UC System Considers “Free” Tuition for Lower-Income Families
The University of California is considering a program which would
offer certain students free tuition, reports The Chronicle of Higher
Education (“U. of California to Consider Covering Tuition for
Families Below State’s Median Income,” Jan. 22, 2009).
As part of a series of measures intended to “broaden the reach of
the university during the recession,” the university would cover the
tuition and fees at any of its nine college campuses for an
estimated 50,000 qualified students whose families have incomes
below the state’s $60,000 median household income level.
The proposed tuition plan, known as the Blue and Gold Opportunity
Plan, is intended to encourage more low and middle-income students
to attend a UC school, at a time when tuition costs are rising and
state funding for colleges has been significantly reduced.
Estimated to cost the school $3 million a year, the plan will likely
be funded from tuition increases, as well as from existing state,
federal and institutional aid, said university system president Mark
Yudof. The University of California’s Board of Regents must first
approve the proposal, a process that The Chronicle of Higher
Education reports could take several months.
It’s possible that the regents could vote to raise undergraduate
tuition by as much as 10 percent, the Chronicle suggests, at the
same time that regents approve the “free tuition” plan.
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