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Hoh boy. I knew this was a likely possibility, but it still hits pretty hard. Today, Mark Yudof and the UC regents have decided to raise student fees by 32% for UC students.

California has been in a pretty big financial crisis due to the recession and other reasons, and the effects have been pretty rough on higher education. Massive cuts have been already made to the UC system, the Cal State (CSU) system, and community colleges statewide. Now, the UC system joins the other two in experiencing giant leaps in costs.

Right now, student fees run about $8,000 for the year — a 32% increase brings that to over $10,000. This, of course, doesn’t include costs of living on campus (or off), which will bring the cost of a year’s schooling to as much as $30,000. Financial aid is given to some, but not to all.

Protests occurred at UCSC and at other campuses as well. Here, both major entrances to campuses were blocked off by students and faculty. Protesters marched up the roads chanting, “Our university!” Tensions and frustration are both pretty high right now.

While I’m not at all surprised that this passed, and while I do understand that higher tuition and/or cutbacks are necessary, I do not feel as if all other options have been exhausted, as they should have been first. To explain this better, here is part of an e-mail I received this morning about the strike and fee increases:

At this very moment the UC Regents are meeting to vote on another proposed student fee increase: now a particularly unbearable 32% over two quarters, last summer 9%. If this increase is approved, the cost of a UC education will have tripled since 2000.

We have been told that such increases are inevitable. We have been told that, like the furloughs, layoffs and cuts to services and departments, this new source of suffering has its cause in the fiscal crisis of the State of California. But one month after declaring an “extreme financial emergency,” and “saving” $170 million by furloughing employees, the University of California chose to take on $1.35 billion in new debt for 70 construction projects. Our fees have been pledged as collateral for these construction bonds. A recent report suggests that some UC administrators are willing to sacrifice affordability to avoid accountability; that they would rather raise fees than receive additional state funding with its requirements of budgetary transparency. The UC administration has made its priorities clear: construction over instruction, buildings over people.

All the while we have been paying more for less. We are paying more for fewer classes, and for classes with larger enrollments. We are paying more for fewer instructors, for closed libraries, for closed department offices, for canceled programs. We are paying more for fewer staff and for staff working longer hours for less pay. We are paying more for a degree it will take us an extra quarter to complete. We are paying more for an institution barricaded against the next generation of high school students, more for an institution which crowds out students of color, which makes those already struggling to get by shoulder the burden of the crisis. What have we received in exchange for these additional fees, if not more faculty or more resources? The answer: more management. In ten years, administrative positions have increased five times faster than the number of faculty. The estimated cost of this excessive bureaucracy is approximately $800 million, enough to pay the fees of over 100,000 students.

The three bolded sections are what hits especially hard. I understand that times are tough and I fully expect it to carry into higher education, but I’m truly disappointed to see that a lot of the same mindsets that got us into the recession are running my university.