warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

UC Regents Blame State Budget For Fee Hikes

Andrew Khouri, Paresh Dave, Madeleine Scinto |
November 22, 2009 | 4:26 p.m. PST

Staff Reporters

CHP officers arrest a student protester outside the UC Board of Regents meeting.
(Madeleine Scinto)

In an attempt to close budget gaps, the University of California Board of Regents voted Thursday to increase undergraduate fees by 32 percent, outraging students who have been holding large protests at UC campuses.

Hundreds of UC students from as far away as Berkeley and Davis gathered to protest not only the fee hikes but what they called a general deterioration of their education system. Faculty and even the UCLA chaplain joined in the protest.

Most students directed their anger at the UC Regents, who they argued do not represent the students' best interests. Protesters played hand drums and tambourines, screamed through megaphones, and even started hitting boxes and buildings with sticks.

The protest became heated as students waited for the regents to exit the UCLA building where they had voted to approve the increased fees. Students tried to make a human chain around the building in an attempt to block the regents from leaving. Demonstrators demanded to speak with them about the vote and the general budget cuts to the UC system. The regents refused as the California Highway Patrol and LAPD officers escorted them off the campus.

At one point students discovered a few UC Regents trying to leave in a white van. They sat in front of the van, made peace signs with their hands and refused to move. LAPD had to escort the UC Regents from the van to another building as students huddled around and screamed, "Shame on you!"

Police made at least one arrest and security sprayed irritant at students, causing at least one student to pass out and require help from paramedics.

The Regents cited decreasing funds from the state and an estimated $1.2 billion projected budget gap for 2010-11 as the reasons behind the second fee hike this year. Undergraduate fees, which are comparable to tuition, were raised 9.3 percent in May.

"The UC system that has been the crown and jewel of California is being let down the drain by the state's disastrous budgetary system," said Tom Timar, a professor of education policy and governance at UC Davis.

Protesters chant outside the UC
Regents' meeting in opposition of
approved fee hikes. (Madeleine Scinto)

The public sector has been hit hard during the recession as the state legislature instituted heavy cuts when faced with declining tax revenues.

The state has cut $813 million from the universities over the past two years.

However, decreasing state support for the UC system and all public higher education, including the California State University and community college systems, started before the current economic downturn.

Since 1990, the amount the state contributes per student in the UC system has dropped 40 percent.

When adjusted for inflation, the state's higher education budget has decreased slightly more than $1 billion during the last decade, according to a report from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. State support for the UC system has dropped by more than $1.3 billion since 2000 in 2009 dollars, the report says.

State general fund support accounts for 60% of the system's core-operating budget.

An increase in support for the system is unlikely with the LAO predicting a $20.7 billion state government deficit between now and the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year.

Timar believes this will force more cuts to public services. The only area doing well is state prisons, he said.

"We need a sane and rational solution to dealing with drug addiction because what we see now is a knee-jerk reaction to one or two incidents that sends thousands to prisons, which has had a multibillion dollar effect on the economy," Timar said.

While cuts in prisons were included in last year's budget, they are more difficult than simply slashing money available to higher education, Jack Pitney, the Crocker Professor of Politics at Claremont McKenna College said.

Prisons and K-12 education, sectors often targeted for cuts, are protected by laws and the courts, Pitney said. Decisions by federal courts restrict the state legislature from cutting prison funding, and Proposition 98 limits how much money can be taken away yearly from K-12 education.

That leaves Sacramento with two painful choices: cut spending in other areas or raise taxes.

Protesters come to the aid of a
woman who became sick after being
sprayed with an irritant intended to
disperse the crowd. (Madeleine Scinto)

Pitney said both ideas have been rejected by state voters in surveys.

"Californians want everything (like prisons and schools), but are not willing to pay," he said.

The latest increase will push undergraduate fees for California residents past $10,000.

Ten years ago, UC fees were approximately $4,300 when adjusted for inflation, less than half of what students will pay next fall.

Timar said premier colleges like UCLA and Berkeley could eventually charge as much as $30,000, but such a change would leave out large segments of the population.

"The system has been an engine of economic development," he said. "It will recover, the question is who will it serve and what will it look like."

Video courtesy ATVN. Watch more UC protest coverage here.
 


Join Neon Tommy's Facebook fan page or follow us on Twitter.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.