University of California may vary tuition by campus?

Should students at UC Riverside pay less than those in UCLA?

Leaders of the 10-campus University of California system are considering such questions as the state funding is gradually decreasing which caused higher tuition.

The supporter of undergraduate tuition to vary by campus say the change would raise funds the universities could share and consumer demand should play a bigger role in setting tuition. But opponents believe that it will harm the unified nature of UC system.

When they enact this new soultion to maintain the system with budget cuts, some of the UCs that are in high national college ranking will be affected, such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD.

While UC is debating, there are few universities in nation that have already established differential tuition for their campuses, such as University of Texas at Austin and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said he would like the regents to set a midpoint for undergraduate tuition and allow campuses to range up to 25 percent above or below that. Such a plan would give campuses the flexibility and income they need but maintain a sense of a UC system and provide additional financial aid, he said.