UC President Janet Napolitano Will Not Implement Tuition Increases During Summer Session
OAKLAND (CBS SF) - There is some positive news for students in the University of California system as President Janet Napolitano has announced that students registering for summer classes will not face a tuition hike.
At a speech in Southern California this week, Napolitano announced that students registering for summer session would not face expected tuition hikes. It was back in November when the UC Board of Regents approved increases of as much as 5 percent annually for the next five years if the system did not receive more money from the state.
Napolitano is still working with Governor Jerry Brown on a plan to avoid tuition increases altogether. "It is my fervent hope that we will be able to reach a funding accord with Sacramento that will be significant enough to forestall any in-state tuition increase for at least the next academic year," she said in her lecture for the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California.
Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) released the following statement upon hearing the news.
"I am pleased President Napolitano is beginning to walk back UC's reliance on fee increases. With the Assembly beginning our top-to-bottom review of UC's budget today, I am sure we will be able to identify savings, as well as increased state funding, that will help ensure UC remains a world-class treasure. The Assembly is also committed to capping enrollment for out-of-state students and charging those students a reasonable higher rate to ensure a UC education remains available and affordable for the California student it was built to serve."
Atkins voted against the tuition increases back in November.
Napolitano said she's not sure what will happen with tuition in the fall, but the summer freeze sends an encouraging message.
