UC Regents Panel OKs Student Fee Increases : Education: A $620 hike for undergraduates would make yearly costs almost three times the 1989 amount.

In a double dose of bad news for students, a committee of the University of California regents on Thursday sharply increased fees for next year while approving a new policy that adds instruction and faculty salaries to the list of services those fees can be used to pay for.

At the recommendation of UC President Jack W. Peltason, the regent’s Finance Committee approved a $620 per year increase in fees for undergraduates and instituted a new $2,000 “differential” charge for graduate students enrolled in the professional schools of medicine, veterinary medicine, dentistry, law and business.

In addition, the regents’ panel approved a $6,000 “duplicate diploma” fee for any college graduate with a bachelor’s degree or higher who returns to UC for a second bachelor’s degree.

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

The $620 increase for undergraduates, if approved, would be the latest in a series of steep hikes that UC officials have imposed. It would bring the average undergraduate fee to $4,737 a year--up sharply from the $1,634 they paid in 1989.

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

Regents rejected such a differential pricing scheme last year, but undergraduates complained that it was unfair to spread fee increases evenly when the state provides a greater subsidy to the professional students, who are more expensive to teach and can be expected to earn more once they graduate.

UC spokesman Michael Alva said the system would net about $60 million from the fee increases--money that would come on top of a $58 million, or 3.2% 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 system.

In addition to specific increases, regents approved a policy that allows UC administrators to use student fees to pay for instruction. The 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education called for student fees to be used strictly for support services, such as libraries. To emphasize the idea that the state was paying for an education, college officials and lawmakers have insisted on using the term “fees” instead of “tuition” to describe what is charged to the students.

But recent state budget cuts have led UC and Cal State administrators to begin discussing the potential of charging students for a portion of their instructional costs.