UC Davis Students Protest Planned UC Tuition Hike
DAVIS (CBS13/AP) - Students gathered on the campus of UC Davis Tuesday to protest planned tuition hikes.
The protests come on the third anniversary of the Occupy protest at UC Davis when a university police officer sprayed students with pepper spray.
Both students and administrators say they hope this protest will be different than it was in 2011.
"…Exercising our rights to freedom of speech and assembly and we are hoping our administration and police respond accordingly," said rally organizer Harley Litzelman.
Some of the students are planning to also attend the UC Regents meeting on Wednesday in San Francisco where the tuition hike decision is scheduled.
Tuition at the University of California's 10 campuses would increase by as much as 5 percent in each of the next five years under a plan UC President Janet Napolitano unveiled earlier this month.
Rates have remained frozen for the past three years.
Under Napolitano's plan, the average annual cost of a UC education for California residents pursuing undergraduate degrees and graduate degrees in academic as opposed to professional disciplines would jump from $12,192 to $12,804 next fall and $15,564 in fall 2019.
Critics said the proposal would be too much of a burden for students.
The money will allow UC to cover rising retirement costs and hire more faculty staff to meet the needs of its growing student body that reached more than 238,400 students in 2013, according to the plan. It also will allow the system to enroll 5,000 more California undergraduates over the next five years.
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