UC May Seek 30% Fee Hike

The University of California might need to boost student fees by as much as 30% for the coming school year and curtail future enrollment growth because of likely state budget cuts, UC President Richard C. Atkinson said Wednesday.

If the full 30% increase is imposed, it would translate into a $1,150 boost per year in systemwide fees for undergraduates from California.

In a letter to the university’s Board of Regents, Atkinson also warned that the system might need to curb enrollment growth in the 2004-05 school year amid a boom in the number of high school graduates in California.

The system, which has boosted undergraduate enrollment by more than 6,700 in each of the last two years -- between 4% and 5% -- said it was considering capping or slowing growth in 2004-05.

Jesse Gabriel, a senior at UC Berkeley and past president of Associated Students of the University of California, said that delivering a fee increase so close to the beginning of the school year would pose an unfair hardship.

“A lot of students already are on financial aid, and already have taken out loans, and already are working so many hours a week in a number of jobs just so they can make tuition payments,” he said. A fee increase now, Gabriel said, “is going to make it really difficult for a lot of these people to continue.”

Atkinson’s letter follows last month’s disclosure by UC’s sister system, California State University, that it is considering a 30% hike in graduate and undergraduate student fees and curbs on enrollment. Cal State’s proposed boost, expected to be approved on July 16, would translate into an annual increase of $474 for full-time undergraduate students.

Although fee increases always ignite opposition, scaling back enrollment growth in the two systems would probably be politically volatile, because of demographic pressures. According to the latest forecast by the California Postsecondary Education Commission, the number of students seeking an education at a public college or university in California will jump to 2.7 million by 2010, an increase of 36% from 1998.

Holding back enrollment growth, Atkinson said in his letter, “clearly would be distressing. UC has a proud tradition of guaranteeing access to a high-quality education for the state’s very best students.”

But Atkinson added that “continuing state budget cuts could very well leave us with no choice, and I believe it is important to communicate that message very clearly in Sacramento.”

UC San Diego Chancellor Robert Dynes, who will replace Atkinson as the UC system’s president in October, said after his appointment last month that he would consider capping enrollment if it becomes clear that the university’s growth is beginning to erode its quality.

UC officials could not recall an enrollment growth cap being imposed in recent decades.

According to UC officials, Gov. Gray Davis’ most recent budget proposal would cut $360 million from its annual state funding of $3 billion. That already is translating into reduced spending -- and some layoffs -- in such areas as administration, libraries, research, outreach and student services.

The possible 30% fee increase and enrollment curbs are being prompted, however, by legislative proposals calling for additional cuts in the range of $80.5 million to $400 million or more for the fiscal year that began this week.

“Raising student fees and constraining new enrollments are very painful decisions to make, and I wish we did not have to consider them. But I am convinced that the alternative -- allowing the educational quality of the University of California to deteriorate -- would be even worse,” Atkinson wrote.

Atkinson is asking the regents to consider an unusual two-part fee plan at their meeting July 16 and 17. It seeks approval of a 25% fee increase, which would translate into a $960 annual boost, but it also would give Atkinson the authority to increase the amount to 30% this summer if warranted by state budget cuts.

That 30% boost would bring systemwide fees to $4,984 per year for California-resident undergraduates. Taking individual campus fees into account, resident undergraduates on average would pay about $5,400 annually, excluding room and board and mandatory health insurance.

UC officials said that the system’s fees, with the 30% increase, would remain $1,200 below the average of equivalent institutions across the country. Critics have pointed out, however, that the high cost of living in California’s urban areas means that students still are required to shoulder substantial expenses.

To soften the impact, UC officials pledged that most students with family incomes of $60,000 or less would have their fee increases fully covered by financial aid. In addition, aid would cover about half of the fee increase for many students with family incomes of between $60,000 and $90,000.

But Steve D. Boilard, director of the higher education unit of the Legislative Analyst’s Office, criticized the financial aid proposal. “It’s unclear to me why a family making $90,000 shouldn’t pay the full fee, especially given that the taxpayer is already picking up the tab for most of the cost of the student’s education.”

He added, however, that the proposal to curtail enrollment growth “makes sense.”