Over protests from hundreds of chanting students, a panel of the University of California Board of Regents approved a plan that will raise tuition 27.6% over five years.
The decision was a showdown between Governor Jerry Brown, who is a champion of fiscal restraint, and Janet Napolitano, president of the university system, who says the only way to avoid the tuition hike is more money from the state. Brown has said that if the regents approved the increase, they would receive less money from Sacramento, not more, the New York Times reported.
Students at the University of California, Berkeley staged an all-night sit-in while students protested the vote itself in San Francisco by shouting inside the meeting room and clashing with police on the street, TIME reported. Students have also gone to Twitter to protest using the hashtags #OccupyWheeler and #FightTheHike.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– Buckminster Barrett” author_title=”Undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz”]
I would have real trouble paying any more, and so would a lot of people. They say they’re worried about student debt, but this would force a lot of us to take more loans.
[/quote]
Tuition at UC campuses has more than tripled in the last 11 years, not including the latest hike. Students and families have shouldered more of the burden of attending UC schools over the last few years as California has cut back the share of overall expenses it will cover
Brown, who was reelected by a wide margin in November, criticized the plan and urged Napolitano and other regents to study how costs could be cut within the school system without increasing tuition. Brown suggested awarding degrees in three years instead of four and offering more online classes.
In-state tuition and fees at the University of California is $12,192, higher than the national average of $8,893 for all public schools in the country. More than half of all UC students pay no tuition as their costs are covered by private and public grants based on income.
Out-of-state students, who currently pay $35,000 in fees and tuition, could see charges go up to $45,000, which does not include food and lodging, the Washington Post reported.
