ON Thursday, Nov. 20, administrators of the University of California approved tuition increases of as much as 5 percent over the next five years, despite protests from both undergraduate students and faculty, and open criticism from California governor Jerry Brown and other state legislators.
The 14-7 vote from the Board of Regents marks the end of a peaceful three-year-freeze over the cost of public higher education in the state. It also sets up months of negotiations and political posturing before a final tuition-percentage increase is chosen.
Increasing tuition, according to UC President Janet Napolitano, will help pay for higher employee pension and salary costs, hire more faculty, and boost undergraduate enrollment by 5,000 over five years.
Napolitano’s plan calls for tuition for California undergraduates to rise next year to $12,804, not including housing and other expenses. By the 2019-20 school year, that could increase to $15,564, unless state funding for UC rises enough to offset or possibly eliminate the surge.
Earlier this month, the chancellors of all 10 UC campuses announced their support for the tuition increase, calling it “predictable and fair.”
“The plan addresses our obligation to students and their families to provide them with the best education possible at the most affordable price,” the chancellors’ statement read.
The opposing votes were cast by Gov. Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, student regent Sadia Saifuddin, and two new regents, Assembly Speaker John Perez, and Long Beach City College President Eloy Ortiz Oakley.
Gov. Brown, a longtime regent, has been pushing for the UC to reduce its spending instead of increasing tuition. He previously committed to raising state funding for UC by 4 percent annually for the next two years only if tuition stays flat, according to the state Dept. of Finance. Brown acknowledged that there was no formal compact between the state and UC, but said that those conditions “have been clear from the outset.”
Tuition at UC campuses have more than tripled since 2001, even without the recent increase approval. In addition, with reduced federal funding in recent years, students and their families have shouldered more of the financial burden of attending a UC school. The economic downturn and the state’s cutting back of its overall expenses have led to an accelerated trend in public universities and colleges. Napolitano has said that negotiations between the regents and state officials over how to fund UC have already begun.
After the vote Thursday, protesters, including 25 students at the meeting, continued to shout at the regents, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, tuition hikes have got to go!”
Students at other campuses are also taking action against the big decision. Hundreds of student demonstrators staged an all-night sit-in and tried to block entrances to a San Francisco UC building on Wednesday, getting into matches and pushing police. Protesters also occupied Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley, chanting and picketing outside of the building.
Education is a right, not a commodity
Justice for Filipino American Veterans (JFAV), a national alliance of veterans, announced its support of UC students and their families affected by the tuition increase.
JFAV National Coordinator Arturo P. Garcia said, “The unpopular UC Board of Regent’s decision to increase the tuition fees…is the height of arrogance and uncaring attitude of the American reactionary ruling class. It is anti-people and grossly reactionary.”
According to JFAV, the UC regents, chancellors and executive officers have secretly increased their salaries “at the backs of students, parents, and workers in an apparent lack of ethical conduct and propriety.” The UC, they reported, is also wasting money by subcontracting employees to get around the union and hiring workers who don’t get benefits or livable wages.
One UC student commented, “The fee increase is anti-student, anti-worker, and anti-working class. They’re justifying this by saying that state funding has declined, but that’s not the whole story.”
To put the hike in perspective, tuition at the UC was around $700 per year back in the 1970s and 80s. Today, students handing over more than $15,000 per year (not including room and board, books, and other fees) estimates to a rise of around 2,000 percent.
(With reports from TIME, Los Angeles Times, and NPR)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend November 22-25, 2014 Sec. A pg.1)
