UC Regents Hike Fees a Record $650 to $2,274 : Education: Discussion about the possible closure of UCI Medical Center is put off for a month.

Heeding warnings about a state financial emergency, the University of California’s Board of Regents voted overwhelmingly Thursday for a $650 fee increase, the largest in the 123-year history of UC, and moved to limit enrollment growth through tougher entrance standards.

The regents also voted to cut 1,000 non-teaching jobs, mainly through attrition and early retirements, and to delay by a couple of years planning for a new campus in the San Joaquin Valley.

Basic UC undergraduate fees for state residents will rise 40%, to $2,274 next year, not including room, board or activities charges, which differ among the nine campuses. At UC Irvine, fees and activities charges will amount to $2,524 for undergraduates and $2,892 for graduate students. UC officials pledged that extra financial aid will cover the fee increase for the needy, but student leaders angrily contended that many students still will suffer.

“A lot of students simply aren’t going to come to college with these fee increases,” predicted Matt Hale, vice president of Associated Students at UCI.

Susan Polan, president of the UC Student Assn., urged the regents to maintain the state policy of limiting annual fee increases to 10% and suggested other ways to save money, such as increasing professors’ teaching loads and cutting back on agricultural research.

However, UC officials clearly wanted to protect the system’s reputation for research and scholarship, even if fee increases and enrollment limits are the result. “The University of California may have to shrink in size, but we will not allow quality to deteriorate,” said William R. Frazer, UC senior vice president for academic affairs.

UC traditionally admits students from the top academic 12.5% of high school graduates. That has drifted up to 14.25% in recent years. On Thursday, the regents moved to enforce the 12.5% rule again and asked a faculty group to develop by May a tougher set of grades and test scores for freshman admission.

Combined with cuts in graduate programs, that change is expected to reduce future enrollment growth by 5,500 over the next three to four years. Such a limit is expected to eliminate the need for 360 teachers, 100 teaching assistants and 300 support staff.

The seriousness of UC’s fiscal situation was symbolized by the attendance at Thursday’s meeting by Gov. Pete Wilson, Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy and Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig, all of whom are ex officio regents. Also at the meeting were state Director of Finance Thomas Hayes and Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill, who gave reports on the state’s grim fiscal picture.

The regents voted 20 to 3 in favor of the austerity program, including the fee increases. McCarthy, Regent Yori Wada of San Francisco and Student Regent Jenny Doh, a UCI senior, cast the nays.

McCarthy, describing himself as “bothered very deeply,” urged that the fee increase be kept to 20%, as proposed in the governor’s budget in January. Like student leaders, Wada asked the faculty to consider more teaching, less research. “There is a perception in the general public that the professors teach too few classes,” Wada said.

Fees for out-of-state students will increase $1,282 next year, to $9,973, without room and board. For California residents, the average cost of a UC education, with living expenses, books and transportation, will be about $10,200, officials said.

UC Vice President Frazer said the fee increase may discourage some students from attending the university, but he insisted that the number will be small, based on previous fee increases. In the past, the largest dollar increase in a single year was $297 in 1982 to $1,235; the largest percentage increase was 50%, from $300 to $450, between the 1969-70 and 1970-71 academic years, according to UC records.

About 50 UC students demonstrated for about an hour Thursday outside the auditorium where the regents met. They carried placards with such slogans as “Cut Administrative Waste” and “Don’t Raise Fees.”

The regents took other actions Thursday, including: deferring faculty salary merit pay raises by six months; reducing purchases of instructional equipment, delaying building repairs, and transferring remedial courses in English and math from UC to community colleges.

Last July, UC identified eight San Joaquin Valley sites for a possible 10th campus. A cut to three finalists was expected soon. Now officials said planning is up in the air and the new campus may not open until the year 2000, two years later than hoped for.

The regents’ actions came in response to the governor’s budget, which offered UC $2.19 billion in state funds, $295 million less than what the regents wanted and $2.2 million less than UC received this year. In defending his plan Thursday, Wilson cited the recession and told regents: “This is an austerity budget. We have been compelled to do a number of unpleasant things.”

UC President David P. Gardner, whose wife died last week, was absent. Some observers noted that the regents, out of respect to Gardner, may not have wanted to strongly challenge his staff’s analysis Thursday.

“The magnitude of the problem--$295 million--means that we cannot avoid widespread pain throughout the university,” Frazer said. “We have done our best to be fair, but we recognize that not everyone will think so.”

Analysts said the higher student fees will raise about $90 million, but they can only be spent on student services and equipment.

The tighter eligibility rules may force some UC applicants to turn to the Cal State system or community colleges. The trustees of the Cal State system are to meet next month about their own student fees. Some officials say they may follow the 40% increase of UC. A full-time student’s fees at Cal State are currently $780 a year.

In other business, the regents put off for a month the discussion about possible closure of UCI Medical Center in Orange. UC Irvine Chancellor Jack W. Peltason said Orange County officials seem more willing to pay for more of the care of indigent patients, which has been the cause of ballooning deficits at the hospital. However, Regent Frank W. Clark Jr., who heads the board’s hospital governance committee, was less optimistic.

“In the next 60 or 90 days, we may be facing a tragic decision,” Clark said.

UCI Medical Center lost $10.9 million last year, largely because of the growing cost of caring for the county’s working poor. While the medical center has only 6% of the county’s hospital’s beds, it took care of 60% of patients who were uninsured or did not qualify for other state or federal programs.

Deficits are expected to continue because the state cut Orange County’s funds for indigent health care by 55%--or about $13.5 million--and county supervisors chose not to make up the difference.

Responding to a letter from Peltason about the funding problem, Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez on Tuesday will ask the county staff to assess the county’s ability to help UCI Medical Center.

“Recognizing the seriousness of the situation and the possible loss of a valuable resource to the residents of our county, I do not believe that we should leave any stone unturned in seeking to address this need,” Vasquez wrote in a letter to fellow board members.

REACTION AT UCI: Some students fear they will be priced out of college. A34