University of California President Janet Napolitano announced Wednesday she is postponing a proposed tuition increase as a good-faith gesture stemming from her ongoing negotiations with Gov. Jerry Brown to resolve their standoff over higher education funding.
"We're having serious discussions both with the governor and with the Legislature," Napolitano said after delivering remarks at the University of Southern California. "Those are underway so it seemed premature to go ahead and jumpstart the tuition increase."
Napolitano and Brown have been working in private to consider proposals the governor believes will allow the university to serve more students without increasing tuition or receiving a significant budget hike.
At Napolitano's urging, the Board of Regents approved raising tuition to up to 5 percent each of the next five years in November unless the state gave the university more money. The governor's proposed spending plan increased the UC system's budget by nearly $120 million on condition that tuition not be raised. UC officials said that was not enough.
Napolitano said she was postponing the tuition increase as both a gesture "optimistic about the ongoing negotiations and how they will be bear fruit" and a practical measure that will allow student to enroll in summer classes with less uncertainty.
Read more at The Associated Press: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/uc-president-napolitano-postpones-proposed-tuition-increase-29065471