Student protesters forced an early recess to Thursday's University of California Board of Regents meeting after voicing their concerns over a proposed tuition increase.
A two-year deal between Gov. Jerry Brown and UC President Janet Napolitano to not raise tuition expires at the beginning of the next school year, leading to the possibility of a tuition hike starting next fall. UC Chief Financial Officer Nathan Brostrom has proposed a roughly $300 increase, which a system spokeswoman said would affect only one-third of students.
Scores of students from across the UC system began protesting outside the William J. Rutter Center on UCSF's Mission Bay campus, where the regents had convened for their two-day meeting, which began yesterday. Many of them made their way inside the board's meeting just in time for the regents to take up a discussion titled, "Access, Affordability, and Excellence: The Role of Undergraduate Financial Aid and Tuition."
Students repeatedly interrupted Brostrom with comments as he told the board that more than half of UC students pay no tuition and that tuition is the top source of financial aid.
"This notion that tuition hurts low-income students is absolutely false," Brostrom said.