UC regents approve fee hike amid loud student protests [Updated]

Amid loud student protests that roiled the UCLA campus, the UC Board of Regents this afternoon approved a 32% increase in student fees.

The fee hike of $2,500, or 32%, will come in two steps by next fall. That would bring the basic UC education fees to about $10,300, plus about another $1,000 for campus-based charges, for a total that would be about triple the UC cost a decade ago. Room, board and books can add another $16,000.

Only student regent Jesse Bernal voted against the undergraduate fees.

The noise of protesters came through the window as the regents voted. It was only lightly discussed, with UC President Mark G. Yudof urging that students explore all the financial-aid possibilities so they don’t get scared away or drop out.

Groups of UC students from several other campuses arrived in Westwood to join a demonstration against the fee hike, and a group of protesters was occupying a UCLA classroom building.

UCLA officials declared Campbell Hall, where the sit-in continued, closed for the day. Inside, about 40 to 50 students who had chained the doors shut shortly after midnight were issuing e-mail statements.

“We choose to fight back, to resist, where we find ourselves, the place where we live and work, our university,” their statement said. Campus police surrounded the classroom building, but no arrests were made.

Amid loud student protests that roiled the UCLA campus, the UC Board of Regents this afternoon approved a 32% increase in student fees.

The fee hike of $2,500, or 32%, will come in two steps by next fall. That would bring the basic UC education fees to about $10,300, plus about another $1,000 for campus-based charges, for a total that would be about triple the UC cost a decade ago. Room, board and books can add another $16,000.

Only student regent Jesse Bernal voted against the undergraduate fees.

The noise of protesters came through the window as the regents voted. It was only lightly discussed, with UC President Mark G. Yudof urging that students explore all the financial-aid possibilities so they don’t get scared away or drop out.

Groups of UC students from several other campuses arrived in Westwood to join a demonstration against the fee hike, and a group of protesters was occupying a UCLA classroom building.

UCLA officials declared Campbell Hall, where the sit-in continued, closed for the day. Inside, about 40 to 50 students who had chained the doors shut shortly after midnight were issuing e-mail statements.

“We choose to fight back, to resist, where we find ourselves, the place where we live and work, our university,” their statement said. Campus police surrounded the classroom building, but no arrests were made.

Meanwhile, across campus, a crowd of several hundred gathered outside Covel Commons, where the regents were meeting.  Students and UC employees chanted such slogans as “Whose university? Our university!”

Among them was Tommy Le, a fourth-year student at UC Santa Cruz, who left his campus at 3 a.m. today in a convoy of two buses headed south. Le, 21, an American studies major from El Monte, said he was worried about how he being able to afford the higher charges, starting with an additional $585 for the rest of the school year.

“It’s adding more stress and more burden,” said Le, who said he works two part-time jobs and sends money home to help his family. The fee increase, he said, would be “a lose-lose situation.”

[Updated at 1:33 p.m.: As news spread that the regents had approved the increase, hundreds of student protesters gathered in the courtyard outside the building and yelled, “Shame on you! Shame on you!”

After the vote, Jasmine Guerrero, a freshman at UC Santa Barbara, said she feared she would have to drop out of school.

“I can’t afford it,” said Guerrero, who wore a red bandanna across her face. “They (the regents) don’t care. They’re laughing at us.”

Gaby Arita, a senior at UCLA, said she recently lost a $4,000 grant to pay for her final quarter of school and is worried about finding the money to graduate. She said she is working two jobs to pay for her education.

“I’m on my own,” she said. “I can’t ask my family. In this economy, no one is stable.”

Mark Villela, a junior at UCLA, also said he would probably have to drop out of school and attend community college in his hometown of Palmdale.]

-- Larry Gordon and Amina Khan in Westwood

More photos > > >

Audio: Statement from demonstrators

Audio: Charles Alexande, UCLA Vice Provost for Student Diversity and Director of Academic Advancement Program

Photo: Elliot Goldstein, right, of Berkeley protests for the "future of education" as UC police officers watch the crowd during a regents meeting at UCLA.  Credit: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[annagrace]

"The state is broke!"

[Daniel]

Stop whinning people. I went to UCSB for my BA and now I am a PHD student at another UC. I am all on loans. Be thankful you can actually go to school, and if your pissy about the costs confront the governor...the UC Regents have their hands tied behind their backs.

[Daniel]

loans = conformity....your rediculous. I could ummm drop out of the PHD program, sit on my butt and cry about the costs of education while everyone else is getting a degree and then when I am 40 years old and no job cry and whine because i didnt get to go to school for free. Or I could take out loans, and get a job. You people want low taxes and free education...

