Lawmaker seeks to cap student fees

California college students may be getting a reprieve from fee increases.

Recently proposed legislation would establish a "baseline fee" for the 2010-11 year and cap subsequent fee increases at 5 percent a year. Fees would remain constant throughout a student's tenure at the school, so increases would only apply to incoming freshman or other newly enrolled students.

Student fees have increased over the past five year by 61 percent at University of California schools and 68 percent at California State University schools. Fees at community colleges increased 30 percent this year.

The bill has been proposed by state senate majority leader and former lieutenant governor candidate Dean Florez (D-Shafter).

"We have to get universities to realize that students and their families are not walking ATM machines," Florez told the Associated Press. "The goal is to take the erratic nature out of student fee increases so that families can budget for college and the universities get better at their own budgeting."

UC administrators said they could not realistically commit to the proposed fee restrictions without a guarantee of continued state funding.

Erik Fallis, spokesman for the CSU Chancellor's Office, said prohibiting fee increases for current students would place an additional financial burden on incoming students, the Associated Press reports.