Officials at the majority of University of California campuses are calling for its regents to consider a tuition increase for the 2022 school year due to drops in revenue from the coronavirus pandemic.
Chancellors and senior officials at five of the nine UC schools said that a $300 million budget cut and depressed revenues amid the pandemic have made a tuition increase a necessity, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
The UC regents have increased tuition just once since 2011.
The looming budget crisis has forced schools to borrow, halt hiring, make cuts and, at UC Riverside, propose ridding of its entire athletic program, which has drawn hundreds of protest letters, emails and phone calls.
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In-state undergraduate students currently pay over $12,000 per year in tuition and fees. Non-residents pay nearly an additional $30,000.
Last March, the regents were scheduled to vote on a five-year plan to raise tuition and fees that would have begun in the fall. But the proposal did not take place after complications spurred on by the coronavirus pandemic. Now, the soonest an increase in tuition can take place is 2022.
“We’ve been eating at our fat for a long time and what I’m saying now is that we’re down to the bone,” UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said. “Even though this is not a perfect time for a tuition increase, it is a good time to start thinking about it.”
