Barring a miracle, it will soon cost more than $10,000 to go to school for one year at the University of California--$11,000 if you're a nonresident. And that's not counting books, activity fees, special fees, meals, and room and board. The fee increase (UC avoids the term "tuition") would be a 32 percent hike applied over the next year, and would begin with a 7.5 percent increase for the spring 2010 term. It also would come a mere six months after university leaders voted to jack up fees by 9.3 percent in May. UC President Mark Yudof and the UC Regents plan to vote on the hike on Nov. 19 at UCLA, but most university officials say that a major increase is all but set in stone. Students and employees, meanwhile, have shown their displeasure with the increases, as well as the nearly 1,900 faculty layoffs, with a tsunami of protests and marches at all of the system's 10 campuses. Besides seriously pissing off current students, the Regents' plan may backfire if enough potential students find themselves priced out of the university and take their "fee" dollars elsewhere.

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