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Jerry Brown Wins Deal on Tuition Freeze for In-State Students

As part of the governor's $115.3 billion budget plan, tuition is capped for California residents over the next two years, while out-of-state tuition could increase by as much as 8 percent in each of the next two years and 5 percent in the third year.

Ending a standoff over whether tuition at the University of California schools would rise, Gov. Jerry Brown said Thursday that he would send millions more dollars to the university system than he had proposed earlier this year, in exchange for a tuition freeze for in-state students in the 10-campus system.

 

The proposal, part of the governor’s revised $115.3 billion budget plan, is the end of a monthslong battle between Mr. Brown, who did not want tuition to rise, and Janet Napolitano, the president of the University of California, who had threatened to raise tuition unless the state gave more money to the schools. The deal caps tuition for California residents over the next two years, while out-of-state tuition could increase by as much as 8 percent in each of the next two years and 5 percent in the third year.

Under the new plan, if approved by the Legislature, the state would provide a 4 percent increase in spending for the system in each of the next four years and provide a $436 million infusion toward paying down the system’s pension obligations.

Last fall, the University of California’s regents approved a plan to increase tuition for in-state students by as much as 5 percent over each of the next five years, over intense anger and campus protests. Mr. Brown, who sits on the Board of Regents and voted against the increase, said that the university should look closely for other ways to save money and later proposed a “committee of two” — himself and Ms. Napolitano — to find such measures.

 

Daniel Luzer is GOVERNING's news editor.
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