40% Fee Increase Sought for UC : Education: University administrators will request the hike today, sources say. If it is approved, student costs will rise $650--the biggest jump ever--to $2,274 a year.

The University of California administration today will propose a 40% increase in student fees, which would be the largest hike in the institution’s history, university sources confirmed. If that $650 increase is approved by the UC Board of Regents, average undergraduate fees for California residents will rise to $2,274 a year, not including room, board, parking or activities charges.

The regents, who are meeting today in San Francisco on budget issues, normally follow recommendations of UC President David P. Gardner. But their vote today is uncertain and approval is sure to spark protests from students and legislators. The proposed $650 increase would be double the 20% fee hike proposed by Gov. Pete Wilson in January.

“It’s a difficult situation,” said a high-ranking UC administrator, who confirmed that a 40% fee increase for the 1991-92 school year would be formally requested today as part of an austerity plan in response to state budget cuts. Wilson offered UC $2.19 billion in state money, $295 million less than what the regents wanted and $2.2 million less than UC received this year.

UC officials also may present proposals to tighten student admissions standards and to cut the overall student body over the next few years by about 5,500 from the current 166,500, some sources said. But details of those and other proposals could not be confirmed Wednesday. Layoffs of non-teaching employees and increases in the teaching loads of professors may also be debated.

One UC regent, who also asked not to be identified, said the university’s governing board will want to examine alternatives to the 40% increase. “But I suppose when you come down to it, I would probably prefer the fee increase to cutting the number of students,” the regent said, adding that the fee increase will provide extra financial aid for low-income students. The regent pointed out that the average family income of students at some UC campuses tops $60,000 and that many of those families should be able to afford the increase.

But Lee Butterfield, acting executive director of the UC Student Assn., a lobbying group, said such a large increase would most hurt students from families with incomes between $30,000 and $45,000--who often are not eligible for much financial aid and unable to tap parents for much more help. “Another $650 for those families is going to make things worse,” he said.

State law calls for fee increases of no more than 10% in a year, but that can be overturned by the Legislature in financial emergencies. Before the governor’s austere budget was announced, the UC regents were going to raise fees only 3%.

“We would be unhappy about anything over 10%. That’s as high as it should go,” Butterfield said.

Anticipating a large fee increase, student groups have scheduled demonstrations today at the UC system’s Laurel Heights center in San Francisco, where the regents are meeting, and at the governor’s Los Angeles office on South Spring Street downtown.

Many regents and UC officials were unavailable for comment Wednesday because they were attending memorial services for Gardner’s wife, Elizabeth, who died Friday. The death of Mrs. Gardner has deepened the gloom among administrators already depressed about the budget. Gardner, who normally guides the regents’ meetings, is not expected to attend today’s.

University officials are to stress today that, even with basic fees of $2,274, UC costs compare well to those at some other prestigious state universities. But UC student leaders will respond that costs for room, board and parking are very high at the system’s schools. This year, for example, a California student who lives on a UC campus will probably need about $10,000 for his education and living expenses. (Students from out of state pay an extra $6,416 in fees, and law and medical students pay an extra $376 a year.)

Meanwhile, Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) and some top officials of UC and community colleges held a news conference Wednesday at Los Angeles City College to protest the level of state support for higher education. “A funding crisis of this magnitude leaves us with little choice but to wonder whether California will continue to maintain its world-renowned system of accessible, quality higher education,” said Hayden, who is chairman of the Assembly Higher Education Committee. Also speaking were Los Angeles Community College District Chancellor Donald G. Phelps, district trustee Lindsay Conner and Michael E. Granfield, a UCLA vice chancellor.