Existing law provides for a public postsecondary education system in this state. This system includes the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, and the California State University, which is administered by the Trustees of the California State University. Existing law authorizes the segments of the public postsecondary education system to charge various fees to their students.

This bill would delete a provision that required the systemwide fees and tuition charged to resident undergraduate students at the University of California and the California State University to be reduced in the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 fiscal years.

The bill would require, notwithstanding any law, commencing with the 2009–10 fiscal year, the level of mandatory systemwide fees and tuition for undergraduate students at the University of California and the California State University to be set over a 4-year period in order to allow students at these institutions to budget accordingly for the entirety of their education. The bill would provide that the University of California and the California State University have the discretion to establish the set level of mandatory systemwide fees and tuition. The bill would express the intent of the Legislature that the level of student fees for undergraduate students at the University of California and the California State University also be set over a 4-year period. The bill would apply to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California act, by resolution, to make its provisions applicable.