UC regents raise out-of-state fees, OK dual admissions

UC regents raise out-of-state fees, OK dual admissions
BY BECKY BARTINDALE
Mercury News
For the sixth year in a row, University of California regents approved a 4.5 percent tuition increase for out-of-state students Thursday to raise money to fix crumbling facilities and subsidize teaching assistants.

At the same meeting, regents adopted a new admission plan that guarantees high school seniors entry to a UC campus as juniors if they first successfully complete a course of study at a community college.

Regents agreed to increase tuition for international and out-of-state students, with Peter Preuss and David S. Lee dissenting. Lee said he worried that out-of-state state tuition will become ``so high these people won't come here for an education.''

Non-residents will pay $460 more a year starting this fall, for a total of $10,704.

That compares with an average cost of $3,964 a year, including campus-based fees, for undergraduate California residents and $4,747 for graduate residents.

About 10 percent of the university's 180,000 students come from out of state, more than half at the undergraduate level. Even with the increase, university officials said, UC's non-resident charges are lower than at comparable public universities.

The increase will generate $6 million a year: $4 million to help finance debt for high-priority deferred maintenance and $2 million to provide fee subsidies to teaching assistants.

Fees for California residents have not increased since 1994 and actually declined 10 percent since 1998.

But that could change next year, some regents suggested Thursday, if California's economic slump continues and the state does not meet its pledges to help fund basic university budget needs, such as employee compensation.

This year, instead of the 4 percent increase for salaries the university was counting on, it is slated to get just 2 percent from the proposed state budget. The reduction comes when hiring is becoming increasingly difficult.

The university has pledged not to raise fees as part of an agreement with the state, and the state has pledged to help the university fund competitive salaries, said Regent Ward Connerly.

``If things don't get better, all these agreements we've made -- they are all on the table,'' Connerly said.

``We may have to raise fees,'' said chairwoman S. Sue Johnson.

The new dual admissions program, which the board adopted on a 14-3 vote, would be open to students in the top 12.5 percent of their high school class who are not eligible for freshman admission to UC.

Joining Johnson in dissent were Preuss and Lee, who expressed concern about the program's costs when the university is already struggling to cope with growing enrollment.

``There's not enough money. There's not enough campuses. There's not enough classrooms to do this,'' Lee said.