Regents Set Up Tuition Reduction Program for Certain Nonresidents

A new UC tuition reduction program that will allow certain nonresident students to pay in-state fees if they have attended at least three years at and graduated from a California high school was conditionally approved last month by the Board of Regents.

The Regents' action aligns UC with new state policies for California State University campuses and the community colleges; these policies were in legislation signed into law last October. However, implementation is conditioned on enactment of other laws limiting UC's liability should the new policy be successfully challenged in the courts.

With the exemption, eligible students will pay annual resident fees, currently $3,859, instead of the $14,933 total paid by nonresidents.

An estimated 200 to 390 currently en rolled UC students would be eligible for the new exemption. Some of these students are undocumented immigrants who have graduated from California high schools. (They must also certify they are taking steps to legalize their immigration status.)

Program costs to the University are estimated at between $2.3 million and $4.4 million annually, depending on how many receive the exemption. Additional information is available on-line at <www.ucop.edu/sas/sfs/ppolicies.UCTEFAQ>.

UC provides similar tuition exemptions for other groups of students, including children of California firefighters and law enforcement officers killed on active duty; members of the military on active duty in California and their dependents; and Native American graduates of a state high school operated by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.