Judge orders University of California to repay $34 million to students

By Jeff Shuttleworth, Bay City News

March 6, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - University of California officials said today that they will appeal a San Francisco Superior Court judge's ruling that they must pay nearly $34 million to 40,000 students who claimed their fees had been improperly raised.

UC spokesman Ricardo Vazquez said the university believes there wasn't a contract with the students not to raise fees because "all fees are subject to change without notice."

Vazquez said the university thinks that the fee hikes that occurred in 2003 were justified because of what he described as "the unprecedented budget crisis" at that time.

Vazquez said the university appreciated the time and effort Judge James Warren put into the case but believes "his judgment was incorrect on a number of fundamental issues of law."

He said the university anticipated Warren's ruling because at previous court hearings he had indicated that he would rule against the university.

Vazquez said the university won't have to pay the $33.8 million judgment, plus interest, while it appeals the ruling to the state Court of Appeal.

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