UCI students protest tuition increases

Kristine Jermakian dreams of attending medical school after she completes her undergraduate studies. But like many of her peers at UC Irvine, the junior worries about how she’s going to pay back the loans that are helping to fund her education.

More than 50 UCI students grabbed signs and took their frustration to the student services building Monday afternoon to protest tuition increases approved by the University of California Board of Regents last week.

“It’s a never-ending cycle of accumulating student debt,” said Jermakian, 20. “The schools need revenue, but it shouldn’t come from students’ pockets.”

Students at UC campuses up and down the state were protesting the tuition hikes Monday.

UC tuition for in-state students is now $12,192 a year, not including room and board. The increases — up to 5% a year for the next five years — could raise costs to as high as $15,564 by the 2019-20 school year. Costs next year could reach $12,804.

The increases could be eliminated or reduced if the UC system sees increased funding from the state, said UCI spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon.

The UC system is receiving $460 million less from the state than it got seven years ago, Lawhon said.

“In order to maintain the quality of education in the UC system, the money had to come from somewhere,” she said.

UC President Janet Napolitano has said the increases will help fund employee salaries and pensions, hire more faculty and pay for the increasing number of undergraduates applying to the system’s schools.

But some protesting students believe the move is a way for the regents to block accessibility to an affordable education.

“Education is a right, not just for the rich and white,” students chanted as they marched through the UCI campus.

Two students carried a bright-blue banner reading “Raise hell! (not tuition)” into the school’s Student Life & Leadership office and laid it on the floor.

Campus police officers watched as the students sat in the office and shared stories about their struggles funding their education.

Students also protested Nov. 18, before the regents’ approval Thursday of the tuition increases.

During that protest, a student entered the administration building, Aldrich Hall, and was detained by university police. The building was locked during Monday’s demonstration.

“We are being treated like criminals when we’re not being treated like piggy banks,” said Jordan Brocious, a 30-year-old graduate student.