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Former UC Regent Congressman Garamendi Opposes Proposed Student Fee Hike

November 18, 2014

Garamendi in Solidarity with Students Fighting for Affordable Education

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA), a former University of California Regent and California State Trustee, expressed his strong opposition to a proposal to increase University of California tuition five percent annually for five years. In-state tuition at the UC would rise from an average of $12,192 this year to an estimated $15,564 in 2019-20.

“When we price students out of an education, we rob them of an opportunity to reach their full potential. I’ve met families who scraped together everything they could afford to send their first child to college, only to see the siblings denied their chance at their American Dream,” Congressman Garamendi said. “There is no greater cure to poverty than a good education. There’s no easier way to tank an economy than to make a great state’s universities inaccessible.”

“When I attended the University of California as an undergraduate, my tuition was effectively free. Our state made an investment in its future workforce, and it paid off in droves, with so many businesses incubated here,” Garamendi added. “Increasing tuition five percent a year for five years, on top of so many other draconian tuition increases in recent years, will take us backwards.”

As a UC Regent and CSU Trustee, Garamendi voted against every undergraduate tuition fee increase.