Hours after the University of California Board of Regents voted 14-7 to raise tuition, UC President Janet Napolitano told KQED that she hopes the increase never happens.
Napolitano said the 5 percent per year increase over five years is "a ceiling" that can be significantly reduced if the state steps up and increases funding for the university.
Other points Napolitano made in the exchange -- see her KQED Newsroom interview, above -- include:
- She fundamentally disagrees with Gov. Jerry Brown that the university should not try to compete with elite private universities like Harvard, Yale and Stanford.
- UC has not gotten its fair share of additional tax revenue from Proposition 30, the tax increases voters approved in 2012.
- She rejected as "unfortunate vocabulary" a statement made by newly appointed Regent John Pérez that the tuition hike amounted to a ransom note: "Give us the money or we'll hurt the kids."
KQED NEWSROOM is a weekly news magazine program on television, radio and online. Watch Fridays at 8 p.m. on KQED Public Television 9, listen on Sundays at 6 p.m. on KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM.