Andrearzoo@berkeley.edu
The University of California’s ruling ‘Board of Regents’ has approved a proposal to raise UC “fees” (tuition), by $2,500 (32%) – taking effect Spring 2010 for the 2010-2011 school year.
The beginning of November has marked the transfer of state budget restraints from the shoulders of the State of California, and taxpayers, to the backs of California students and their families, who are busy struggling to receive a proper education while balancing the financial requirements it entails.
Unfortunately, the 229,000-strong UC student body is left to pay increasingly more from their pockets for an education system, and state, that is in financial crisis, while at the same time, high level income citizens are free from their tax obligations of supporting the state in such dire times. In other words, while the state struggles to manage this financial crisis, with the lack of proper state assistance from the federal government, the Universities of California, and their student bodies, are left to manage this financial storm on their own – a duty that should rather be moved into the hands of major businesses who profit not only from tax breaks, but from the students themselves, through the consumer material & necessities they purchase throughout their college years.
There have been comments, however, by State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, stating that she “would push for higher taxes, possibly on higher-income residents, to finance education and that “the state could face $20 billion shortfalls during each of the next five years.” Statements without action, though, are empty promises made only to sway the dissatisfaction and popular dissent among Californians.
“Our hand has been forced,” UC President Mark Yudof told reporters after the vote. “When you don’t have any money, you don’t have any money.” He added, “We’re being forced to impose a user tax on our students and their families. This is a tax necessary because our political leaders have failed to adequately fund public higher education.” (Reported the Associated Press, CBS, and BCN)
The UC President has declared the necessity of a $913 million increase in state funding next year, alongside the student fee increases, in order to continue operating the UC system, which consists of 10 campuses throughout the state.
In 1960, tuition fees were practically non-existent. However, by 1985 they had reached $722, and now, will reach $10,300 in 2010 – close to triple the cost back in 2000, with no sign of these increases halting anytime soon:
“I can’t make any ... promises,” President Yudof commented to reporters regarding the possibility of raising student fees yet again if the state fails to provide the necessary funding he has requested.
Ironically, the University of California public school system was established with the intention of being an institution that provides both quality and affordable education for the public at large, originally without tuition, or what they have now cleverly dubbed “fees,” but now have been raising these fees year on year since the universities’ establishment.
The resistance from California students to the increase, prior to and following the UC Regents’ approval, was emphasized in mass demonstrations throughout California’s Universities, e.g. UCLA, UC Berkeley, and UC Davis, to name a few.
The demonstrations reached such degrees; where students blocked, for three hours, the UC Regents from leaving their meeting at UCLA, where students barricaded themselves in campus facilities for days, such as Campbell Hall at UCLA and Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley, expressing their outrage, and where local law enforcement was called in to suppress the students, where cases of excessive force being used by law enforcement against students was reported:
David Valenzuela, who graduated three months ago from UCLA, said he was on campus supporting friends when police pepper-sprayed him. “I didn’t even get a warning. My face was on fire,” said Valenzuela, 23.
Ayanna Moody, a second-year prelaw student, said she feared she might have to attend a community college next year. “I worked so hard to be at one of the most prestigious universities. To have to go back, it's very depressing,” she said. Administrators “already cut out a lot of our majors and programs. I’d rather they cut some of their salaries.”
Toni Mendicino, a UC Berkeley secretary and spokeswoman for the Coalition of University Employees, called the decision “an outrage” and said it would severely impact students. “Obviously the regents are not interested in learning about how the fee hike is impacting students’ lives. If they were here on campus, they’d talk to people who will now be dropping out of school because they cannot afford to go here anymore,” Mendicino said.
So what does the state, and our beloved governor, have to say about all this?
Governor Schwarzenegger laid blame of the UC crisis on the failure of U.S. legislators to properly reform legislation regarding state collection and allocation of taxpayer revenue. He explained the increase in student’s fees as a necessity due to the current financial debacle: “This is the time to look at our budget system and tax system. The Legislature should be sitting there right now fixing it. In the meantime, students have to suffer,” Schwarzenegger said.
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