WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES — The University of California’s Board of Regents voted to approve a tuition hike for new students on Wednesday.
The tuition hike is facing major opposition from students, who showed up at UCLA on Wednesday from all nine UC campuses to voice their concerns with a protest. Some held signs saying, “Hands off our tuition.”
The UC Board of Regents met to approve a plan that will raise tuition up to 5% each year for new students. A previous proposal would have raised the cap to 7%.
UC officials say it’s necessary to address funding gaps caused by state budget cuts, federal reductions and inflation, but student groups have been vocal in their opposition.
“Though it wouldn’t really affect us, who are already in the UC, because our tuition is already set, we really want it to be affordable for future generations because we were once incoming UC students ourselves,” said Nathan Boylan Boisvert from UC Riverside.
With tuition hikes on the horizon, students are left to contend with higher education costs that will increase over time. Many students are worried that this will limit access to education for low-income families.
“It’s going to have really negative effects on just what universities in the UC will look like in the upcoming years,” said UC Irvine student Coco Young Perez. “We’re definitely going to see a drop in diversity and a drop in low-income and first-generation students who already can’t afford the price of UCs today. So to up that cost is going to really change the demographic of the UC system.”
Under the potential new plan, tuition revenue directed toward financial aid will drop from 45% to 40% — a move that has many concerned for low-income families. For students, that means higher tuition costs, more loans and less financial aid to offset those costs.
UC President James Milliken described the issue as “serious and compounding financial pressures facing the university” during his remarks on Wednesday.
In the original tuition program, which passed in 2021 and expires next year, tuition increased, but it locked in the price for freshmen based on the year they first enrolled. Students who started in 2022 have paid the same annual tuition since then. Those who started later paid more.
The UC Student Association, which represents 236,000 undergraduate students, has strongly opposed the hikes on several social media posts.
The approved tuition increase is set to take effect for the incoming fall 2026 students.
Listen to the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern.
