Cal State University, University of California hike fees as budget cuts loom

Tuesday December 17, 2002

By MICHELLE LOCKE
Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) College-bound Californians will feel the sting of the state's budget crisis with the two major university systems voting to raise fees in the face of looming cuts.

California State University trustees and University of California regents voted Monday to raise student fees to cope with Gov. Gray Davis' proposed $10.2 billion reductions in state spending over the next 18 months.

``When you have a nearly $30 billion shortfall of (state) revenue, everybody is going to feel some pain. I'm talking about every Californian,'' California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed said shortly before the CSU vote.

The board of CSU, the nation's largest public university system, met in Long Beach to raise fees by 10 percent for undergraduate students and 15 percent for graduate students. For California residents that means fees will go up $72 per semester for undergraduates, from $1,428 to $1,572 per year, and $114 for graduate students, from $1,506 to $1,734 a year. Campuses may add other fees.

CSU is anticipating seeing $60 million cut from its $3 billion annual budget.

Meanwhile, UC regents meeting in San Francisco took a similar action, raising student fees by $135 per quarter starting this spring. For the year, that means an increase of about $400, or just over 11 percent. Undergraduates now pay about $4,000 a year.

Fees will also go up for UC graduate students, from between $150 to $400 a year.

UC President Richard Atkinson said the system has lost about $480 million in state funding they were expecting to get over a two year period and he anticipates that next year will be a lot worse, possibly meaning furloughs, salary reductions and even layoffs.

The governor is proposing cutting $74 million from UC's current budget, including $22 million in unused funds from research and an online learning program and another $20 million from support services such as libraries and administration. The revised 2002-03 budget is about $3.1 billion.

Other areas targeted include $3.3 million in outreach programs aimed at enrolling disadvantaged students. That is about a 5 percent cut; the prospects for next year are a cut of $33 million, or 50 percent, although that would likely prove an unpopular idea with state legislators.

Davis is proposing $19 million in unallocated cuts at UC for the current budget year. Officials estimate they can raise $28 million with the fee hike, of which one third will go back into financial aid to help the poorest students, leaving $18.6 million to fill the gap.

The 23-campus CSU system has a record 406,896 students enrolled this year. UC's nine campuses, which serve the top 12.5 percent of high school graduates, have about 165,000 students.

The increased CSU fees will also generate about $30 million, which includes $10 million in financial aid for students.

Reed said the additional 20,000 students expected to enroll next fall and the possibility of further budget cuts was a ``double whammy'' for the CSU.

But Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante spoke against the action, telling the meeting that Davis has indicated he does not support fee increases.

``Action to increase fees is premature,'' Bustamante said, noting that the Legislature has not reviewed the proposed cuts.

Bustamante, who is also a UC regent, was equally unenthusiastic about UC fee hikes saying they burden middle and working class families and should not be the first recourse in a financial crisis.

``This is the wrong direction, regents. This is the wrong direction,'' Bustamante said.

Students at both meetings opposed the hikes.

At CSU, students held up signs that read ``Adding fees is not the answer'' and ``CSU students are the working class of California.''

Melanie Carlson, 33, a sociology major at Chico State, said the fee increase would threaten her ability to attend school. She said she was a member of the ``sandwich generation'' that cares for its children as well as its parents.

``This could be devastating,'' she said. ``But what's my choice? Not get an education?''

In San Francisco, Mo Kashmiri, a student at UC Berkeley's Boalt law school, said he didn't know how he'd come up with the $400 increase he'll be facing next year.

``Obviously we're really upset,'' he said. ``This is the worst time for them to possibly raise fees. I have no idea how I am going to pay for this.''

California's community colleges also are considering possible fee increases to cover the governor's proposed $200 million in cuts over 18 months, but no decision had been made, said Tom Nussbaum, chancellor of the California Community College system.

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On the Net:

Read the state budget at http://www.dof.ca.gov

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)