More Fee Hikes Expected for State’s College Students : Education: Increases are part of Gov. Wilson’s budget plan. It is unfair for taxpayers without children in institutions to bear a heavier burden, he says.

Students at California’s public universities and community colleges should brace themselves for more large fee increases if Gov. Pete Wilson’s recession-racked budget proposals become law.

Analysts say Wilson’s plan reflects a national trend: shifting costs of college education year by year from taxpayers to students and their families.

For most of the 1.5 million community college students, fees could triple, to $900 a year for a full load of courses. Annual costs for those who already have bachelor’s degrees could more than double, to $3,150.

These fee increase proposals will face tough legislative scrutiny as the once cherished ideal of open, free access to the two-year schools recedes into the past.

The University of California already has decided to raise 1993-94 undergraduate fees by $605, to $3,429--excluding room, board and activities fees. On Friday, UC officials warned that several hundred dollars more could be required before next fall at their nine campuses while student leaders said they feared an additional $1,000 was likely.

Also under study will be enrollment cuts, layoffs and hefty surcharges for UC graduate professional programs.

“There’s nothing not going to be looked at,” said William B. Baker, UC vice president for budget and university relations.

For the 20 Cal State campuses, Wilson had no specific recommendations for basic fees, which now total $1,308 a year after a 40% raise in the fall. But his suggested reductions in overall funding promises bad news at registration windows from San Diego State to Humboldt State, with some officials privately predicting an increase of at least 20%.

What’s more, Cal State tenured faculty may face layoffs, an action narrowly avoided this year. And Cal State’s overall enrollment, which declined this year by 14,600 students to 347,300, could drop another 10,000 or so, according to a system spokeswoman.

On Friday, Wilson defended fee increases as being necessary in the weakened economy and said it was unfair for taxpayers without children in state colleges to bear a heavier burden.

However, Patrick McCallum, executive director of the Faculty Assn. of California Community Colleges, said he feared such fee increases would cause hundreds of thousands of students to leave schools without needed skills, particularly lower-middle-income students who are ineligible for much financial aid.

“In our opinion, this will extend rather than end this terrible recession,” McCallum said.

The governor proposed that support for the 107 community colleges drop 11.1%, or $301 million, from current levels, according to system Chancellor David Mertes. To help make up that difference, Wilson said he “is prepared to support fees of up to $30 per unit,” which would mean $900 a year with a full load of 30 credits.

Wilson unsuccessfully sought a $20 per unit charge last year. Instead, community college fees were increase from $6 per unit to $10, starting this spring semester. The national average is about $40 per credit.

Mertes said he would fight the $30-per-credit fee, saying “to go from $6 to $30 in two years is simply poor public policy.”

After a bitter debate in Sacramento last year, community college students who already have bachelor’s degrees were differentiated from other students this semester. Their $50-per-unit fee has already caused higher dropout rates. Wilson’s proposal to end any state funding for those students would bring their fees to $105 a unit, officials said, although there would be exemptions for displaced homemakers and low-income people.

As in previous years, there was much disagreement around the state Friday about how to portray the proposed cuts to higher education.

By including current fee revenues in his base formulas, Wilson calculated 2.9% decreases in overall funding to both UC and Cal State. By looking at just general revenue funds, UC leaders say their cut is 7.3%, or $138 million less than in 1992-93, and Cal State administrators figure it as a 4.5%, or $67.7-million, reduction.

In approving the 40% hike last year, the Legislature forbade further Cal State fee increases for the following two years. Of course, lawmakers could rescind that ban as Wilson advocated.

Cal State fees have doubled over the past four years, and one well-informed state analyst predicted another 20% rise.

In the past two years, 6,500 Cal State class sections were canceled and 1,585 part-time faculty were laid off. About 1,500 full-time faculty opted for early retirement.

The UC Board of Regents will not take action on supplemental fee raises until March, said Baker.

“I wouldn’t want to put a number on it now, but given a cut of this magnitude, it is likely to be resolved with a combination of employee reductions and fees,” Baker said.

Partly because only 26% of its budget comes from state tax dollars, compared to 80% at Cal State, UC has been spared severe class cancellations. Enrollment at UC dropped slightly, only 461 students, to a total of 165,786 last fall.

The teaching load of UC professors, now averaging less than two classes a quarter, must be boosted, said Andy Shaw, executive director of the UC Student Assn.

Gov. Wilson, an alumnus of UC Berkeley’s Law School, also recommended that one of UC’s four law schools be possibly turned into a private institution by 1996.

In contrast, Wilson’s budget supported Cal State’s long-term plan to build a campus at Ft. Ord, the enormous Army base near Monterey being closed.

The Rising Cost of College

The cost of annual undergraduate tuition at the UC and Cal State university systems has risen substantially during the last decade and particularly in the last three years. These fees do not include room, board, parking, health and activities costs. Although it is widely agreed that there will be significant tuition increases again in 1993-94, the figures are not known because the governor did not propose specific increases, leaving it for the two university systems’ governing boards.

1982-83 1993-94 UC $1,235 $2,824 Cal State $430 $1,308

Source: California Postsecondary Education Commission, Sacramento.