7 Democrats Urge Using Surplus to Repeal College Tuition

A group of Democrats in the Legislature on Tuesday called for spending the state’s $4.4-billion surplus to repeal student fees at California universities and colleges rather than give motorists a tax break.

The proposal to eliminate tuition--a 1960s legacy of former Gov. Ronald Reagan--”amounts to a tax cut for middle-class families,” said state Sen. John Vasconcellos, a liberal Democrat from Santa Clara.

“Our students now work too much and don’t have enough time for study, and they leave college with an average of $20,000 debt, which is debilitating,” Vasconcellos said. “Investing in educating our people is investing in the future prosperity and well-being of all Californians.”

The Democratic plan got an ice water shower from Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, who has advanced his own program for using the surplus, including a cut in the “car tax.”

A fee rollback is “not something we can support,” said Wilson spokesman Ron Low. He noted that Wilson has proposed reducing annual vehicle license fees by 75% while also boosting spending for public schools, higher education, environmental protection and infrastructure improvements.

Low said using the entire surplus to repeal tuition at the University of California and fees at California State University and community colleges “would tie our hands and not allow us to make investments in other critical areas.”

The Vasconcellos-led band of Democrats, however, indicated that while a buyout of student fees is their highest priority in the new state budget, they would be willing to compromise with Wilson and others who have different notions for the money.

“If we end up with a compromise, it’s better than nothing,” said Vasconcellos, a champion of higher education in the Legislature for 32 years whose group includes seven Democratic lawmakers.

Flanked by his colleagues, college students, faculty members and UC Regent William T. Bagley, a retired Republican legislator, Vasconcellos insisted there is “no more valuable use of our newfound surplus” than the higher education of California’s youths.

The talk of student fee reductions is a dramatic turnaround from the first half of this decade, when recession prompted lawmakers to hike fees.

The Democrats’ announcement won enthusiastic praise from students and faculty members alike as a move that could open the way for wider access to knowledge in a rapidly changing world.

David Hawkins, representing the community colleges faculty association, told reporters that “for every $1 fee increase [at community colleges], you are guaranteed to lose 10,000 students.”

Terry Jones, president of the Cal State faculty association, added: “Higher education is the ticket to ride first class.”

During the recession of the early 1990s, Wilson and the Legislature dramatically increased student fees to help balance the state budget. As the economy has improved in the past couple of years, the fees have been frozen or rolled back slightly.

The fees still remain too high, said state Sen. Hilda Solis (D-El Monte), and as a result, California has almost “priced our kids out of higher education.”

She noted that student fees total nearly $4,000 a year at UC, a 97% increase since 1990; $2,000 at Cal State campuses, an 80% boost; and $550 at community colleges, a 200% hike.

The Vasconcellos proposal would earmark $1.3 billion of the surplus this year to eliminating tuition and fees of California residents at state universities and colleges. The balance of the surplus would be set aside for increased student financial aid programs and for a reserve account to assure that the reductions would be permanent.

While Wilson has endorsed a phased-in 75% cut in the vehicle license fee as a way to provide motorists with tax relief during his final year in office, fellow Republicans in both houses have proposed outright elimination of the levy as a way to distribute the unexpectedly large surplus.

The move to reduce or abolish the fee is opposed by cities and counties, many of whose budgets are heavily dependent on the license fees.

In proposing to eliminate college student fees, Vasconcellos and his supporters strayed from the leadership of the senate’s top Democrat, President Pro Tem John L. Burton of San Francisco. Burton has called for spending the surplus on extra aid to public schools, infrastructure improvements and restoring the income tax credit for low-income renters.

The Vasconcellos plan was endorsed by Democratic Sens. Solis, Diane Watson of Los Angeles, Steve Peace of El Cajon and Teresa Hughes of Inglewood, and Assembly members Martha Escutia of Bell and Fred Keeley of Boulder Creek.

Historically, public higher education in California had been “free”: Taxpayers paid most of the costs and students paid only relatively small fees intended for noninstructional purposes, such as supporting libraries.

But Reagan, whose two terms were marked by bitter relations with UC, persuaded the UC regents in 1969 to have students bear more of the financial burden by imposing tuition.

Bagley, a former GOP assemblyman and an off-and-on ally of Reagan, told reporters Tuesday it is time to give college students and their parents a break.

“I am not against reducing taxes,” Bagley said. “I raised a lot of taxes. Ronald Reagan and I raised all the taxes in California.”