No, Ill take out the loans, get a job, and watch the rest of you protest because you decided not to "conform" as one of you said.

[Adam]

I am a UC grad, and feel sorry for future generations. It seems that the "American Dream" is becoming less and less accessible to the majority of Americans. College and housing, that were previously accessible to almost everyone who was willing to put in an honest day's work, are now becoming the exclusive domain of the upper class. This is especially true if you want to go to graduate school. At the rate that tuition costs keep going up, you will need to choose between a home or higher education, and even then, you likely won't be able to afford a home without higher education.

[BullyWooly]

"an American studies major "

- Geesh. What job are you thinking about getting? Paying $40,000 + for a piece of paper? Should of went to a Cal State for a degree like that......same with "chicano studies, women's studies, liberal arts, african american studies"...

[Daniel]

you do realize that higher education is free in France, they also pay a GREAT deal more in taxes. My wife and her family are from France, and the taxes there are very high....so if you want free education are you going to also accept a huge increase in taxes?

[Joseph Castro]

It's time to leave California, it's broke and is going to get worst.

[Guy Fawkes]

Let's face it folks, in the eyes of so-called conservatives the idea of a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" is pure 'socialism' and to be fought at all costs.

[Daid]

Wake up. The administrators are way overpaid and provide next to nothing of real value. Start by cutting their salaries by 30% before you take more from the students. Show some leadership. The administrators' salaries are disgusting.

[Donald Collie]

I am sure it is really comforting for all the asians that actually work hard, pay tax and contribute to the greater good of society that the increased tuition is going to subsidize the brother @ MLK UC Regents hospital, lazy white professors pensions ( who never competed in the private sector) and the impoverished latinos/latinas (illegal ailiens, bilking the system).

[Donald Collie]

I am sure it is really comforting for all the asians that actually work hard, pay tax and contribute to the greater good of society that the increased tuition is going to subsidize the brother @ MLK UC Regents hospital, lazy white professors pensions ( who never competed in the private sector) and the impoverished latinos/latinas (illegal ailiens, bilking the system).

[NeedLessDebate]

I guess we are witnessing the product of a generation of people who have been raised with an entitlement mentality instead of learning to be responsible for themselves. It is all about me, isn't it? Compare to what actually costs the State, $900 a month is an incredible bargain. When are you going to learn to be responsible for yourself? The taxpayers continue to heavily subsidize UC, even in the face of 2 billion budget deficit, but that is not enough for these apparently.

[Robert Lamber]

Good job students! Dress up in your hoodies and sunglasses and go out and show the people that you are entitled to a subsidized education. How can a recession ravaged public say "no" to these underprivileged kids? God forbid that they may have to go back to community college to save some money or take out more college loans! By golly, this hardship is inhuman.

Go ahead raise our taxes or set-up another stupid bond measure so we can pay for these whining brats and the overpaid administrators and professors that "educate" them. Let's see if you dumb politicians can squeeze blood from a turnip.

[Daniel]

lazy white professors? Your an idiot, you have no idea how much they are required to do.

[Guy Fawkes]

Communique from the UCLA Occupation:
On 19 November at approximately 12:30 students occupied Campbell Hall at UCLA. The time has come for us to make a statement and issue our demands. In response to this injunction we say: we will ask nothing. We will demand nothing. We will take, we will occupy. We have to learn not to tip toe through a space which ought by right to belong to everyone.
We are under no illusions. The UC Regents will vote the budget cuts and raise student fees. The profoundly undemocratic nature of their decision making process, and their indifference to the plight of those who struggle to afford an education or keep their jobs, can come as no surprise.
We know the crisis is systemic - and that it reaches beyond the Regents, beyond the criminal budget cuts in Sacremento, beyond the economic crisis, to the very foundations of our society. But we also know that the enormity of the problem is just as often an excuse for doing nothing.
We choose to fight back, to resist, where we find ourselves, the place where we live and work, our university.
We therefore ask that those who share in our struggle lend us not only their sympathy but their active support. For those students who work two or three jobs while going to school, to those parents for whom the violation of the UC charter means the prospect of affordable education remains out of reach, to laid off teachers, lecturers, to students turned away, to workers who've seen the value of their diplomas evaporate in an economy that 'grows' without producing jobs - to all these people and more besides, we say that our struggle is your struggle, that an alternative is possible if you have the courage to seize it.
We are determined that the struggle should spread. That is the condition in which the realization of our demands becomes possible.
To our peaceful demonstration, to our occupation of our own university, we know the Univeristy will respond with the full force of the police at its command. We hear the helicoptors circle above us. We intend to learn and to teach through our occupation, humbly but with determination. We are not afraid. We are not going anywhere.

