College fees to keep rising

Students at Sonoma State University, who already are facing a 10 percent tuition hike this fall, are going to be hit with another increase, now proposed at 12 percent.

The second tuition hike, which also is coming to the UC system, results from a $150-million funding reduction in higher education outlined in the state budget signed last week by Gov. Jerry Brown.

"There will be reductions throughout the institution," said SSU chief financial officer Larry Furukawa-Schlereth.

The decisions are expected within two weeks, and reflect earlier warnings by university officials that tuition would rise again if the Legislature could not agree on asking voters to extend sales tax and vehicle fee increases that expired Friday.

The CSU Board of Trustees meets July 12 in Long Beach, and Chancellor Charles Reed is recommending an additional 12 percent tuition increase.

That would come on top of the 10 percent hike approved by trustees in March that brought the annual CSU tuition to $4,884 from $4,440.

University of California administrators confirmed Saturday that they will seek a 9.6 percent tuition hike on top of an 8 percent increase already scheduled to take effect this fall.

That would mean undergraduate tuition for California residents would rise to more than $12,200, not including room, board and other campus-based fees. That's an increase of about $1,920 over this year's tuition.

The hike will come before UC regents when they meet July 12-14 in San Francisco.

"We reported to the regents in May that if we were to receive additional cuts beyond $500 million, we would have to offset those cuts with a dollar-for-dollar tuition increase," Patrick Lenz, UC's vice president for budget and capital resources, said in a statement.

He summarized a broad range of cutbacks at the 10-campus UC system, including furloughing and laying off employees, consolidating and eliminating programs, increasing class sizes, delaying faculty hires, reducing services and delaying purchases, among other actions."

At SSU, Furukawa-Schlereth said it was too early to know what the latest cuts would mean. Generally, cuts are apportioned among the system's 23 campuses.

"The goal is to mitigate the impact as much as possible on student learning and learning outcomes," he said Friday.

Many low-income students would be insulated from the potential tuition increases. About 28 percent of SSU students receive Cal or CSU University grants that likely would adjust to cover tuition increases.

The rest of the student body - or their families - pay tuition and other college costs out of pocket or get loans, grants or scholarships.

(This story was compiled from reports by Staff Writer Jeremy Hay, the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press.)