UC Regents

A joyous throng of 776 degree candidates of the University of California, Merced, today marched through the Beginnings Sculpture and onto the campus' South Bowl to receive their prized degrees, marking the culmination of the newest UC’s seventh academic year.

UC Merced celebrated its largest graduating class — 81 percent larger than last year’s graduating class of 428 — with some 7,000 family members and friends present. The total number of UC Merced students with degrees is just above 2,000.

About 50 students on Monday gathered at UC Merced to publicly call for state and federal lawmakers to reinvest in higher education to stave off future tuition increases and to call on the UC Board of Regents to help them promote that message.

The Board of Regents met by teleconference at four sites Monday morning. Regent Fred Ruiz was the lone board member at UC Merced, where students voiced their concerns in a nonviolent manner both inside and outside the meeting room.

The University of California Board of Regents today (July 14) approved a plan to close a $1 billion budget shortfall through a combination of higher student tuition, cost-cutting measures and operational efficiencies.

Regents, on a 14-4 vote, reluctantly approved a 9.6 percent tuition increase, effective this fall for all UC students, after agreeing with administrators that it was the only course left that would not erode the quality of the university.

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown proposed a balanced, deficit-closing 2011-12 state budget Monday (Jan. 10) that relies on painful cuts in state services including a $500 million reduction in support for the University of California.