Under plan, UC tuition could rise by 16% a year (Univ of Cal)

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

The University of California would raise student tuition by at least 8 percent - or as much as 16 percent - every year through 2016 under a plan that UC leaders will propose to the regents Thursday in San Francisco.

Basic tuition could top $22,000 in just four years, not including other mandatory fees, books, room and board, if the regents adopt the idea at their November meeting as part of a multiyear budget plan. Undergraduate tuition is currently $12,192.

UC officials say the hikes will help cover $2.5 billion in additional funds the university needs to pay its bills and grow enrollment over the next four years.

"A bold new approach is necessary to save the university from an irreversible decline into mediocrity," Executive Vice President Nathan Brostrom and Vice President Patrick Lenz wrote in their proposal to the regents.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/13/MNLA1L3IGU.DTL

[villager]

1. "Bold new approach?" Only affordable by the elites? And thus my alma mater puts the coup de grace

...in its social contract with Californians.

[mike_c]

4. the master plan for CA higher ed is no longer worth the paper...

...it's printed on. The state legislature has utterly failed to honor it's promise to Californians. :cry:

[villager]

5. "Utterly" is indeed the word. And note, it's a Democratic assembly!

Remind me of the "differences" between the two parties again?

[MADem]

2. State school tuition? Good grief. That's just too much.

I just can't fathom the prices of tuition these days--it's usurious!!!

[alp227]

3. When Reagan was governor of California, he eliminated tuition-free universities

He must be grinning at this.

[MADem]

8. I don't have a problem with a LITTLE tuition--even sliding scale for the very poor--

because you tend to appreciate stuff you pay for, and denigrate that which is "free."

I just think a few thousand is one thing...but 22? That's absurd.

[greiner3]

6. The good news is;

Wait...

DUH!

[exboyfil]

7. Our flagship university (U of Iowa)

intentionally markets to residents of Illinois.

U of Illinois engineering tuition and fees is $17,646 for in staters.
U of Iowa engineering for out of staters ranges from $25,250 to $27,066 depending on your year. Of course it is much harder to get into engineering at Illinois than it is at Iowa. For comparison Iowa charges $7,969 to $9,654 still a good value(Iowa State is similar). Of course if you are middle class you stand little to no chance of getting any assistance. Not much merit money to be had.

[bluestateguy]

9. Are they deliberately trying to burst the higher ed bubble?

Berkeley and UCLA might be able to get away with that, but unless one is on scholarship or very wealthy, spending that much to go to another UC school will be deemed not worth it anymore.

[Xithras]

10. If this goes through, my daughter may have to find another school.

My daughter starts as an undergraduate next year, and her top three preferred schools, in order, are UCSD, UCLA, and UC Davis. An extra $40,000 in undergraduate tuition is insane, and we may have to limit her to the CSU's (or let her bury herself in debt, because there's NO WAY I can help to underwrite that kind of tuition for her).

[Psephos]

11. "additional funds the university needs to pay its bills and grow enrollment'

Yeah, let's make it drastically more expensive year after year. Enrollment will explode, I tell ya!

[blueclown]

12. How many of the top administrators are taking pay cuts?