At the UCLA studio of the American Society of Civil Engineers, undergraduates are engaged in such difficult extracurricular projects as designing and building a 20-foot-long concrete canoe to race against other California college teams.
But the young engineers face a potentially tougher challenge as University of California leaders consider a plan to charge these students more for their undergraduate education than most others at the university.
As part of a plan to plug UC's battered budget, the regents may vote as early as next month on the controversial, tradition-breaking proposal to require engineering undergraduates, along with those studying business, to pay $900 more a year than the rest of the student body. That would be in addition to the $2,514 systemwide fee increase all students are likely to see by next fall.
Revenue-hungry UC officials say the two fields were chosen because salaries for their faculty members are significantly higher than the rest and because students majoring in those subjects tend to land well-paid jobs after graduation. And they point out that nearly half of all U.S. public universities have taken similar steps, with many joining the trend recently because state funding for higher education has declined during the recession.
Engineering students, however, hope the idea doesn't float.
Devon Laduzinsky, president of the civil engineering club, said the proposed extra fee on upper-division engineering and business undergraduates would be an unfair burden that might discourage some students from majoring in the fields. He also said the regents should not assume that all students in the two majors would easily be able to pay back additional loans .
"I think engineering students have it hard enough. We have more homework. Why would we have to pay more for that? Why not cut us a break?" said Laduzinsky, 22, a fourth-year student who said he was speaking for himself and not the group.
UC graduate and professional schools, including law and pharmacy, for years have charged a range of prices, some sharply higher than others. But except for modest lab fees, all undergraduates pay the same basic UC education costs.
A change, critics contend, would bring market pricing models to undergraduate education and extend what they decry as the privatization of California's public universities. Two-tier fees, they contend, also could create resentment among UC students.
