The University of California Board of Regents has approved an 8 percent tuition increase Thursday. UC students say they’re concerned because tuition keeps going up.
This year, tuition at UC schools jumped 32 percent. Next fall, it will increase another 8 percent. The smaller amount raises tuition by $800 per year. UC’s Lynn Tierney said the university system relies on state funding, which has been drastically cut over the last few years.
“Last year we had furloughs," Tierney said. "In the last couple of years we’ve laid off over 3,000 people, we’ve cut back the office of the president. We’ve cut it almost in half.”
Tierney said the tuition increase won’t affect more than half of UC students, since they have scholarships. But Claudia Magana, President of the UC Student Association and a third year student at UC Santa Cruz said the continuing tuition increases are a burden on students.
“We know that the state is in a really difficult situation but I think what would have been great would be to pull the fee proposal from the budget until we know what the state has to offer instead of selling us so short so early,” Magana said.
Hundreds of students protested outside the Board of Regents meeting earlier this week, and more than a dozen were arrested.
The Board also voted to start calling student fees “tuition” instead.
