TUITION INCREASE PROPOSAL

REPORTER BLOG

As soon as I heard about the possible proposal to increase tuition ONLY for certain majors at UC schools, I was appalled. This is on top of other possible increases that UC schools will have to pay system wide.  It’s times like these, when I hear ridiculous news that I am glad I’m in journalism. I’m at the forefront, have the luxury to speak to real people about real issues, and get to be the middleman of a two-sided story.

Now on to the story. I found it very interesting that if the proposal is solidified, only selective majors will be affected. The UC school spokesperson I spoke to said, engineering and business courses are the selected majors because of the high salaries those respective professors receive. The reasoning would be that by increasing the tuition for these students whose teachers are higher paid, it will make up for the money lost from salaries. In turn this would help with budget cuts and the current economy. I don’t know how effective this would be, but the spokesperson also said that this proposition could bring in $10 million in revenue from higher fee s these students would have to pay.

It sounds good right? But this is at a cost to the students. Tuition is already high and by adding an extra $900 for upper division engineering and business students. I learned that this could possibly lead to a significant number of students picking different majors, different schools—or even dropping out. Many of the UCLA students I spoke to said that the possible increase in tuition is a big challenge. Many fear that they will not be able to pay back their additional loans they will have to pick up in the event that this proposal becomes concrete. As of now, the increase is still in progression, and we will have to wait until  November to see what will unfold.