CSUs and UCs both considering a tuition hike for the first time in six years
As if paying for school wasn’t expensive enough
Students could be faced with even thinner wallets in the upcoming year as both public college systems in California, CSU and UC, are considering a tuition hike in response to a decline in state funding.
The CSU system, according to the LA Times, is to expect a 5% increase amounted to about $270, while the UC’s could expect a 2.5% increase amount to about $280. And that’s just for California residents. Out-of-state could see even a 5% increase of the already $60,ooo it costs for tuition.
And that just isn’t right.
Here at UCLA we have a pantry for those who can’t afford food and housing for homeless. Yet these students who cannot even afford basic necessities are expected to pay a “modest” tuition hike?
A tuition raise based upon an already astronomical amount of tuition that it cost to go to university in America. Gone are the days where you could work for a summer to pay off college at a private university for a year to get by, as our parent’s generation did. Now you’re seen as a magician if you can get out of college without any loans.
Yes, California public schools cost less than other public schools. But that’s simply tuition. Housing in half of the popular universities in both systems are in Orange Country,in cities, by the beach, all over California has a more expensive escrow market than those in the Midwest and in other parts of the country per square foot.
A triple dorm at UCLA with no air conditioning and two meals a day, per meal plan, costs about 1000 dollars a month. That is for residence within the campus. Outside the campus, at least in LA, a studio ranging about $1,500 is usually an economic one around 250 square feet.
Additionally, utilities, food, textbooks, medical expenses one may incur, parking expenses in a city are a nightmare, and all add up to a vast amount California students have to pay just to go to school.
Nathan Brostrom, the UC chief financial officer, told the LA Times in the same article, that for about 75% of students of the 252,000 in the UC system it would be covered by financial aid. That means, of course, 63,ooo students would not be covered by it. That’s more than the populace of UCLA by over 20,ooo students.
Some of these students just barely missing the qualifier for financial aid of significant amount. So yes it might seem small. But it’s going to seem large to the students that make up the system that has already saddled the majority of students with loan after loan.
As someone who comes from a family of teachers, it’s ironic that education is so hard to afford. As a valedictorian, it’s infuriating to work so hard to see it pay off so little after high school. As a student in this system, that this could mean future tuition hikes is worrisome.
Why isn’t doing everything not enough to be able to get a quality post-secondary education without drowning in debt?