UCI to consider ‘first tuition hikes in six years’
As if 2016 wasn’t bad enough already
According to the LA Times, UC and the Cal States are contemplating raising tuition due to the high enrollment of qualifying students that have been increasing over the years. Not only will they consider raising tuition but they want to graduate them faster than before as well as hire more faculty. With limited funding from the state both institutions are proposing an annual increase of $280 for UC students.
In the article, the LA Times added that “UC, for instance, has added about 83,000 students since 2000. Yet the state’s share of paying for each of them dropped from 72% in 2000 to 41% last year, administrators said.”
While the tuition increase is stated to be covered by financial aid, it stated that, “students across the state have begun to mobilize against any increase. They argue they’re already strapped by the highest annual tuitions in California history—which have more than doubled since 2006 to $5,472 for CSU and $12,294 for UC.”
As students struggle to “afford nourishing meals and decent housing,” UC student leaders Ralph Washington Jr. and Giovanni D’Ambrosio said, UC’s are contemplating reducing a four-year path to a three-year degree path.
The article also stated that, “UC and CSU are more vulnerable to budget cuts because they do not have the constitutional funding guarantees that protect community colleges and public primary and secondary schools.
Even if the increase in tuition were to be covered by financial aid, not everyone is given aid. An increase in tuition and fees might potentially mean an increase in loans and the ceiling of student debt will raise higher than it already has.
Angry and shocked, Cal State students are mobilizing “to protest at the board of trustees meeting in Long Beach on Tuesday.”