The University of California (UC) will begin raising tuition annually starting in Fall 2022 and extending through at least Fall 2026. However, tuition will be raised for each incoming class of first year and transfer students, then held flat throughout the remainder of their years at the UC.
For Fall 2022 applicants, rising high school seniors on the cusp of submitting their applications this coming Fall (by November 30, 2021 to be exact), can expect to pay $534.00 per year, a total of $2136.00 over four years, a 4.2% increase in tuition. And, likely their total costs of their degrees will be greater, as the average UC graduation rate is 4.17 years for first year students, thus Fall 2022 entrants may pay upwards to $2500.00+.
Tuition increases will be implemented in spite of the University of California system receiving approximately $1.057 Billion in Federal COVID relief dollars which has subsidized US universities for the past eighteen months.
Perhaps, the tuition increase is required, since the Federal relief funds are less than half of the reported $2.7 billion fiscal deficit in October 2020 for expenses starting in March 2020 as all nine UC campuses transitioned to a virtual model and campuses lost millions in fees related to on-campus residency in the 2020-21 school year.
So, given the fiscal difficulties of the UC, how will the quality of education be affected for current and incoming students, especially at those UC campuses where demand for admissions radically outstrips existing supply of educational resources? Also, what effect will tuition increases have on the ability for the average student attending the UC to pay?
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