UC Regents approve tuition hike

LOS ANGELES - Despite protests and opposition from students, the UC Board of Regents voted Wednesday to maintain a "tuition stability" program that allows for tuition hikes of up to 5% annually.

What we know:

The plan also reduced the amount of tuition revenue that is directed to financial aid from 45% to 40%. The plan also locks in the tuition cost for incoming students for up to six years.

The Board of Regents approved the tuition stability plan in 2021, and it took effect in 2022. The university billed the system as a way of offering students and their families stability by holding their tuition rate the same throughout their time in college.

But the system also allows for annual increases of up to 5%, meaning new incoming students wind up paying more for tuition than the previous class.

Tuition for in-state students who started at a UC school this fall was $14,934, up from $12,570 in 2021. The out-of-state tuition was $50,328.

Students protest at board meeting 

What they're saying:

The regents' meeting at UCLA was disrupted by protesting students, who repeatedly chanted at one point during the board's discussion, prompting the panel to call a recess and have the meeting room cleared.

Students protested for much of the day outside the board meeting.

"Students should not be fighting for our lives," Diego Emilio Bollo, president of the undergraduate student association at UCLA, said during a rally at the campus.

Bollo urged UC officials to fight for additional funding from the state Legislature and the federal government, and not rely on students as the university's "backup budget plan."