UCLA Tuition 2000-2001
UC systemwide tuition for California residents was $3,429 for the 2000-2001 academic year. Non-residents paid $14,043 including Nonresident Supplemental Tuition. Campus-based fees averaged $535 across UC.
Resident Tuition
$3,429
Non-Resident Tuition
$14,043
Campus Fees (UC average)
$535
Year-over-year change: Resident tuition changed by 0%. Non-resident tuition changed by +3.23%.
What changed in 2000-2001
Fees frozen as the state buys out an increase
Resident undergraduate fees held flat at $3,429. That outcome was not automatic. UC's own budget proposal for 2000-01 had originally contemplated a 4 percent resident fee increase alongside a 4.5 percent nonresident increase, and a UC spokesman told the Daily Bruin the increase "could get bought out by the state legislature as has happened with many of the past increases." It was. Governor Gray Davis's January 2000 budget proposed a 12.1 percent funding increase for UC while freezing student fees for another year, and the budget the Regents finalised in July 2000 kept fees unchanged.
The stability was real but fragile, and some Regents said so at the time. Regent Ward Connerly warned that if the economy turned, "we're going to have to raise these fees, probably 40 percent" — a prediction the following decade would vindicate almost exactly. Meanwhile campus-based fees kept climbing, averaging $535 across UC, and Nonresident Supplemental Tuition rose again to $10,244. Students were also voting themselves new campus charges: UCLA's SPARC referendum passed in May 2000 with 77 percent support.
2000-2001 tuition in 2025 dollars
Comparing tuition across decades only works once inflation is stripped out. Adjusted with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index, the $3,429 a California resident paid in 2000-2001 is equivalent to $6,411 in 2025 dollars. Non-resident tuition of $14,043 works out to $26,255 in 2025 dollars.
Resident tuition in 2025 dollars
$6,411
Non-resident tuition in 2025 dollars
$26,255
Inflation adjustment uses CPI-U annual average, U.S. city average, all items (1982-84=100). The 2025 annual average is computed from eleven months because the October 2025 index was never collected during the federal funding lapse.
What does that mean? UCLA tuition worked out to roughly $13/day of instruction, or $229/class (assuming 15 classes per year).
At California's $5.75/hr minimum wage back then, covering tuition alone would take 596 hours of work (~15 full-time weeks) — before housing and food.
Looking for Current UCLA Costs?
UCLA tuition for 2026-2027 is now $16,430 for California residents. Use our interactive Cost Calculator to estimate your total cost of attendance — including housing, meal plans, books, and more.
Sources
Figures and historical context for 2000-2001 are drawn from the following sources.
- Daily Bruin: UC 2000-2001 budget approved, finalized (July 23, 2000)(opens in a new tab)
- Daily Bruin: Fees up at colleges across nation, but UC bucks trend (Oct. 16, 2000)(opens in a new tab)
- Daily Bruin: Referenda pass, presidential runoff needed (May 11, 2000)(opens in a new tab)
- UCOP Historical Fee Levels, Tables 1-3(opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U annual averages (CUUR0000SA0)(opens in a new tab)
- California Department of Industrial Relations, History of California Minimum Wage(opens in a new tab)