Professional Students May Face Fee Hikes

In the face of the fourth straight year of systemwide professional school fee increases, UC Berkeley administrators are considering hiking fees another 10 percent to funnel money into financial aid and boost specific programs at individual professional schools.

The fee increases would come on top of next year's mandatory systemwide $628 fee raise for professional school students that was approved by the UC Regents last week.

Individual professional schools would decide the exact amount of the increases, said professor Alice Agogino, who co-chairs a campuswide committee that will determine guidelines for implementing the raises.

"We are developing guiding principles, not setting the fee level," Agogino said.

Although the increased fees would go toward enhancing the quality of education across campuses, some UC Berkeley administrators said they are still on the fence about the idea.

Some officials said they are waiting for more details to come from the committee's report-expected by the end of the semester-before they come up with a plan of action.

But as long as the extra revenue from the fee hike would go directly back to the individual schools, the deans of the law, optometry and business schools said they would endorse increased fees.

"It's not clear whether that money will go to our school or to the campus to be divided up," said Dennis Levi, dean of the School of Optometry. "We will not sign off on this if the professional students end up subsidizing everyone else's education."

The School of Optometry is reluctant to impose additional fees on its students, especially since the fees have gone from $3,000 to $7,200 in the past two years, Levi said.

But if the money could be used at the school's own discretion, the fee increase would be worthwhile, he said.

"We could definitely use the money to lower our faculty-student ratio, or at least maintain the current ratio," Levi said.

The school would also use some of that money to increase financial aid to offset the high fees, he said.

The Haas School of Business could use the extra funds to enhance career placement services to hire two or three more account executives working in the placement office, which is one of the most crucial resources for students, said Tom Campbell, dean of the business school.

Other administrators said they would use the extra funds to maintain the reputation and quality of the school's programs.

"The quality and character of our student body is central to our mission," said Christopher Edley, dean of Boalt Hall School of Law.

Edley said the money would help the school expand its faculty and build a series of high-profile centers for research, public policy and curriculum innovation. Part of the money could even go toward a new building for the law school, Edley said.

Some students, however, said the increases would drive potential students to private universities.

"If you add the high cost of living on top of tuition, it will almost be equaling out to paying for a private education," said Bethelwel Wilson, a law student.

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