The pandemic only delayed a major decision for the University of California’s Board of Regents – whether to raise undergraduate tuition for the first time since 2017.
The vote will take place July 22, and the potential increase would begin a year from now.
This particular proposal is different from years past because it would raise the price annually only on first-year students and new transfer students, allowing them to keep that tuition level for up to six years.
University officials hope this approach will be better received by students than the tuition hikes common in previous years that sparked outrage during the recession.
Annual tuition for an undergraduate California resident is $11,442. Mandatory fees raise the yearly price to $12,570 — and then to $14,077 when fees from the nine undergraduate campuses are included.
Under the proposal, students entering the UC system in fall 2022 would pay an additional $534 in tuition and student fees for the duration of their enrollment. The increase equals average inflation over three years, plus 2%.
The amount charged above inflation would decrease for each new group of students until fall 2026, when the increase would be held at the rate of inflation alone.
“By eliminating annual uncertainty about how a student’s systemwide charges might change from one year to the next, the university would make it easier for students and families to develop a financing plan for the entirety of a student’s enrollment,” UC officials say in their proposal to the regents.
But students are still not convinced.
"There will be some students paying up to 10% more in these first few years of the tuition increase for the same education in the same classrooms being offered the same services," said UC Berkeley senior Josh Lewis.
"It creates a fundamental inequity," he said.
A spokesperson for UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ said, “small regular tuition increases will provide predictability to students and families while enable the university to meet increasing expenses.”
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