So who's footing the bill?

Based on Charles Schwartz insightful analysis, it is now clear who is the largest stakeholder in the University of California: the students (and their families).

Schwartz calculates that the University draws about $2.6B in general fund appropriations from the State, and that revenue from student fees brings in another $2.5B. But that was before the recent fee hikes. The hikes would cost each undergraduate student at UC an extra $2,500 a year. Similar fee increases are proposed for graduate and professional students. Since UC enrolls about 200,000 students altogether, we can estimate the extra revenue at about $500M, which puts the student fee revenue at about $3B.

As Schwartz points out, this fact has implication for UC governance that, if followed to their ultimate logical consequences, would affect the composition of the Board of Regents as well the general priorities of the University.

It is probably unlikely that we will see equal representation on the Boeard of Regents of students and State-appointed bureaucrats. Nonetheless, the students and their families are now by far the largest stakeholder in the University, and it's time for them to make their voice heard. It's their university after all, and if there is anything that they don't like about it, they have every right to set out to change it.