Ouch! UC seeking 5% tuition increases in each of next five years.

Well, UC is seeking to raise student tuition at all 10 campuses for 2015 and 4 more years after that.

Wow!  MY REPORT

One guess as to who will be hit the hardest by the rising fees.

For undergraduates who are California residents, tuition next year could rise to $12,804, not including room, board and books. By the 2019-20 school year, that could increase to $15,564.

You would LAUGH if you knew how much things have changed since I was an undergrad attending CAL in the 90’s!

Nathan Brostrom
Executive Vice President – Chief Financial Officer and Interim Chief Operating Officer unveils plan for University of California’s 10 campuses to increase tuition in the next five years.

Nathan Brostrom, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer and Interim Chief Operating Officer unveiled the plan today.

Critics said the proposal would not be sustainable for the university system and would be too much of a burden for students.

Brostrom said the five-year framework fulfills a goal set when UC President Jane Napolitano set when she assumed the president’s office last year of making small tuition hikes a predictable part of the university’s budget so families and campuses can know what to expect and plan accordingly.

The 5 percent figure assumes state funding for the university will go up by about $120 million, or 4 percent each year, which Napolitano said is inadequate given ongoing cost increases, the pressure campuses are feeling to enroll more students, and funding cuts made during the recession that have left taxpayer-support for the part of the budget that goes for educating students $460 million below what it was six years ago.

The Board of Regents is scheduled to consider the plan at its Nov. 19 meeting.

During the press conference, Nathan Brostrom said that UC recently approved substantial pay raises for chancellors.

Nathan Brostrom said more money from Sacramento for funding would reduce or eliminate the need for the proposed tuition hikes and for every additional $20 million, the planned tuition increase could be reduced by 1 percent.

A series of increases that have nearly doubled UC tuition during the past eight years sparked protests at many campuses and drew complaints that California was abandoning its commitment to a new generation of college students.

Brostorm said that financial aid fully covers tuition for nearly 55 percent of UC undergraduates, so the increase would mostly affect students who can afford to pay it.

Needless to say – I didn’t cover this story alone – we’re all about the T-E-A-M: Security Professional, Alan McCann & KGO-TV/ABC7 News Photographer/ENG Truck Operator, Steve Stifter

Security Professional, Alan McCann, KGO-TV/ABC7 News Photographer/ENG Truck Operator, Steve Stifter