[daniel]

The uC is still cheaper than most other schools. Gosh, cry me a river you people want everything free. Let em guess, you expected to get a free ride, leave school with no debt, and land a 90k a year job right? Oh darn now you might have to spend 10 years paying back loans for an education that most people in the world would pay twice for if they could.

[MVP]

Xavier, you have your facts all wrong. The UC Regents take no salary. Also, the Ford Motor Corporation was the only US car company that DID NOT take a bail out and is not owned by the government. Ford is doing well. Where are you getting your information from? Math professors at UCs do not only make $30K. Are you sure you are attending Cal Berkeley?

[Mark]

A message to all students out there: this war upon U.S. citizens by the right wing teabaggers goes beyond the campus! They are vying for the heart of this nation and trying to propagandize the public against our civil rights and our recent election. Continue the fight and protest this loud mouth minority before they drag us back into the dark ages of Republican Corporate dictatorship. Protest in favor of the health bill before they destroy it! Protest against corporations like Murdoch's Fox network and the fake "events" it sponsors. Everytime a wacko Tea Party member opens their mouth - take them to task! Protest Sarah Palin's book signing tour! Let them know we don't buy their B.S. And keep up the struggle for student/worker unity on campus! Good work these last two days! We may have lost the battle, but the war isn't over. We were noticed!

[sean]

On Melrose Place, there is this Med student who pays her bills through hooking. Any good looking UCLA students could probably do the same.

[Bubbles]

California, you should have kept Gray Davis instead of electing an uneducated action hero to be your Governor. Arnold has bankrupted your state.

[yehudi]

The free ride is over and the bills are due, and austerity must prevail. The 'Golden State' has run out the 'gold strike' for all. Somebody has to account for the 28 billions in debt with this recession/depression on now. Every other State is running into the same basic problems. The cost of the war overseas should wind down before long with the lack of the leadership in DC in support of a real mission there. This cost should help, but that is only the beginning of more to be spent. National debt should be around 13-14 trillion now. China is holding some of the debt for USA, and maybe California can bargain for the Chinese to buy their debt also, if permissible!!

Better days are ahead!!

[Guy Fawkes]

This is a product of a generation of capitalists raised with an entitlement mentality who feel they are entitled to ruin the economy, entitled to utter corruption, entitled to destroy the planet, entitled to drive 95% of Americans into abject poverty, entitled to scam and steal at the ultimate cost to taxpayers, all in the name of quick profit.

[Guy Fawkes]

This is a product of a generation of capitalists raised with an entitlement mentality who feel they are entitled to ruin the economy, entitled to utter corruption, entitled to destroy the planet, entitled to drive 95% of Americans into abject poverty, entitled to scam and steal at the ultimate cost to taxpayers, all in the name of quick profit.

[Bubbles]

Re: "The state of California has one of the highest tax rates in the country, and miraculously they still don't have enough money."

Tha's false. Prop 13 keeps property taxes artificially low, and oil companies do not pay a severance tax. A 9% oil severance tax would bring in 4 billion a year, but Arnold won't tax his rich friends. He would rather tax college students.

[Eddie]

THIS IS LIFE. A hard lesson to learn. The state is broke. Who do the protesters expect to pay for this? Our SALES TAX went up 1% this year, NO PROTESTS FOR THAT. Our INCOME TAXES are increasing. The CAR TAX will almost certainly be reinstated when Schwarzenegger leaves office. The cost of doing business here is hardly cheap. University education is a privilege in the USA, not a right. That's why everyone comes here to study, not because they are entitled to it, but because they earned it. I am ALL FOR California taxpayers funding pre-kindergarten through Grade 12 -- such education IS a right, in my opinion -- but this FEE INCREASE does not bother me a whit, not in these troubled times. And Chicanolovenest, I know you're just makin' a hay stink, and it's very puerile, but please go back to your humble island with all its Noble Culture and Indigenous Pride, OR go and make something of yourself. Gov. Pico was no Cochise, you must remember, fleeing the Americans at first sight in 1846. In his place, this state became something great, a beacon for Progress and the continuing discoveries of Western Civilization. For better (UC schools) or worse (the current situation), YOU have benefitted from it. Stop sweatin' it and get on with it.