As the University of California’s governing board, Board of Regents, prepares for its monthly convening at UCLA this November, there is a concern over their opportunity to approve yet another new tuition hike for future UC students. Passed in 2021 by the UC Board of Regents, the Cohort Tuition Model is now up for review this month. The proposed changes could have serious concerns for affordability and financial aid across the UC system.

When the Cohort Tuition Model was introduced it was sold as a plan for stability. Each incoming class would pay a fixed tuition rate up to six years while new student cohorts would face a small annual increase of up to 5 percent. 45 percent of that new tuition revenue would then be returned to the students as financial aid. It was definitely not a perfect system, but it provided students and families with a sense of  predictability in a time of rising costs.

This month, the Regents are considering a proposal that would raise the annual tuition increase cap from 5 percent to 7 percent and a slash to the return to aid rate from 45 percent down to 35 percent. That means future students will end up paying significantly more while receiving less institutional support. This is an overall devastating shift that definitely decreases access to what is supposed to be a public education and deepens the financial struggles students already face.

The UC Office of the President claims this plan is necessary to address “budget shortfalls,”  but the state has already reversed the cuts that supposedly caused them. The UC is choosing to rely on the wallets of students instead of holding itself accountable or demanding appropriate state funding. Even the UC’s own internal reports call the current model “effective and stable”. So why break what works? 

Here at UC Santa Cruz, this issue hits especially close to home. Our campus already faces some of the highest rates of food and housing insecurity in the UC system. Many of us are first-gen, low income and students of color, which are groups that are already stretched thin by the rising housing and basic needs costs. It makes higher education less accessible for the students UC claims to support.

It is important to emphasize that this proposal primarily affects future students who have no voice in these decisions. Those with the most potential impact are not at the table and that is exactly why current students must stand up and advocate on their behalf.

On Nov 19, the UCSC Student Union Assembly Office of External Affairs will be at UCLA in coalition with the UC Student Association to demand that the Regents vote no on this proposal.

We deserve a UC that actually puts students first and not one that treats us like a line item on a budget. Access and affordability should come before profit and bureaucracy. If we do not advocate now, the next generations of UC students will inherit a system that’s even more unequal and inaccessible than the one we already face. 

The Regents may meet at UCLA, but they will hear from Santa Cruz.