U.C. students propose a 20-year tuition plan

How much is a college education worth?

Would students be willing to pay, say, 5% of their annual income for 20 years if they didn’t have to start paying until after they graduated and entered the workforce?

A group of students from the University of California, Riverside, thinks so and has proposed such a plan as a way to combat the escalating cost of college.

The students claim that their formula would triple the amount the state university system now generates from tuition and wouldn’t cost students a dime — at least not while they were going to school.

“Students will begin to think about the value of their education and its significance in the trajectory of their life from graduation to retirement,” according to the proposal, which the students released in advance of a Jan. 18 meeting of the state Board of Regents.

U.C. tuition is $13,200 for the current school year, nearly 18% above the previous year because of steep cuts in state funding. Tuition was $3,900 in 2001.

Under the proposal, the amount graduates would pay would vary greatly.

For example, Student A, who earns $20,000 a year and doesn’t get a raise during the 20 years after graduation, would pay only $20,000 for his entire education. Student B, who earns $100,000 for 10 years after graduating and $400,000 a year over the next decade, would pay $250,000.

One of the most obvious problems with this unusual financial model is how to track students and make them pay up. Also, questions about what to include as income would have to be addressed.

University officials haven’t agreed to consider the plan, but they did meet with its creators. For now, current Riverside students must pay their fees by March 15.

— Liz Skinner