"The high fees, high financial aid model is not working. Students have to face this problem every day," said Bill Shiebler, president of the University of California Student Assn.
Still, no one denies that UC and Cal States are a bargain compared with the prices of many private colleges, where annual tuition next year is reaching about $35,000.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that he is keeping to his 2004 compact with the public universities that student fee increases would not exceed 10% any year and that enrollments could grow 2.5% a year.
Fees at California's community colleges went down last year to $20 from $26 a unit and would remain there next year if the governor's plans are upheld.
Wednesday's decisions were made at a time of tension between the Cal State administration and the faculty union. After a deadlock in contract negotiations, the two sides are awaiting a neutral fact-finding report. Meanwhile, the faculty union is voting on whether to authorize its leadership to call two-day rolling strikes if further talks fail to reach a contract.
Cal State faculty union President John Travis said the university should be able to fund professors' pay hikes without a student fee raise. Administrators say that would be impossible.
At the UC meeting in Westwood, the regents set a 10% fee hike for law schools at UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC Davis and business schools at UCLA and UC Berkeley. A higher fee was imposed on the five schools on the assumption that most students will earn high salaries after they graduate.
The increase, for example, will be $2,111 at the UC Davis law school, where basic fees will be $25,479 a year without housing. The largest of those jumps will be at UCLA's business school, where a hike of $2,346 will bring fees to $28,312.
Christopher Edley Jr., dean of Boalt Hall law school at UC Berkeley, had urged the regents to treat professional schools separately. Edley, who is seeking to restore the law school's national standing, also proposed a 16% fee hike for Boalt this year and for at least four more years.
The regents declined to impose a higher increase for Boalt but adopted a policy allowing professional schools to be treated differently, setting the stage for bigger hikes in the future.
Although the Hastings law school in San Francisco is part of the UC system, it is governed by an autonomous board and is not subject to the fee increase.
larry.gordon@latimes.com
richard.paddock@latimes.com
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Gordon reported from Long Beach and Paddock from Westwood.
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What they cost
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The cost of Cal State and UC undergraduate programs compares favorably with some other public universities.
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Annual fees, 2006-07
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Cal State: $3,199
U. Florida: $3,330
National average*: $5,836
U. Washington: $5,985
UC: $6,852
U. Texas/ Austin: $7,630**
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Note: Average tuition and fees for full-time students who are state residents
* Four-year public schools
** Liberal arts major
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Sources: The universities, College Board
