hearings, critics alleged that laboratory officials halted an undercover investigation two years ago to soften bad publicity. Nuckolls, who became director three months ago, denied that. He said lab officials decided that it was more important that all lab employees learn about six arrests that had been made and be discouraged from drug use. Ten other employees, implicated but not arrested, then resigned, he said.

In another development, Gov. Deukmejian has appointed Clair W. Burgener, a former congressman and a longtime personal and political friend, to the Board of Regents. Burgener, 66, of Rancho Santa Fe, replaces Frank L. Hope of San Diego on the 18-member board. Hope’s term had expired.

Burgener served two terms in the House of Representatives after spending 10 years in the state Assembly and Senate where he forged a close relationship with Deukmejian. He also held a seat on the San Diego City Council from 1953 to 1957.

This is the second major appointment Deukmejian has conferred on Burgener. Shortly after his election as governor, Deukmejian named Burgener to the California State Personnel Board, where he continues to serve as its president.

Burgener’s appointment to a 12-year term on the Board of Regents requires Senate confirmation.