SAN FRANCISCO - UC President Janet Napolitano proposed that the UC freeze undergraduate tuition for 2014-15 in a public address to the UC Board of Regents on Wednesday, announcing plans to develop a more sustainable long-term tuition model for the university.
Napolitano made this pledge in her first address to the UC Regents since she took office in late September. If her plans come to fruition, this will be the third year with no tuition hike for UC undergraduates. The regents will discuss this proposed tuition freeze Thursday as part of their discussion on the preliminary 2014-15 budget. Undergraduate tuition is currently $12,192.
"This is not a mere time-out or a one-time holiday," Napolitano said. "The purpose is to allow the time needed to get it right. We need to figure out, in the real world in which we live, how to bring clarity to and reduce volatility in the tuition-setting process."
Despite pledging to explore alternative funding methods, such as philanthropy and public-private partnerships, Napolitano said the university cannot achieve this stability alone. She asked the state to increase support for the university through additional funding for enrollment growth and other ventures. The prelimiary budget the regents will discuss Thursday requests an additional $120.9 million in state support to aid the university's retirement program, increase enrollment by 1 percent and "reinvest" in academics.
Aside from tuition, Napolitano introduced plans to increase transfer rates from the state's community colleges to the UC system and enhance the system's technology transfer and support for researchers. She called on the university to reach complete energy efficiency by 2025, a goal she called a "steep mountain" that could be reached by tapping into the university's research resources.
"We have the students, fully motivated and fiercely committed to sustainability efforts, ready to go," Napolitano said. "We have the cutting-edge science and the scientists and researchers who are engaged in the science from an array of angles, every day in their labs, ready to go."
These initiatives follow Napolitano's announcement of a $15 million allocation of one-time funds to increase support for undocumented students, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students at the university. She has also ordered an efficiency review of the UC Office of the President that will assess ways in which her office can cut costs.
Libby Rainey is the lead higher education reporter. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @rainey_l.
She said the regents should hear updates on many of these initiatives in the spring.
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