Student Fees

As dozens of students protested, the California State University governing board Wednesday approved a two-step, 15% increase in tuition, saying it would use the funds to increase enrollment and classes. About 40 demonstrators, including students, faculty and staff from several of the university's 23 campuses, held what they called a "protest carnival" outside the Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach. They urged the board to reject the increase, saying it would force students to shoulder too much of the cost of college.

Faced with flagging state funding and a $1-billion budget hole, University of California officials on Monday proposed several actions to preserve programs and stabilize finances, including far-reaching pension reforms and an 8% student fee increase for next school year. Under the plan, undergraduate student fees for 2011-12 would rise by $822 to $11,124 annually ? about $12,150 when campus-based fees are included. Some professional school fees would also rise, depending on campus and program.

Ending a decades-long tradition, the California State University plans to start using the word "tuition" instead of "fees" to refer to the educational costs it charges to students. The move marks a fundamental philosophical shift in the ideal of offering Californians a tuition-free public college education, a principle enshrined in the state's master plan for higher education adopted 50 years ago. California students have long paid fees for specialized or optional services such as health, housing and recreation.

At a time when California's public colleges are battling to maintain state funding, a report says that over a five-year period, the state spent nearly half a billion dollars to educate first-year college students who dropped out before their sophomore year. The report found that California ranked first in the nation in the amount of taxpayer funds ? $467 million ? spent on students at four-year colleges who failed to return for a second year. Texas, with $441 million, and New York, with $403 million, ranked second and third.

California must make community college more affordable by raising student fees. Seriously. In the second round of federal stimulus money for higher education, California's community colleges received $5 million this month. That's nice, but not half as much as they would have gotten if they'd raised fees by a mere $1 a unit from the current $26. For the average full-time student, that would amount to a total increase of perhaps $30 a year; it would have boosted the colleges' budget by $12.5 million.

Taking action at a special board meeting Friday, the California State University trustees approved a 5% fee increase for undergraduate students for this fall to help alleviate steep cuts in state support. The board voted 10 to 2 to adopt the fee hike, which translates to a $204 increase for full-time undergraduates, bringing the total university fee to $4,230 for the 2010-2011 academic year. With additional fees charged by each campus, the overall annual cost for an undergraduate to attend the university will rise to $5,097, not including housing or books.

The California State University Board of Trustees on Friday approved a 5% fee increase for undergraduate students for the fall, taking action at a special board meeting in Long Beach. The fee hike translates to a $204 increase for full-time undergraduates, bringing the total university fee to $4,230 for the 2010-2011 academic year. Including campus fees, the cost for an undergraduate to attend a Cal State campus would rise to $5,097. The trustees also increased fees for graduate business and professional degree students by 5%. They also approved a 10% fee increase for doctoral education students and eliminated a cap on non-resident tuition for out-of-state students.

UCLA officials have decided not to use all of the $25 million in student fees that they were planning to spend on a $185-million renovation of Pauley Pavilion, home of the school's legendary basketball team. Vice Chancellor Steven A. Olsen said in a letter to The Times that $15 million of the student funds would go to other uses. The letter followed a Sunday article detailing how, in a time of crippling budget cuts, administrators throughout the state have tapped funds meant for classrooms and student services to help pay for ill-timed land deals, loans to high-ranking officials and, at UCLA, the Pauley renovation.

While California universities have faced round after round of crippling budget cuts and protests against increased fees have flared on campuses, administrators have tapped funds meant for classrooms and students to cover some extraordinary costs: losses on ill-timed real estate deals, loans to high-ranking officials and an ambitious construction project. Experts say the moves, made without wide student knowledge or public oversight, show that administrators have put aggressive business plans ahead of the teaching mission.

Why not abolish student fees at the University of California? And in exchange, how about requiring graduates to pay the university a percentage of their income for a while after college? That may sound outlandish at a time when UC is substantially hiking student fees and the state budget crisis has left the 10-campus system strapped for cash. But that's precisely why UC Berkeley public policy professor Robert Reich raised the idea to a commission trying to chart the university's course into the future.