Wilson to Suggest Financial Aid Hike, Fee Freeze at UC, Cal State

Showing a commitment to affordable higher education, Gov. Pete Wilson will propose boosting student financial aid and freezing student fees next year at all UC and Cal State University campuses, senior administration officials said Saturday.

Wilson’s budget, to be unveiled later this week, proposes sharing $67.4 million of the state’s anticipated surplus of cash to eliminate the need to hike fees at either public university system.

It also includes a $32.8-million increase in student financial assistance, with about a third of that extra money to help students pay tuition at private colleges and universities.

“The governor doesn’t want to make it any harder for kids to afford to go to college,” said one administration official. “He has a commitment to accessible, high-quality higher education.”

Altogether, the university systems would receive more than $100 million on top of a 4% increase in funding as outlined in a four-year compact covering university budgets. In negotiating the compact with Wilson, university officials agreed to increase student fees 10% a year in exchange for the promise of stable funding.

If Wilson’s proposal is approved by the Legislature, it will mark the third year in a row that the state has found extra money to “buy out” these planned fee hikes.

University officials applauded the governor’s plan to avoid fee increases, which have often been accompanied by student protests and complaints from populist lawmakers.

“I’m delighted and I’m grateful,” said Cal State University Chancellor Barry Munitz. “What this means is that the state remains committed to a massive subsidy of higher education. That makes UC and CSU the best bargain of any university in the country.”

Average undergraduate fees at UC’s nine campuses would remain at $4,165 for the 1997-98 school year, under the governor’s plan. Cal State University campuses would continue to charge undergraduates between $1,751 and $2,204 a year.

Details of Wilson’s budget offered other goodies for higher education, including $5 million for a new outreach program to help more low-income schoolchildren get on track to go to college.

Calling it his Student Academic Partnership, Wilson wants to spread the $5 million among 100 elementary schools in poor neighborhoods to hire college students as special tutors.

In addition to providing jobs for college students, the plan would be part of Wilson’s answer to those who criticize him for pushing to abolish university admission policies that give preferences based on gender, race and ethnicity, his aides said.

“The governor has always been engaged in these kinds of outreach programs,” a top Wilson aide said, “but one based on need, not on race, gender, ethnicity or some other preferred status.”

Munitz said he had not heard of Wilson’s proposal but thought it was a “terrific idea” that would work nicely with the many Cal State students preparing to become teachers.

UC spokesman Rick Malaspina suggested that it would be a nice complement to the University of California’s other efforts to maintain a diverse population of students as affirmative action admission criteria are phased out this year.

“It certainly fits with the university’s plans for increased outreach with kindergarten through 12 to help prepare students for the university,” Malaspina said.

The 4% in the higher education budget would fulfill UC and Cal State requests for money to increase staff and faculty salaries.

Under the governor’s plan, the University of California would receive $100 million to give all UC employees a 2% cost-of-living raise, and boost faculty salaries another 3% to make them more competitive with other universities. That would leave UC administrators with $34.1 million to dole out in merit raises.

The Cal State University’s system of 22 campuses would receive about $60 million for salary increases averaging about 3.8%. The details would be worked out between Cal State administrators and its employee unions.