In the fall of 2007, the College Board, a nonprofit organization that offers college information for students, released its annual “College Trends” report.
According to the report, in the past decade, there has been a 4.4 percent average increase in public universities in the 2007-2008 year, after adjustment for inflation.
However, the national averages in the College Board’s report make it difficult to discern the wide disparities within the public university system itself – something the report acknowledges.
A four-year public university for an in-state resident can cost as little as $5,018 in southern states, and as much as $8,076 in New England, according to the College Board.
While such recent increases in fees have followed an upward trend in recent years, there is little chance of the fees faltering like they did in the 1990s, especially with the current economy.
Unless the state’s budget allows for larger appropriations for public education, public universities such as UCLA might continually find themselves unable to fund all of their programs, forcing more cutbacks and possibly higher student fees.