Students Lead Charge for Tuition Relief

Candice Wu
UCSD Guardian
Feb 19, 2008

With undergraduate fees increasing by 94 percent over the past six years, the first student-led ballot initiative proposes a five-year freeze on hiking tuition costs at the University of California and California State University institutions for resident undergraduate students. Supported by the nongovernment organization Greenlining Action, a group calling itself Tuition Relief Now has proposed the College Affordability Act of 2008, which would block future education fees from surpassing the inflation rate. The Student Affirmative Action Committee oversees the campaign at UCSD, which has until mid-April to collect the 434,000 valid signatures required to qualify the act for the November 2008 election ballot.

“Imagine how it’ll feel for a student to walk in the governor’s building and present half a million petition signatures,” Campaign Director and UC Berkeley student Chris Vaeth said. “That puts a lot of power into the hands of students — something we’ve never had before.”

Last month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a $332-million reduction in state funding to the UC system. The state’s $14.5-billion budget deficit will potentially provide the UC system with hundreds of millions less than the UC Board of Regents’ request for next academic year, and the cuts are projected to impact enrollment growth, tuition costs and individual university programs.

“This budget proposal will have serious impacts on our ability to deliver on our mission for our students and for the people of California,” UC President Robert C. Dynes said in a press release. “State funding for the university is not an expenditure but an investment — an investment that produces real returns through an educated workforce, a dynamic economy, job creation and new tax revenue.”

The budget reduction would increase undergraduate tuition fees by at least 7 percent for 2008-09, depending on the regents’ final decision regarding financial aid allocations.

In 1960, the California Master Plan for Higher Education was developed to act as guidance for the UC system’s goals. The document proposed tuition-free education for resident undergraduates, allowing only housing and supplementary fees. But in the past four decades, fees have grown exponentially, contradicting the statements held within the Master Plan, according to Vaeth.

UC undergraduates’ tuition in 1979-80 was $736 in comparison to this academic year’s $7,511 fee.

TRN was developed with the objective of redirecting the UC system back toward its original manifesto of a more affordable college education, though the effort’s limited finances have necessitated heavy student participation.

Despite its small funding base, the campaign has seen success in growth due to a large volunteer base and an organized, credible nonprofit institution — key strengths that separate the initiative from past student-led organizations, according to Thurgood Marshall College senior Nicole McElroy.

McElroy, also the SAAC chair, said she became involved because of her $14,000 debt from student loans.

“Our tuition has doubled in the past six years, but not necessarily the quality of our education,” McElroy said. “There’s less one-on-one between faculty and students, and new buildings are constantly made — but it doesn’t seem like our increased tuition is being directly targeted to benefit students.”

The act would impose a 1-percent tax on California residents with annual incomes exceeding $1 million, requiring that 60 percent of the estimated $2-billion revenue to go to UC and CSU institutions. The remaining educational funds would be distributed toward K-14 education.

The initiative has gained support from students and parents who are tired of inflating tuition fees, Vaeth said.

“Students realized something cohesive had to be done to stop the fees from hiking up again,” he said.

Additionally, the legislation would create an accountability board consisting of students, administrators and faculty members to monitor the allocation of the new tax’s funds.

The accountability panel would help make budget distributions more transparent, according to A.S. All-Campus Senator Utsav Gupta.

“This campaign is an effective way to bring light to an issue that’s affecting a lot of students in California and hopefully we’ll be able to see some reform,” Gupta said. “The legislation will affect two million resident UC and CSU undergraduates — I think we can definitely get some good change out there for students.”