A college education isn't free. Neither are pay raises and benefits for University of California officials.
The honchos for the UC system sent mixed messages on Thursday, agreeing to increase their salaries and benefits while rolling out a tuition increase plan that could see students' fees at the state's premier public universities double over the next five years, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Under the regents' scheme, tuition will raise by 16 percent every year -- but the hit to students depends on the hit to the state. If state funding increases by eight percent, then tuition will only increase by eight percent. If state funding increases by, say, one percent, then tuition raises by 15 percent.
If current funding levels stay the same, in-state tuition will top $22,000 by 2015-2016, compared to $12,192 today. These numbers -- triple what students paid in 2000 -- don't include books, room and board, or university campus fees.
Meanwhile, the Mercury News reported, a dozen top administrators at UC received generous pay hikes.
Among the bonuses approved by a Board of Regents committee was $744,950 for the 10-campus system's chief investment officer, Marie Berggren, the newspaper reported.
Combined with Berggren's $470,000 salary, the bonus will bring her 2010-11 pay to more than $1.2 million, the newspaper reported.
