Tuition at State Campuses Likely to Go Up Further

When the University of California regents and the California State University trustees meet this week sizable tuition increases will again be on the table.

The state schools are popular destinations for students from Piedmont. Thirty-one of the 221 members of Piedmont High School's class of 2011 are planning to head to a University of California campus this fall; another 25 are headed to Cal State campuses.

Instead of the undergraduate fees that were in place when those PHS grads submitted their applications last fall, incoming and returning in-state students could find themselves paying as much as $5,178 for Cal State tuition next year and $12,192 for classes at a UC.

That hefty price tag represents the 8 percent tuition hike the UC regents already approved for the 2011-2012 school year plus the additional 9.6 percent they'll consider during their meeting scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday, June 12-14.

The Cal trustees agreed to a 10 percent hike for 2011-2012 in November; Chancellor Charles Reed is recommending they tack on another 12 percent when they convene Tuesday.

, support for higher education in California has been eroding since 2008. The 2011-2012 budget passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last month slashed $650 million more from both the University of California and Cal State systems. The $2.37 billion now budgeted for the UCs is down from a high of $3.35 billion in 2007-2008. The $2.1 billion allocated for Cal State campuses is the lowest level of state support the system has received since 1998-1999.

The tuition hikes are aimed at making up for some of the latest cuts. The possibility of another $100 million hit to each system is still possible mid-year if projected state tax revenues don't hold up.

On the bright side, the UC regents may decide this week to raise to $90,000 the family income limit for financial aid programs that fully cover all tuition and fees; programs covering half of all tuition and fees could be made available to families making as much as $120,000. Cal State is pointing to newly expanded federal tax credits for families with income of up to $180,000.

Unfortunately for many families from Piedmont, where the median income was nearly $192,000 in 2009, that won't be much help.