Rescue California

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UC raises price of summer school sessions
Increase Varies on Campuses

May 24, 2003

Citing the state budget crisis, the University of California has enacted a last-minute fee increase for UC students attending summer school.

At UC-Berkeley, 8,000 students who already had registered for summer classes and paid their fees learned Friday that they will have to pay more. The first of Berkeley's four summer sessions begins Tuesday, while the other UC campuses start summer school in June.

On most campuses, the amount of the increase will vary depending on how many units a student is taking. But Berkeley's summer increase will be charged as a flat rate -- $160 more for undergraduates and $182 for graduate students, regardless of the number of units. Those additional charges bring the average cost of a summer session at Berkeley to $922 for a UC student.

The additional charge is designed to make the cost of summer school equivalent to what the systemwide fee would be if UC regents adopt the increases suggested in Gov. Gray Davis' budget, UC spokesman Hanan Eisenman said.

If regents later decide not to raise fees this fall, or to raise them less than the amount suggested in the governor's budget, the additional money collected for summer will be fully refunded, he said.

Under the governor's budget proposal for 2003-04, the annual UC fee would increase by $795 a year for undergraduates. That would come on top of a $405 annual increase that took effect this spring. The $1,200 increase over two years -- a rise of about 35 percent -- follows seven years of no fee increases. It would bring the systemwide fee to $4,629.

After considering the additional fees charged by individual campuses, the average annual cost of attending a UC campus would be $5,082 a year starting this fall.

Last week, regents deferred action until June or July on fees for 2003-04, figuring they would have a better idea by then on how much state funding would be cut. The possibility of higher summer fees was not discussed, which prompted criticism Friday.

``I am upset that the regents did not talk about this in their budget discussions,'' said student Regent Dexter Ligot-Gordon.

Regent Ward Connerly called it ``a terrible way to treat our students and parents.'' He said increasing fees on such short notice is especially difficult ``for independent students who have to work and don't have the ability to generate $200 on the spur of the moment.''

Eisenman said the university waited until it had as much information as possible, including how it would fare under the governor's May budget revision, released last week. But with summer school fast approaching, he said, a decision on summer had to be made.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Becky Bartindale at bbartindale@mercurynews. com or (409) 920-5459.