Problem Letter

We Stand Together

Dear University of California Students,

I am sure you have heard about the possibility of tuition hikes for UC schools. I am writing to you because this is a huge decision that may affect our education tremendously. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, there will be a 5% increase in tuition in each of the next five years for UC students in order to pay for the rising costs of retirement benefits, pay for the increases in employee contract settlements, increase the amount of employees, and increase California undergraduates by 5,000 over five years. In November 2014 the UC Regents voted for this dramatic increase. This decision is being made, not by the students that attend the universities, but state lawmakers and Governor Brown (Gordon 2014). You may think, “I am just one person and how will I be able to change anything?” If we all join together to protest this increase or write to the UC Regents and Governor Brown, we can put an end to this proposition. I attend UC Davis and my fellow classmates have already started to rally together against the hikes, protesting around downtown and sleeping in an on campus hall. Students at UC Berkeley have done the same, staying the night on campus and protesting, refusing to accept this unfair plan. This type of action has been taking place among all of the UC campuses and the number of participants must grow if we want to get our message heard and make a significant statement.

If you are a graduating senior, you could think, “It doesn’t matter for me because I am graduating and will not have to deal with the tuition hikes.” But your fellow classmates will be affected by the increases, and many of your friends might not be able to attend the university anymore. Also, if the tuition increases now, it will certainly increase by the time your children want to attend college. This increase in tuition will not stop here, and we must slow the process down not only for continuing students, but also for future students. Luckily there are some distinguished leaders who are against the tuition increases. This includes Governor Brown, who is currently trying to raise state funding for the universities by 4% instead of increasing tuition for students (Mason 2014). Brown is also attempting to convince the regents to offer more online courses and combine academic programs in order to save money and stop the tuition hikes (Mason 2014). UC President Janet Napolitano, however, does not agree with Brown in that the increase in state funding will be enough to support the payroll and plans to hire more employees (Mason 2014). Instead she claims that there should be a 5% increase in tuition within the next five years, and the state needs to provide more funding so the tuition price does not increase even more (Mason 2014). The state funding would be needed as aid for the students who are trying to attend a UC school, especially low-income families. This tuition increase will continue to hurt low-income families who will only become worse off financially from this increase.

According to an article from the Huffington Post in San Francisco, this plan to raise tuition is supposed to allow more California undergraduate students into the UC schools, but that will only have the opposite effect. If the tuition grows higher, fewer students will be able to afford attending their desired schools and would have to rely on state funding, which would only increase the amount needed even more. This is turning the public education UC system into a privatized system, making it even harder for students with low-income families to afford going to a UC school (Shattuck 2012). The University of California website even lists a headline that the UC system is “The only world-class public research university for, by and of California.” The UC system must honor what it supposedly stands for. We did not come to a UC school to pay the prices of a private school. We came to receive higher education at an affordable price and that is what we must fight for. We must fight for a public education system and not let politically motivated proposals get in our way. I do not think it is acceptable for passionate, intelligent students to not be able to attend college because they cannot afford it. Students should be able to have a fair opportunity to achieve success and thrive at a top university if they work hard enough to get accepted.

Part of the plan to raise the tuition would include the eventual end of the Middle Class Scholarship program. In the 2015-2016 school year, the program would reduce the amount given by 20% (Mason 2014). The current recipients of the scholarship would continue to receive the money, but no new students would be entered (Mason 2014). I currently receive money from this scholarship, as I’m sure many of you do as well. This scholarship money helps pay for my schooling and it could also benefit many students in the future, but with the proposal, this would not be possible. Students will not be able to receive the Middle Class scholarship, which can be the difference between being able to afford college or not be able too. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Middle Class Scholarship program provided 73,000 tuition credits for students with families’ income is between $80,000 and $150,000 in its first year. The Middle Class Scholarship will no longer provide support because the money will be taken and used for other grants and proposed ideas with the increase (Mason 2014). One might say that the program would create more Cal grants that students can receive, but many students might have a difficult time qualifying for these grants. Completion incentive grants might be seen as an option but in order to qualify, students must take 15 units in order to graduate in four years (Mason 2014). Some students might not be able to qualify if they have a time consuming job in order to pay for college. In this case, the tuition increases would negatively affect the students and they would not be able to receive the grant to help with this increase. If students are already extremely busy with out of school activities, they will feel obliged to take 15 units every quarter/semester and not be as successful in school. This need to take 15 units is added stress, for already extremely stressed out students.

We should not be forced to pay even more for our already pricey education. The tuition hikes will only increase the amount of students in debt after college. Students will have to take out more loans, which will only add up the amount owed after college. According to The Project on Student Debt, in 2013, 55% of students were in debt with an average debt of $20,340. These are huge numbers and the average of students in debt will only increase with the tuition hikes. If we want to graduate college with no debt, we must fight together to stop the tuition increases. We cannot rely on our fellow classmates to protest against this proposal; we must join together with them for our own benefit and to help the future UC students. We can do this by educating ourselves with what is going on between the UC Regents and Governor Brown. These are decisions that are directly affecting us, so we must know what is being decided to know how to make a change. We can write to the UC Regents letting them know how this will negatively affect students, write to Governor Brown letting him know we appreciate his efforts to support us students, or sleep in a hall over night to get our point across. In order to unite with students, we must join in on the protests and let administration and the regents know that we are not accepting the tuition increases. Let us unite all the UC schools in the fight to stop the tuition increase, as we are students who have worked for a prestigious education at an affordable price.

Fellow UC Student,

Daniele Brown

Works Cited

Gordon, Larry. “UC Seeking 5% Tuition Increases in Each of next Five Years.” Los Angeles Times. Los        Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2014. Web. 31 Jan. 2015.

Mason, Melanie, Patrick Mcgreevy, and Larry Gordon. “Brown, Legislature Study Ways to Avoid UC, Cal State Tuition Hikes.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 11 Dec. 2014. Web. 31 Jan. 2015.

Shattuck, Annie. “Occupying Our Education.” The Huffington Post San Francisco. N.p., 22 Jan. 2012. Web. 04 Feb. 2015.

“State by State Data.” Project on Student Debt:. The Institute for College Access & Success, 2013. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.

“The UC System.” University of California. The Regents of the University of California, 2015. Web. 02 Feb. 2015.