UC Regents Increase Student Fees 32%, Spark Mass Protests
A diverse group of students protest a massive fee hike on the UCLA campus.
University of California Board of Regents voted to increase undergraduate student fees within the UC education system by 32 percent.
By next fall, undergraduate fees will be boosted by $2,500, sending the average annual education cost at a UC campus to more than $10,000.
Regents say they had to raise fees because the cash-strapped state government can't meet the university's funding needs.
The decision came as hundreds of students chanted and marched outside the meeting hall to protest the measure. Some students also took over another UCLA building and chained the doors shut. [emphasis added]
Republicans like to talk about government spending saddle future generations with debt and then slash assistance to public schools that sinks students with immediate debt, or force them out of school altogether.
"Fees are going to be so high that people are not going to be able to attend this institution," said Kenia Acevedo, a UCLA law student who attended the meeting. "It is a devastation to what is supposed to be a public institution."
The UC fee hikes and similar increases by the California State University system earlier this year are part of a national trend. As the recession has brought sharp declines in tax revenues, states have shifted more of the cost of public colleges and universities to students.
