UCI Students Protest Proposed $620 Fee Hike

A small group of UC Irvine students held a two-hour protest Thursday that culminated with a request that the University of California regents postpone today’s scheduled vote in San Francisco on a 16.6% fee increase.

In an effort to drum up student support on campus, the Committee for a Responsible University, which is composed of three undergraduate students, marched with about 50 supporters through the student union and made an unsuccessful recruitment trip through a political science class in session. The students then made their way to the office of Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening.

“We are absolutely fed up with these constant fee increases,” said Domenico Pagone, a leader of the student group and a senior engineering student.

“Even though I’m graduating this year, I know of at least 10 friends who won’t be able to go to school next year if this latest hike goes through,” he said.

The demonstration came as a committee of the Board of Regents, meeting in San Francisco, voted to increase undergraduate fees for the 1994-95 academic year by $620 and approved a new policy that allows administrators at the nine-campus system to start using the money for instruction, including faculty salaries. The 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education called for student fees to be used strictly for support services, such as libraries, but not for instruction, which was considered the responsibility of the state.

The committee also agreed to institute a new $2,000 “differential” charge for graduate students enrolled in the professional schools of medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, law and business.

The fee increases are scheduled for consideration today by the full Board of Regents, which typically goes along with committee recommendations.

As UCI students chanted “no more fee hikes,” in Wilkening’s crowded office lobby, Pagone gave Wilkening’s secretary a list of four demands to forward to UC President Jack W. Peltason. Both officials were attending the Regents meeting.

The group demanded that students be heard before a final vote is taken. It also demanded the resignation of Peltason if its demand for a reconsideration of the fee increase is not met.

Pagone and fellow group members Martin Rizzo and Eric Merkt said they were hoping to voice their opposition to the fee increase in person at the regents meeting, originally scheduled to be held at UCLA. But the meeting was moved to UC San Francisco because of Monday’s earthquake.

Gina Misch, a junior studying sociology, said she decided to join the protest Wednesday on her way to class when she saw Pagone asking for student support in front of the Administration Building.

Misch said she can barely handle this year’s fees, and may have to drop out of school if the latest hikes are approved.

Student fees at UCI have risen sharply since 1990-91, when the annual cost of attending the university was $1,820 for an undergraduate resident student. This year, students are paying $3,727. The newest proposal would set fees at $4,347 for 1994-95.

The $2,000 differential charge for professional school students would be added to the undergraduate amount.

UC spokesman Michael Alva said the system would net about $60 million from the proposed increases--money that would come on top of a $58-million increase that Gov. Pete Wilson has proposed in his 1994-1995 state budget. But that still is about $100 million short of what administrators say is needed to stabilize the university.

Rising University Fees

A fee increase for the 1994-95 school year, approved by a committee of the University of California regents Thursday, would bring fee increases in the university system to 180% over six years. The $620 fee hike is scheduled for consideration by the full Board of Regents today. How fees have changed for resident students:

Percentage Year Fee increase 1988-89 $1,554 4.2% 1989-90 1,634 5.1 1990-91 1,820 11.4 1991-92 2,486 36.6 1992-93 3,044 22.4 1993-94 3,727 22.4 1994-95 4,347 16.6

Note: Total includes average miscellaneous fees, assessed by student vote and varying by campus.

Source: Office of the UC President