Regents Policy 3103: Policy on Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition*

Approved January 21, 1994
Amended July 2007, September 2007, March 25, 2010, November 18, 2010, July 18, 2012 and March 16, 2017

1. Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition (PDST) shall be assessed to students enrolled in designated graduate professional degree programs in order to achieve and maintain excellence in the preparation of students for professional careers and effectively advance the mission and strategic academic plan of the graduate professional degree program charging a PDST.
2. Access and inclusion are among the University's core commitments, and affordability is a vitally important component of a public education system. Any initiation of, or increase in, PDST shall be justified by the programmatic and financial needs of the graduate professional degree program and must be considered in the context of the University's commitment to excellence, access, inclusion, and affordability.
   
   
   1. The University is committed to ensuring the inclusion of diverse populations in its programs, including its graduate professional degree programs. In keeping with this commitment, each program proposing to charge PDST shall describe comprehensive strategies for the inclusion of diverse populations, consistent with Regents Policy 4400: Policy on University of California Diversity Statement.
   2. Financial aid targeted for students enrolled in graduate professional degree programs is necessary to ensure access to the degree programs, to minimize financial barriers to the pursuit of lower-paying public interest careers, and to reduce restrictions on students’ career options due to student debt. Each program proposing to charge PDST shall complement its proposed PDST plans with financial aid measures, such as scholarships, grants, and loan repayment assistance programs, to meet these goals adequately. Financial aid sources for students in the specified professional degree program should be supplemented by an amount equivalent to at least 33 percent of new Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition revenue or by an amount necessary to ensure that financial aid sources are equivalent to at least 33 percent of all Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition revenue.
3. The President or his/her designee is responsible for ensuring that graduate professional degree programs engage in appropriate multi-year planning of PDST levels within the context of principles and goals expressed in this policy and do so in consultation with their graduate students, faculty, and program and administrative leadership. The Provost will require a new multi-year plan for each program at least every five years.
4. Each multi-year plan for charging a PDST shall be prepared by the campus, endorsed by the Chancellor, reviewed by the University Provost, and recommended to the Regents by the President. Each multi-year plan requires approval by the Regents in order to be implemented.
   
   
   1. The Provost shall establish the format for the submittal of a multi-year plan that effectively addresses the requirements of this policy. At a minimum, the multi-year plan shall address the following topics:
      
      
      1. nature and purpose of the graduate professional degree program charging the PDST,
      2. proposed PDST level for each year of the plan,
      3. uses of PDST funds, particularly their contributions to ensuring excellence, access, inclusion, and affordability for the graduate professional degree program,
      4. identification of the program’s set of public and private comparators, and analysis of the graduate professional degree program in relation to its comparators,
      5. assessment of the graduate professional degree program’s uses of PDST funds and performance during the current multi-year plan with respect to excellence, access, inclusion, and affordability, and
      6. substantive consultation with students and faculty about the plan, which may be obtained in a variety of ways.
   2. The proposed PDST level for each year of the plan shall be well-justified by demonstrated programmatic needs of the program charging PDST during the period of the multi-year plan and consistent with the University’s commitments to excellence, access, inclusion, and affordability.
   3. The actual annual PDST levels in the approved multi-year plan shall be considered to have been approved at the time the multi-year plan was approved. A PDST level less than that approved in the multi-year plan shall also be considered to have been approved at the time the multi-year plan was approved. In order to charge a PDST greater than that in the approved plan, a new multi-year plan with the desired PDST in the first year shall be prepared and approved.
5. Multi-year plans shall be approved within a time frame that supports adequate planning and preparation for both students and their graduate professional degree program.
6. All proposals to charge PDST for the first time in 2018-19 or later shall be considered under this policy. The President is authorized to develop a transition plan for all other graduate professional degree programs that access PDST, such that by 2020-21, all proposals to either establish or adjust PDST charges shall be considered under this policy.

*Nothing in this policy constitutes a contract, an offer of a contract, or a promise that any tuition or fees ultimately authorized by The Regents will be limited by any term or provision of this policy. The Regents expressly reserve the right and option, in its absolute discretion, to establish tuition or fees at any level it deems appropriate based on a full consideration of the circumstances, and nothing in this policy shall be a basis for any party to rely on tuition or fees of a specified level or based on a specified formula.