If the state Legislature accepts the budget negotiated last week between UC leaders and Gov. Schwarzenegger, students will pay substantially more for their UC educations but UC-eligible freshmen probably will not be turned away as they were this year.

In announcing the higher-education budget compact on May 11, UC President Robert Dynes said his priorities were those of student leaders: fees, financial aid, access for UC-qualified applicants and outreach to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The current state of affairs:

• Fees: Undergraduate fees systemwide will rise by 14 percent ($700) in 2004-05, 8 percent ($475) in 2005-06 and 8 percent in 2006-07. At UC Davis, because of additional campus-based fees approved by student votes, the actual increases will be 19 percent ($1,083) in 2004-05, 8 percent ($620) in 2005-06 and 8 percent in 2006-07.

Graduate fees will rise 22 percent ($1,275) in 2004-05, 10 percent ($760) in 2005-06 and 10 percent in 2006-07.

Professional school fees were to be set by the UC Regents on Wednesday (after Dateline's publication deadline--for the updated story on that see next week's Dateline or visit http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/budget/fee_fact_sheet.pdf). The regents were expected to consider these proposed fee increases: law school, 23 percent ($3,800); veterinary medicine, 27 percent ($4,000); management, 29 percent ($4,500); medicine, 33 percent ($4,500).

• Financial aid: The university was given the flexibility to reserve 20 percent to 33 percent of new fee revenue for UC financial aid, where the governor had proposed limiting it to 20 percent. The governor's May 13 budget also includes funding to provide Cal Grants that cover the proposed 14 percent undergraduate student fee increase.
• Accessibility: Enrollments will start growing again after 2004-05, though growth at the Davis campus is expected to be modest for at least the next two years. Dynes' office said this week that it expects to meet Master Plan commitments to enroll all UC-eligible freshmen students who want to attend UC.
• Outreach: The university has committed $12 million in permanent funding to programs that strengthen K-12 students' academic readiness for college. Some additional funding may be provided by the Legislature's state budgets. UC also will seek private-sector support for outreach.