UC Regents Committee Passes Plan to Increase Tuition; Student Regent Voted 'NO'

Below is Sadia's statement that she gave with her NO vote to today's 5 year tuition plan vote at the Board of Regents meeting:

During my sophomore year at UC Berkeley, I got quite possibly the most terrifying email a college student whose family heavily relied on financial aid to fund their daughter’s college education, could get. The email said that because my family made over $80,000, we were not eligible for any aid that year. That year, we made about $87,000, and my father was a small business owner with a family of five children, a wife, and an elderly mother to support. Because my parents and I are strongly against the blood-sucking monster that is student loan debt, we decided that we would try to gather what little resources we had that year and try to make it on our own. My father told me it would be up to me to shoulder the cost of attending school, so I called in whatever scholarships I had, took on four jobs working more than 25 hours a week, and resigned from any and all extra-curricular activities that were taking away time from increasing my work hours.

Between working as an instructional services assistant, an exhibit monitor, and a tutor, I wasn’t making enough to cover my rent, let alone make a dent in my tuition. The affect this had on me was obvious: my grades plummeted, as basic survival became more of a priority than getting A’s. I ran from class to work back to class, and back to work. I didn’t see any friends, and only barely saw my family. I suffered from depression, as the weight of this burden weighed so heavily on me that some days, the weight of my sheets was too much for me to get out of bed in the morning. But none of that mattered, because I was still not paying the bills and the money had to come from somewhere. So I applied for a job as the Chief of Staff to the Student Regent-designate. I had no idea who or what the Student Regent was or what they did. All I was thinking was that maybe this was an opportunity to make some extra dollars to cover my bills.

Two years later, I sit before you today as the Student Regent because amongst all of this political posturing, rhetoric, and drama, I think you need to understand what the real-time affect of this is on students. $600 dollars may not seem like a lot, but that’s almost an entire month’s rent for some students, who are barely making it by as it is. I was one of those students. I sit here today because I want to prevent EXACTLY what happened to me, and what is happening to hundreds of thousands of students all over the UC.

I’m under no false pretenses about the power of my singular vote. But I believe that the role of the Student Regent is not just to represent the student voice. It’s also to challenge every single one of us to do better. To BE better.

It’s easy to point fingers. Governor Brown, you have said on multiple occasions that you wanted to fund the UC but your hands are tied by the legislature. Yet when the legislature passed $50 million dollars for the UC, you line item vetoed it, yet advocated for a rainy day fund for the state of California at the same time. Today, it is literally AND figuratively raining on the UC. I know that the relationship that the State and UC have are fraught with tension and inconsistencies. We can ALL do better. Yet, as the leader of our state, the ball is in your court. I urge you to get past the politics and invest in the lives of hundreds of thousands of students across the UC.

Two years ago, Proposition 30 was on the ballot for consideration, and it was the student vote that got it to pass. We were told that this was a savior for education, yet we received the tiniest fraction of the revenues, barely enough to keep rate with inflation yet not enough to continue maintaining our quality and continuing to enroll more California students. The UC cannot do its job without the state’s support and funding. Higher education MUST be a priority if we want to build a socially and economically vibrant California. The amount of money that the State has reduced from our budget over the last 20 years has crippled the system, and now the UC is forced into a position that frankly, none of us want to be in.

It is easy to point fingers at each other and say that the other person isn’t doing their job, or is spending too much, or isn’t spending at all. But we are all adults here, and we need to do what is best for our community and our state. We need to work together to create a plan that restores state support for the UC and ensures cost saving measures at the same time. We need a plan that mutually and effectively engages the State, the Regents, and most importantly, the students. We need a plan that supports the middle class, so that more students do not fall into depression and work their tails off just to pay the rent. Berkeley and Davis are leading the way, but we need all of the campuses to commit to this. We need to be more strategic about when and how we set administrative pay. We need increased funding from the state to do our job, and we need a collaborative, long-term sustainable plan. And as Regents, we cannot absolve ourselves of responsibility and become complacent just because we have a five year plan.

I’m voting no today because students should not be the ones paying the price for state and administrative economic mismanagement, and we should definitely not be the ones that are held hostage every time budget negotiations start. I’m voting no today with the invitation to the state to work closely with the UC to do everything it can so we can fund our students. I’m hoping you will join me in this endeavor.


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